Director Explores Korean-American Identity

By bringing to Korea ``West 32nd'' ― a gritty, street-style crime film that delves deep into the underworld of New York Koreatown ― director Michael Kang explores the Korean-American identity, including his own. It is a continuation of the directorial concerns from his feature debut piece ``The Motel.''

``I needed this much time to get the film made, I needed `West 32nd' to be my second film. I think it was a personal journey, and it was a personal challenge, too, to make the film,'' Kang told The Korea Times in a recent interview in Seoul.

Growing up in the suburbs of New England, the award-winning director had never been exposed to such a large Korean community until he moved to New York for college.

``It was very jarring to me, my relationship with that community. I would walk around in Flushing (Queens, New York) and look like anybody else but I felt like I didn't belong there. That's what I very much wanted to explore (in `West 32nd'),'' said the New York University graduate.

Kang became well-known in the international circle with ``The Motel,'' a coming-of-age story about a young Asian American boy living in a cheap suburban motel. The piece won much critical acclaim and awards including the 2003 Sundance/NHK International Filmmaker's Award.

His second film takes place in the heart of New York's Koreatown (K-town), which lies on West 32nd Street. Ambitious attorney John Kim takes on a pro bono case to defend a Korean teenager implicated in a gang-style homicide. Over the course of the investigation, he meets Mike Juhn, a local thug, and becomes entangled in a world of mobsters and mayhem. Kang said that the mainstream-style film is inherently similar to ``The Motel," a smart indie flick.

``They're just different styles. The base of both films is rooted in characters you don't usually get to see. I feel like the gyopo (Korean-American) community really has not been shown on film before,'' he said. ``To me the message of the movie is that Koreans in America are very lost, very disconnected and they don't know where their place is,'' he said.

But why is the film based in New York instead of L.A., which has a larger and more deeply rooted Korean community? ``Partially because I'm from New York so it made more sense to shoot the film there. But it's also because it's the farthest you can get from Korea, so people are almost in this little island. Whereas in L.A., there are people who can live there without knowing any English. In New York, you can't do that ― the Latinos are here, the Jews are right there and the Chinese are right behind you.

``In L.A. K-town, people are more comfortable. People are usually completely bilingual, they can exist in both worlds ― they're very attached to their Korean culture and like to hang out in K-town but will also have a regular job where they're part of mainstream American culture and have no problem fitting in there.

``Whereas in New York, you have to make the decision, like those two characters, John and Mike,'' he said. John is the classic American success story; a lawyer climbing the mainstream American corporate ladder, while Mike tries his best to ascend the hierarchy of the Korean crime gang. They are polar opposites are but are in fact kindred spirits.

John Cho (Courtesy of CJ Entertainment)

``Mike has just as little clue about Korea just as much as John, even though he seems more in touch with his Korean side. Partially by exposing that and exposing the American culture in the movie, Koreans also get a look at what America is. Though I may be wrong, they might have a romanticized view of the Korean-American community,'' he said, explaining how he wanted to show the other side to the success stories of Michelle Wie and Daniel Dae Kim.

In the film, the convicted boy's older sister is well-off. ``I have a lot of friends whose brothers are in jail while they are working at a big Forbes company, so it's an interesting phenomenon,'' said the director.

Although the movie is fictional, it is deeply rooted in reality. Edmund J. Lee, who co-wrote the story with Kang, discovered an intricate Korean crime network in New York while working as a reporter for the Village Voice.

``The architecture of New York very much helps the inaccessibility of this (underground world). Beneath all those noraebang (karaoke) and restaurants, there are room salons (bars) there and different things that you need access to in order to enter,'' said Kang.

The director explained that Lee had followed a ``yangachi'' (thug) around for a year to really understand the K-town crime scene. In fact, the supporting actors that played the young teenage boys were actually kids from the area. They were part of the creative process to portray the true culture of K-town and create realistic ``Konglish'' (mix of Korean and English) and slang-ridden dialogue.

