After having been shown in various film festivals in 2019-2020, “Happy Cleaners” will be released in February 5, 2021 in theaters and VOD. The film is the first feature of the Kim & Lee duo, although they both worked on the “Flushing” web series. It was produced by koreanamericanstory.org – an NGO that (you guessed it) promotes the visibility of Korean American stories.
With that in mind, it makes sense that the story revolves around a Spanish family who migrated to South Africa. JK – I know, my jokes are getting better every day. Back to the actual movie.
“Happy Cleaners” tells the story of a Korean American family living in Flushing, New York. For a bit of context, that is where the US Open happens, and also home to one of the biggest Koreatowns. The Choi parents (played by Hyang-hwa Lim and Charles Ryu) run a dry-cleaning shop. Business is hard, but it gets even more complicated when the new landlord refuses to renew their lease. The couple has two children. The older sister, Hyunny (played by Yeena Sung) is working at the hospital, supporting the family and navigating through her relationship with longtime boyfriend Danny. Her brother, Kevin (played by Yun Jeong), wants to put college behind – very much to his parents' despair – and move to Los Angeles.
Comparing the first and the last scenes of a movie is always interesting to have a better grasp of what was shown. Here, the opening scene starts with an intense family argument. And the last scene shows the family enthusiastically sharing dinner. And indeed, family is at the center of “Happy Cleaners”. How they go from one angry and divided stage to a soothed and united one is what the story is about.
In terms of representation, the feature is interesting: it gives voices to a screen minority. It is also noteworthy that a lot of the cast and crew, and people working in post-production were Asian Americans. There are lots of references to which Korean Americans, and those who grew up in Flushing, can relate to. The use of both Korean and English is welcome and adds to the reality-like effect.
However, by wishing to be broad and cover as many themes as possible (blue collars, the American dream, racism, complex relationship to one's roots, parental pressure, parental sacrifice, etc.) the story sometimes loses itself, loses the nuances of characters, and can become a bit cliché. Some dialogues are very explanatory of how characters feel when it is also nice for the viewers to understand it by themselves. The long dialogues are meant to be an homage to 90's K-dramas. It could have been interesting to make the reference more obvious and accessible. This would also have added a bit of humor to the film.
That being said, the film is enjoyable. The cinematography is very efficient and professional, the editing is good, the graphics used are nice, the music is catchy. The (very social-media friendly) food shots are good and make you hungry.
“Happy Cleaners” is interesting in that it represents a reality less shown on screen and is visually pleasing.
