Apart from the somewhat promotional representation of Asian-Americans in Asian-American films, particularly in documentaries, that usually depict a group of overachievers succeeding against all odds, that is not exactly the entire truth. As “A-Town Boyz” eloquently highlights, there are also people in the group that are involved with organized crime, ending up there after being bullied in school and neglected by immigrant parents who struggle to make ends meet. Eunice Lau presents three individuals like that, gang leader Eugene Chung, aspiring hip hop artists Harrison “Vickz” Kim and Jamy “Bizzy” Long as they navigate their destiny in the margins of society to achieve their dreams, while still being tormented by their past.
The individuals are as intriguing themselves, as is their background and their current circumstances. Harrison “Vickz” Kim, 25, is an aspiring rap artist who belongs to the Asian Gangster Crips (AGC). His hit song L.O.Y.A.L.T.Y. generated more than a million hits on YouTube. Born in New Orleans to Korean immigrants, his family moved to Atlanta when he was one. He has two daughters as well as a son from his partner’s previous relationship, a Laotian American who has stayed with him through thick and thin, including his time in prison. .
Jamy “Bizzy” Long, 21, is Vickz’s partner in crime and music. Born in Atlanta to Cambodian child refugees who came to the U.S. after escaping the war, Bizzy hopes to find success as a rap artist so he can provide a better life for his mother. His family’s immigration is part of the “second wave of Asian immigrants” that was fleeing the Vietnam War. To survive, his grandmother ran a gambling den and his uncle co-founded the original chapter of the “Asian Gangster Crip,” (AGC) which Bizzy joined at age 13.
Eugene Chung, 37, a renowned Korean American gang leader of Atlanta, is originally from the Italian-American neighborhood of Bensonhurst in Brooklyn, NY. He is over six feet tall with a charismatically deep and muffled tone of voice. He drives a black Pontiac, has a 19-year-old mistress who he supports financially, a wife who has been at his side since they were 18, and runs several businesses including a club and a music production company, while also overseeing the extortion of local businesses, and distribution of drugs and firearms.
As it becomes evident, this could easily have been the script for a gangster movie, but “A-Town Boyz” proves once more, that reality can easily move beyond any script-writer’s imagination. Of course, it helps that Eunice Lau had full access to the lives of the protagonists, including their fathers, who shed even more light to the lives of Asian immigrants in America, as much as the reasons that led their sons to the issues they have in life.
Furthermore, and although the gangster past also involving prison is a central point of the story, additionally presented through the talking of the protagonists, the fact that the younger of the two at least have changed their lives, also becomes evident, in a rather optimistic tone here. At the same time, and as one of the last incidents in the documentary shows, the violent past is not exactly completely erased, potential for violence is still there, perhaps instigated by a mentality that has not written off the particular past as something fully problematic.
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Nevertheless, and no matter what one will think about the people presented in the film, “A Town-Boyz” emerges as a rather realistic and quite impactful documentary, particularly due to the captivating stories (and backstories) of the three main characters. In that regard, the excellent editing by Yasu Inoue, which allows the three arcs to be highlighted individually and through their interconnection, is a key factor here, in one of the best aspects of the whole documentary. The hip-hop music, frequently heard throughout the movie, also fits the narrative nicely, intensifying the audiovisual quality of the documentary.
“A-Town Boyz” is an excellent documentary that also works as a drama, through three captivating intermingling stories which also result in a series of realistically pointed comments about the lesser known lives of Asian-Americans.