``West 32nd'' also brings together the best of Korean talent in the U.S. and Korea, with popular actors John Cho (``Harold and Kumar'') and Grace Park (``Battlestar Galactica''), and Korea's top star Jeong Jun-ho and hot newcomer Jun Kim (Kim Jun-seong).

``I was a big fan of John's from way back… As we were writing the script he became the shorthand for (my co-writer) and me, we'd just talk about it as if it were John Cho but we never thought we'd be able to cast him,'' said Kang, who spoke of his likewise great luck in casting Grace Park. As for Jeong, he said it was an ``unbelievable fantasy, because I know that he's like an icon here, and that's exactly what we needed.''

Kang said Jeong's star power is key for the film because ``he's the last connection to a real Korean. Within three minutes of the film he's dead, and the rest of the movie is about how his death affects these Koreans in America who are lost and have no connection anymore to Korea. So symbolically it works.''

Kang's bridge-making efforts continue. Upcoming projects include the production of a film here about Korean-American guys making their way through the dating scene in Seoul, which he describes as `` `The Swingers' (a male version of ``Sex and the City') meets Kim Ki-duk,'' and a TV show for HBO about Chinese-Americans, the first Asian American family drama in a long time.

His next big directorial project is a human-trafficking story that takes place in Africa. Although Kang's personal journey as a Korean-American may have halted for the time being, his filmmaking endeavor goes on.

One can expect more of Kang as he wrestles the crippling challenge for all artists ― that is, taking one's cultural assets to create something new and named.

``West 32nd'' awaits release here Nov. 22, exclusively at CGV multiplex theaters. For tickets, visit www.cgv.co.kr. To learn more about the movie, visit http://www.w32nd.com/.

>>Read my movie review of "West 32nd"

>>Read my interview with John Cho.

>>Read my interview with Daniel Dae Kim.

`West 32nd' Breaks Down NY Koreatown

It gets down-and-dirty like the gritty streets of New York. In ``West 32nd,'' Korean-American director Michael Kang gives the classic detective genre a fresh twist as he tells the untold story of a Korea that exists in the heart of the Big Apple.

West 32nd Street is the geographic location of New York Koreatown (K-town) near the Empire State Building. But even those who are familiar with the ``noraebang'' (karaoke), stationary stores and ``seoleongtang'' (Korean beef broth) restaurants lining the strip will be shocked to know that there lies a whole new world beneath it all -- where Korean gangsters and ``organized'' mayhem reign.

While snippets of Koreatown have began to appear (fleetingly) as an exotic backdrop in Hollywood films like ``Collateral'' (2004) and ``Shoot 'Em Up'' (2007), it remained a relatively unexplored territory, and ``West 32nd'' breaks it down, once and for all.

In the dark corner of K-town, a bar owner Jin-ho (Jeong Jun-ho) is shot to death. Ambitious young lawyer John Kim (John Cho) offers to defend the 14-year-old Korean boy convicted of the homicide pro bono. Over the course of the investigation, he meets Mike Juhn (Jun Kim), a ruthless thug ascending the hierarchy of the Korean underworld.

Though polar opposites, the two quickly become friends. Mike is contemptible as much as he is charismatic -- an anti-hero with the tempting appeal of Kurtz in ``The Heart of Darkness.'' He attracts John like a lamp would a moth in his anarchical world that lies outside the reach of state laws.

To complicate things, John starts to fall for his client's beautiful older sister Lila (Grace Park). But winning the case -- a fast ticket to promotion -- is always his top priority, while Mike takes ``the guy from the other side'' under his wing to manifest his own grand visions.

``West 32nd'' is a classic crime movie but it's also a story about Koreanness and Americanness, and the murky middle ground in between -- a critical branch of the Korean diaspora that constitutes the thin but integral thread of the American social fabric.

In recent years, independent films like ``Better Luck Tomorrow'' (starring John Cho) and Kim So-yong's ``In Between Days'' began to accurately portray the Asian American community, but ``West 32nd'' really punches the genre through with a strictly mainstream appeal.

