Chu and Blossom (Charles Chu, 2014): USA

  Reviewed by Filippa Hernius, Viewed at the Metro 4 Theatre, Santa Barbara.

I think the film Chu and Blossom is very interesting because of the different cultures that meets in the film. It’s about people that are a little bit unusual and different. I saw the film on Santa Barbara film festival, the director is Charles Chu and he is also the main character. There is also good actors like Caitlin Stasey, Melanie Lynskey and Alan Cumming.

The korean exchange student Joon Chu (Charles Chu) arrives to a small town in America with a big suitcase, but without experience of the american culture. He moves in with a very weird family. The mom is kind of trashy, inappropriately direct Mrs. Fefterg (Mercedes Ruehl) and her son Bud (Chris Marquette) who is 20-something is sort of a loser with weird habits and even weirder hobbies.

Joon is very tall for being a korean guy, and he barely fits in his room or the science and match classes. He’s planning his career in structural engineering because that’s his parents’ plans for him. Instead of focusing on his studies though, Joon starts to hang out with the artsy students that encourages his creativity.

Joon  gets definitively dragged out of his shell by a guy named  Butch Blossom (Ryan O’Nan). He is a unusual young man with art-punk tendencies.  Joon and Blossom  bond very well which is kind of surprising.  They share same respect for the art and Joon is struggling with his parents that just want him to keep going with his studies. But there are more important things for Joon than that. His brother is dead and he later figures out that his brother would be proud of him if he goes his own way.

The cameras are filming kind of close all the time, lots of closeups. When the camera is focusing on one person, the other got very blurred which definitely can be better but it’s low-budget film so I can’t ask for more.

I think the film has good humour and it has a really nice message that affected me. It’s about doing what you want and not let your parents or anybody else make your decisions. It’s your life, your choice. Definitely a film worth to see.