Baby
credits:
Director: Juwan ChungProducer: Jason Serrato
Writers: Juwan Chung, Felix Chan
Cast: Tzi Ma, Feodor Chin, Ron Yuan, David Huynh
World Premiere
USA 2007 | 100 mins | HDCAM | English, Cantonese, Mandarin w/E.S.
IN PERSON (at select screenings): Juwan Chung, Jason Serrato, Tzi Ma, Feodor Chin, Ron Yuan, David Hyunh, Christina Stacey, Peter Cho
Justin Lin’s breakthrough film BETTER LUCK TOMORROW revealed the amorality and angst seething beneath the model-minority façade of suburban Asian America. But what of the unsparing world of inner-city Asian American gangs? The wait for the Asian American BOYZ N THE HOOD is over: Juwan Chung’s BABY offers a startling slice of urban gangland life quite unlike any Asian American film to date.
Motherless and raised by an alcoholic father in East Los Angeles, eleven-year-old Baby finds himself taken under the wings of the gangsters next door. A skirmish one evening ends with their “big brother” getting killed and Baby shooting a rival gang member, landing him in juvenile hall. Released after seven years, the now-adult Baby reenters a reconfigured society—a new boss, new enemies—but the same insidious world of crime and ruthless punishment. His father, his best friend and his childhood sweetheart urge him to go straight, but can he turn his life around before it’s too late?
BABY takes us from gambling halls to hostess clubs to back alleys, revealing a gritty, inter-ethnic gangscape rife with angst, machismo and danger. The unflinchingly brutal depiction of violence may be startling, but the most impressive aspect of the film may be the memorable performances by the ensemble cast, including Tzi Ma (RUSH HOUR; RED DOORS) as Baby’s father and San Francisco native Feodor Chin as his wickedly sleazy nemesis. Above all, newcomer David Huynh as Baby is unforgettable, his fierce yet lonely gaze personifying the father’s metaphor of street gangs as stray dogs: “hungry, wild, unforgiving.”
—Taro Goto
