Liquor Store Dreams - Documentary Review

The Documentary: Liquor Store Dreams

The Director: So Yun Um

The Story: The autobiographical documentary follows two Korean American children of liquor store owners in Los Angeles who must reconcile their own dreams with those of their immigrant parents.

The Review:

Way back in 2019, while covering and attending the Seattle Asian American Film Festival, which now seems like several lifetimes ago, I watched a short film program that included a 6 minute film called Liquor Store Babies. The director was a young woman named So Yun Um who, in that short window of time, opened up so much about herself, her family, her community, and an entire conversation about the Korean American experience. Fast forward to a year later in 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic and the protests for racial injustice, I had an opportunity to interview this emerging filmmaker for my podcast as she was working on Liquor Store Dreams.

We talked about the short film, the experience of adapting the subject matter into a feature length film, and then how the current state of the world was changing everything including what she wanted her movie to be. At its core, the film is a deeply personal exploration of family, of culture, and of history and everything else expands out from there which for me, made this a very affecting and emotional journey. Through telling her and her family's story, Um is able to unravel the Korean experience in America in a way that creates a foundation of understanding for people who come from different backgrounds.

I love how one of the first things the director does in her movie is reference Spike Lee and his seminal film, Do the Right Thing, which to me, might just be the single greatest and most important American movie ever made. Her reverence for the filmmaker and his work really hit home for me simply because I completely agree and, after watching the rest of the documentary, I can see the same layers of authenticy in the director's story telling as what Mr. Lee was able to inject itno hsi own dramatically stylized creations.

For me, one of the most noteworthy things about this documentary is how deeply the director explores different aspects of mental health from her own father's generational struggles to her friend Danny Park's personal battles with depression and anxiety. Throughout the documentary, Um unravels layers of humanity within both Park's family and her own with the relationship between her and her father becoming the emotional core of the film by the time it's all said and done.

In Do the Right Thing, Spike Lee showed a sterotypical perception of Korean immigrants as liqor store owners which mostly plays for comedy but I think he also tried to give them as much humanity as he could within the context of the story. I feel like So Yun Um took that as a bit of inspiration to completely break down the sterotype by creating a much more authentic look into the Korean American experience of living through a lifetime of challenges as liquor store owners.

The Verdict:

Liquor Store Dreams is truly inspired filmmaking. So Yun Um's debut feature film captures the emotions and experiences of her family's journey in a way that breaks down so many barriers and misconceptions. This film does exactly what documentaries are supposed to do.

Here is my 2020 podcast interview with So Yun Um.

Also check out the entire 2020 New Directions in Film podcast interview series which features some pretty amazing filmmakers including Isabel Sandoval, Bao Tran, Diane Paragas, Nick Naveda, So Yun Um, and Van Ditthavong.