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Randall Park's directorial debut, titled Shortcomings, will be released on August 4, 2023, by Sony Pictures Classics. On January 21, 2023, the film had its global premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Based on a graphic novel of the same name, this comedy-drama film will showcase the story of a filmmaking couple, Ben and Miko.
Shortcomings stars Justin H. Min as Ben, Sherry Cola as Alice, Ally Maki as Miko, Debby Ryan as Sasha, Tavi Gevinson as Autumn, Sonoya Mizuno as Meredith, Jacob Batalon as Gene, and Timothy Simons as Leon. There are also cameo appearances from several actors, like Scott Seiss, Stephanie Hsu, and Ronny Chieng.
What do we know about Randall Park's Shortcomings so far?
Here is the official trailer for Shortcomings:
From the trailer, we learn that Ben is a depressed, self-loathing 20s-something struggling filmmaker who lives in Berkeley, California. He lives with his girlfriend, Miko, but their relationship is estranged.
Ben's best friend is a queer woman named Alice, who frequently changes partners. Ben has an unhealthy obsession with blond women, and when one day his girlfriend leaves for New York to start an internship, Ben is left alone to his own devices.
The trailer was hilarious and offered a lot of insights into the American lifestyle from the perspective of Asian Americans.
In an interview with GQ, its director, Randall Park, revealed that it was a 16-year journey to bring the Shortcomings graphic novel into film form.
"I’d revisit the book every few years and think, Gosh, this would make such a great project. But it never felt like it could be done, because it was the type of story it just didn't seem there was any kind of support for in the industry. It was hard enough for Asian Americans to tell any story, let alone something niche like that," he said.
Park added that the film was nothing like a traditional one with Asian American characters. It's almost giving birth to a new wave of Asian-American cinema.
"Our movie doesn’t have those kinds of traditional tropes you find in a lot of Asian American movies. Family, the intergenerational stuff, going back to the motherland. Those are the things, I think, that give mainstream audiences this sense of cultural tourism. But when the story is just about hanging out and walking around and going to diners, it's like, ‘Well, we can do that. Why would we want that from you?" he said.
Shortcomings synopsis
The official synopsis of the film reads:
"Ben, a struggling filmmaker, lives in Berkeley, California, with his girlfriend, Miko, who works for a local Asian American film festival. When he’s not managing an arthouse movie theater as his day job, Ben spends his time obsessing over unavailable blonde women."
It continues:
"Watching Criterion Collection DVDs, and eating in diners with his best friend Alice, a queer grad student with a serial dating habit. When Miko moves to New York for an internship, Ben is left to his own devices, and begins to explore what he thinks he might want."
Shortcomings is based on a graphic novel of the same name by Adrian Tomine. The producers of the film are Hieu Ho, Randall Park, Michael Golamco, Margot Hand, Jennifer Berman, Howard Cohen, and Eric d'Arbeloff.
Shortcomings will be released on August 4, 2023, by Sony Pictures Classics.