In the American context, the film shines through for breaking the model minority myth -- the false stereotype about Asian kids being all math whizzes who go to Ivy League schools and thus in no need of Affirmative Action. For mainland Koreans, it looks at the dark side of the American Dream, that moving to the U.S. does not guarantee wealth and success.

Just as ``West 32nd'' serves as the missing link between the two Korean communities, it brings together top talent from each side, popular actor John Cho (``Harold and Kumar'') and ``Battlestar Galactica'' heroine Grace Park from the United States and top star Jeong Jun-ho and hot newcomer Jun Kim (also known as Kim Jun-seong) from Seoul.

The film also does justice in presenting the Asian community, like the dialogues that are realistically crafted with ``Konglish'' or a clever mix of Korean and English. Characters like Mike and Jin-ho (Jeong) ooze with sex appeal, bashing stereotypes that deprived Asian men of their sexuality. It depicts more disturbing truths, touching upon racial conflicts within the Asian American community and hints upon human trafficking issues.

``West 32nd'' is not a feel-good movie. Deeply embedded in the bitter and ironic reality of life, the film's ambiguous nature will leave some feeling slightly confounded.

But it doesn't drown with heavy drama. Far from being preachy, it has a rhythmic street-style beat sprinkled with good humor -- provided by a pair of ``Dumb and Dumber'' characters -- and an eye-catching array of ``poktanju'' or Korean-style boilermakers. So get ready to descend into an intoxicating underworld you may find hard to turn back from.

John Cho Speaks About Being Asian in Hollywood

Oh my hotness John Cho, left, photo by moi, Hyo-won Lee for The Korea Times :)

BUSAN -- Korean-American actor John Cho, 35, is becoming a familiar name in the United States, especially for playing parts that don't have to be played by an Asian. Yet, there remains a challenging upward climb for Asian Americans in Hollywood, according to the star.

``First it's difficult being an artist, and it's difficult being an actor, period, and it's difficult being an Asian American actor. When I started acting… the community was largely Chinese American or Japanese American, so even then I felt like a minority in the minority,'' he told reporters during a private interview at a Busan hotel, Tuesday.

Cho was invited by organizers of the Asian Film Market, running in conjunction with the recently held 12th Pusan (Busan) International Film Festival, as one of the guests of the Star Summit Asia.

``It's crazy now there are so many Korean-American actors,'' he said, explaining how amazing it is that the children of first generation Korean immigrants are entering the arts so fast. Asked if he is close with any of his fellow Korean-American actors, he said ``I avoid them. No, I'm kidding,'' drawing much laughter from the room. He said he is acquainted with actors Daniel Dae Kim, Sandra Oh and his ``hero,'' comedian Margaret Cho.

Born in Seoul in 1972, Cho immigrated to the Los Angeles at the age of six. He stepped into the world of acting by chance in college, when he happened to be the same clothing size as an actor who wasn't able to play his part in a small production. Cho was majoring in English literature at U.C. Berkeley at the time.

Growing up in Los Angeles' Koreatown, Cho said he felt like a ``misfit'' and loved the theater because it was like a mecca for all people who didn't fit it. ``That's what I liked about (acting) then and that's what I like about it now,'' he said.

``I didn't think it was possible for Asians to be actors,'' he said. But things changed with his first professional role in a play called ``The Woman Warrior,'' written by Chinese-American Maxine Hong Kingston. ``When I met all these (Asian) professionals, it really opened a door for me.''

Yet, to this day there still exist deeply imbedded Asian stereotypes. ``I feel that there's a shift in the industry, that they're not seeing me as just my race; but they're seeing my personality and seeing me more as a person and an Asian in general,'' he said.

Cho was voted one of the 2006 ``Sexiest Men Alive'' by People magazine. ``I think that was a mistake… a typo… It's very nice, but it's difficult to take that sort of thing seriously. You know what, print `I am sexy,''' he told reporters, and the room burst into laughter.

