SOMEONE ELSE

Directed by Nelson Kim

Asian American Panorama / USA / 2015 / drama / 72 mins / English / DCP

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SOMEONE ELSE

UltraStar Mission Valley
Saturday, November 7, 2015 3:55 pm

Description

Official Selection, 2015 Miami International Film Festival
Official Selection, 2015 Asian American International Film Festival
Official Selection, 2015 Dallas Asian Film Festival

Dutiful son Jamie (Aaron Yoo) is in New York for the dog days, but he’s not there to see the Empire State Building. Instead, he’s working the 9 to 5 (and more) in hopes of landing a lawyering gig at a prestigious firm. While taking on the Big Apple, Jamie crashes at his charismatic cousin Will’s place. Played by Leonardo Nam, Will is an assertive risk-taker and embodies everything that straight-laced Jamie hopes to be, which also seems to be everything that Jamie is not. Leading him further down the rabbit hole is the alluring and mysterious Kat (Jackie Chung), whose presence reveals a darker side of Jamie’s persona and generates a tension between the two cousins that becomes the catalyst for a wild journey into the surreal.

SOMEONE ELSE, Nelson Kim’s fearless feature debut, fuses elements of thriller, romance, and family drama to create a funhouse mirror where the familiar becomes eerily unusual. What’s best about the film, however, is its portrayal of the very personal struggle that comes with trying to reconcile conflicting parts of one’s identity; the film completely rejects the legitimacy of face value and reminds us of how vast the scope of selfhood can be, especially when the anxieties of ambition take over. The hot-blooded SOMEONE ELSE reinvigorates the family drama and boldly offers a fresh new depiction of Korean American masculinity onscreen. –Madeleine Ho

Co-presented by: San Di-Asians