Simply superb

If I had watched this 2017 film in 2017, it would be near the top of my best movies of 2017. But I watched it in 2018 so was too late. It's a slice of life type movie set in the days that follow the Rodney King incident in Los Angeles in '92. It's written by, directed by and stars Justin Chon as the lead male Eli. And he pulls off a terrific job. The entire cast is perfect. There are some proper acting chops on display here. From the young Simone Baker playing 10 year old Kamilla to the amazing Curtis Cook Jnr who plays the gang member Keith - they all nail it. Chon even cast his own father as the liquor store owner, and there's one scene in particular that I had to re-watch after reading that fact, as it becomes even more affecting. Chon also states that 'La Haine' is a massive influence on 'Gook', which is no surprise given the subject content and aesthetics.

The film itself centres on Eli and his brother Daniel (played by David So) trying to run a shoe shop in Paramount, L.A. The story is touching, funny, brutal, poignant, tragic and touches on the things you'd expect it to - race relations, immigration, gang culture, poverty, family. What it also does is explore the experiences of Asian American families during the 90s, something not many films have done.

There will no doubt be some criticism of it being overly sentimental, and perhaps rather fanciful, and there were some histrionics late on that were perhaps a tiny bit out of place. But overall, this movie completely grabbed me from the off, reeled me in, chewed me up a bit then spat me out, as movies should. Absolutely excellent.