In addition to popularizing the term ``MILF'' through his short but memorable appearances in the ``American Pie'' trilogy, Cho made a breakthrough in ``Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle'' by portraying a believable _ and funny _ Asian guy in a mainstream film. Harold is a dorky Korean-American investment broker coming to terms with personal struggles, being taken advantage of at work and having to deal with his parents' expectations to marry a Korean.

Some thought the film feeds upon Asian stereotypes, and to this, Cho said he saw it as being exactly the opposite. ``It was only a small segment of Asians who saw a nerd when it was actually an `everyman,' which is how they (the makers of the movie) wrote it and I approached it… I saw it as what Tom Hanks does (in his films).

``The least stereotypical part about the movie is having an Asian as a protagonist and not as a side character… Almost by virtue of being the main character, it negates being a stereotype,'' he said.

Despite Cho's comic roles onscreen, he was surprisingly serious _ though laid back and down to earth _ in person, and chose his words very carefully. ``People expect me to be funnier… be Mr. Chuckles. People treat me… like an old drinking pal,'' he said. ``It's actually a nice feeling because when you make people laugh, it makes them feel close to you,'' he told The Korea Times in a subsequent interview later on.

``I don't want to pat (Hollywood) on the back too much, because, although there's been progress, we have to measure it against where we should be and I still feel as though we're far behind where we need to be, even though there's cause to be optimistic,'' he said.

Cho pointed out the problem of actors agreeing to play an insulting or racist role in Hollywood, thereby endorsing those values. He said actors can advance change very simply and powerfully by ``saying no.''

``What if they audition 100 people and 100 actors said no. Then two things would happen: One is that they would know that what they wrote was offensive. They would know that. And secondly, they couldn't do it. So we take their tools away because we are their tools. So when we do stereotypical roles we are helping them, and so I think to turn that around, we should say no, and that's the most powerful tool that we have,'' he said.

Since his rise in popularity _ being one of the most searched names in Youtube, and appearing on popular TV shows like ``The Singles Table'' and ``Kitchen Confidential'' _ Cho has become a face for the Asian American community. Asked if he ever feels burdened about it, he said that he is sometimes ``jealous'' of white actors because ``they don't have to think about representing their race.

``We (Asian American actors) shouldn't have to do this. So it feels unfair. And yet, it is an opportunity. It just so happens that I'm in a position to, by some bizarre act of God, I'm in a position to change things… So I might as well do what I can,'' he said.



Mr. Cho in a scene from "West 32d"
(Courtesy of CJ Entertainment)

Cho also made his visit to Asia's largest film festival for his latest film ``West 32nd,'' in which he plays opposite Korea's favorite leading man Park Joong-hoon.

``This production was special because it was made by Koreans or Korean-Americans, so there was a real sense of family… To have an entire cast in a movie be Asian is unheard of, and to have an all-Korean cast is even more rare,'' he told The Korea Times.

His film ``Better Luck Tomorrow'' had tackled the ``model minority'' issue of Asian Americans being stereotyped as hard-working, social ladder climbers, who, unlike their black or Hispanic counterparts, don't need benefits such as Affirmative Action. The movie had even initiated a small campaign among Asian American college students in the New England area called ``Watch BLT (Better Luck Tomorrow).''

Cho played a troubled teenager in the movie, and about his own teenage experience growing up in Los Angeles' Koreatown, he said he was ``a little rebellious… but I don't know if it was more than normal,'' he said.

``You're trying to grow up and you don't want to be like your parents, and that gets mixed up with being Korean…They brought their values from Korea, and I accepted them because I didn't know anything more,'' he said about being Korean-American.

``But as I grow older, I feel more Korean every year, it's very strange,'' he said.

Although the media portrays the actor as a successful Korean American who set foot in Hollywood, Cho himself said: ``Maybe it's my neurosis, but I still don't feel settled,'' he said, adding that he would love to play roles he played as a child with his younger brother, like a cowboy or Superman.