Ethan Mao (2004)
Released: November 10, 2004 (AFI Film Festival)
Director: Quentin Lee
*****
Ethan Mao, like Hate Crime, concerns itself with gay empowerment. In this case, with gay teen Ethan, who leaves his house for a life of prostitution when his father finds out he's homosexual. On the street, he meets stereotypical hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold Remigio who teaches him how to live the life while secretly falling in love with Ethan. It's only when the displaced son returns home to ostensibly steal money from his store owner father do things gets tangled: the family comes home, prompting Ethan and Remigio to hold them hostage, all over a necklace.
Revenge or gay empowerment, it doesn't matter. Both the character and movie Ethan Mao are so overwrought and short sighted, writer/director Quentin Lee can't see the forest for the trees. Instead of crafting a suspenseful hostage drama, he's given us one reason after another to despise the gay main characters instead of root for them. Take, for instance, a moment when Ethan refuses his step-mother Sarah permission to go to the bathroom. He screams at her, using language which sounds utterly unconvincing for him, to go in her chair. She does, as we see urine running down her ankle. Yet just a few seconds later, he allows an older half-brother to leave the table with no supervision. It's that kind of schizophrenic writing which dooms the film, not because it's particularly bad, but because it doesn't make much sense.
It's hard to figure out if Ethan's dialogue is the major problem here or if it's the acting by Jun Hee Lee. He's never convincing when he shouts and orders his family around. Yes, he's in uncharted waters, yet there's not a shred of realism to the story. He wants a necklace which belonged to his mother, leading to the group staying holed up in the house overnight. Which makes no sense, honestly, except the events take place on Thanksgiving, a bank holiday. (A convenient plot device if I ever saw one.) There's two different films here, one centering on Ethan's life outside the house and then the drama inside the home. Neither meshes well with the other, creating a severe disconnect.
The only way the movie truly makes sense-from the dialogue to the stilted acting-is if everything is a dream. Night scenes are bathed in blue (from ambient light) and Lee does try to make us believe the events are a dream. Yet even with a reasonably steady directing hand, the script sends Ethan Mao off the rails. If you want to make Ethan a truly vengeful gay man, he should have no qualms about shooting his entire family. If this is supposed to be a family reconciliation film, there's not enough of that aspect in the finished product to provide a complete story arc.
Director: Quentin Lee
*****
Ethan Mao, like Hate Crime, concerns itself with gay empowerment. In this case, with gay teen Ethan, who leaves his house for a life of prostitution when his father finds out he's homosexual. On the street, he meets stereotypical hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold Remigio who teaches him how to live the life while secretly falling in love with Ethan. It's only when the displaced son returns home to ostensibly steal money from his store owner father do things gets tangled: the family comes home, prompting Ethan and Remigio to hold them hostage, all over a necklace.
Revenge or gay empowerment, it doesn't matter. Both the character and movie Ethan Mao are so overwrought and short sighted, writer/director Quentin Lee can't see the forest for the trees. Instead of crafting a suspenseful hostage drama, he's given us one reason after another to despise the gay main characters instead of root for them. Take, for instance, a moment when Ethan refuses his step-mother Sarah permission to go to the bathroom. He screams at her, using language which sounds utterly unconvincing for him, to go in her chair. She does, as we see urine running down her ankle. Yet just a few seconds later, he allows an older half-brother to leave the table with no supervision. It's that kind of schizophrenic writing which dooms the film, not because it's particularly bad, but because it doesn't make much sense.
It's hard to figure out if Ethan's dialogue is the major problem here or if it's the acting by Jun Hee Lee. He's never convincing when he shouts and orders his family around. Yes, he's in uncharted waters, yet there's not a shred of realism to the story. He wants a necklace which belonged to his mother, leading to the group staying holed up in the house overnight. Which makes no sense, honestly, except the events take place on Thanksgiving, a bank holiday. (A convenient plot device if I ever saw one.) There's two different films here, one centering on Ethan's life outside the house and then the drama inside the home. Neither meshes well with the other, creating a severe disconnect.
The only way the movie truly makes sense-from the dialogue to the stilted acting-is if everything is a dream. Night scenes are bathed in blue (from ambient light) and Lee does try to make us believe the events are a dream. Yet even with a reasonably steady directing hand, the script sends Ethan Mao off the rails. If you want to make Ethan a truly vengeful gay man, he should have no qualms about shooting his entire family. If this is supposed to be a family reconciliation film, there's not enough of that aspect in the finished product to provide a complete story arc.
