Asian-American films, at least the ones we have been seeing in AMP, share many similarities. Usually family dramas, even if of different sorts, with bright and polished cinematography, and most of the time, a rather positive message in the end, to the point that many of them look quite similar. As such, it is a joy to deal with a film that strays quite away from this ‘norm’, with director, actor, editor and fight choreographer Leroy Nguyen mentioning Hong Kong action films, particularly the work of Jackie Chan, along with Takashi Miike, Takeshi Kitano and Quentin Tarantino as inspirations for his filmmaking. At the same time, though, the drama is not missing either.
The Brokenhearted review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative
Sonny, a weary small-time hoodlum that has been missing for the past six months, returns to his old neighborhood and stumbles upon a rather dire situation. His two childhood friends, James, a struggling martial artist whose school fails after taking out a loan, and Winston, a loan shark who gave him the loan and is waiting to collect, are on each other’s throats, with the latter in particular, seeming as if he is ready to forget their friendship in the face of money. While Sonny tries to quell the tension, Winston is bringing in goons, particularly Tony Mo, and things inevitably turn into violence. Meanwhile, the girl of the ‘gang’, Liz, James sister and Sonny’s ex girlfriend, also seems to suffer.
As mentioned in the prologue, Leroy Nguyen’s effort stands out for a number of reasons. The first is the story, which both adds the basis for a number of action scenes, most of which come towards the end of the film, and allows space to portray the characters and the drama that surrounds their life. Granted, the last part does not always work in the best fashion, particularly since Sonny, Leroy Nguyen’s character, is presented as larger than life on occasion, but as a whole, it definitely makes sense. Especially the part about the three childhood friends that linger apart in a way that violence among them is inevitable, is rather well presented, in one of the anchoring aspects of the narrative.
The second is the approach to the cinematography, with DP Alex Au incoprorating low light and desaturated colors that give the whole movie a pleasantly retro essence, that works quite well for the main premises of the story. Talking about the production values of the film, however, there is a major issue here. The last part, probably in an effort to add/draw dramatic emotion is ‘covered’ by constant music of the particular sentiment, which, when combined with the many action scenes, actually detracts from the impact they could have, since it is, essentially unfit, particularly for such a long a period of time.
On the other hand, the fights themselves are impressive in their realistic brutalism, while the fact that former friends are fighting on occasion, and a man with a woman on the other, adding even more to that regard, as much as to dramatic aspect of the movie.
Regarding the acting, Leroy Nguyen it a bit too cool, as is his character essentially, although not to a point to significantly detract from the quality of the film. Samuel Joon Lee as James presents his inner struggle and his unwavering resolve to fight against all odds convincingly, with the same applying to Travis Davis as Winston, essentially the villain of the story. Jackie SJ Kim as Liz does not get many opportunities to shine, but she does have her moments, particularly in the argument scene with James. What is additionally a given, is that all of them are quite in the action sequences.
“The Brokenhearted” could perhaps tone down its whole approach towards the drama, particularly in the last part of the film, but the combination of action and drama in general works quite well, as does the visual approach, in an overall package that definitely offers entertainment aplenty.
