Gook (2017)
Directed by Justin Chon
Eli and Daniel, two Korean American brothers who own a struggling women's shoe store, have an unlikely friendship with 11-year-old Kamilla. On the first day of the 1992 L.A. riots, the trio must defend their store—and contemplate the meaning of family, their personal dreams and the future.
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What critics compared Gook to
Chon’s scattershot, semi-impressionistic plotting tends to make “Gook” feel like it’s ping-ponging between moments of truth and moments of grace (the film, which borrows so much from “Do the Right Thing,” is sorely missing Spike Lee’s ability to combine the two), but one character strikes the right balance.
“Do the Right Thing” is an obvious inspiration (Chon has also cited the hard-hitting French film “La Haine” and, on the opposite end of the spectrum, he throws in a blatant nod to “Clerks”), and as in Spike Lee’s landmark feature, the action revolves around a neighborhood store.
Their families are linked by a past tragedy that continues to haunt them all, and, as things come to a head, the film also nods firmly in the direction of Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing.”
From an aesthetic and setting similar to Kevin Smith’s Clerks to a socially-minded tragi-narrative that’s reminiscent of Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing , Chon has clear influences in mind.
Playing out like some sort of imaginatively structured combination of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing , Kevin Smith’s Clerks , Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank , Mathieu Kassovitz’s La Haine and August Wilson’s Fences , Chon does a grand job of crafting a piece of spirited pop entertainment that also plays just as well as dynamically scripted social commentary in the exact same breath.
Keith gets a pager message: “Free stuff South Central,” and though everyone (except Mr. Kim) seems to expect the mayhem to stay in that neighborhood, the viewer senses (much like in Do the Right Thing , which will be explicitly referenced later) that something’s simmering here as well.
“Do the Right Thing” is an obvious inspiration (Chon has also cited the hard-hitting French film “La Haine” and, on the opposite end of the spectrum, he throws in a blatant nod to “Clerks”), and as in Spike Lee’s landmark feature, the action revolves around a neighborhood store.
Playing out like some sort of imaginatively structured combination of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing , Kevin Smith’s Clerks , Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank , Mathieu Kassovitz’s La Haine and August Wilson’s Fences , Chon does a grand job of crafting a piece of spirited pop entertainment that also plays just as well as dynamically scripted social commentary in the exact same breath.