The Movie: Asian Persuasion
The Director: Jhett Tolentino
The Cast: Dante Basco, KC Concepcion, Kevin Kreider, Paolo Montalban, Geneva
Carr, Scarlet Sherr, Celia Au, Jax Bacani
The Story: An underachiever comes up with an outlandish plan to avoid alimony
obligations to his fashion executive ex-wife.
The Rating: 6 / 10
The Review:
When you start by including Dante Basco and KC Concepcion as the two lead
actors in your movie, you know you're off to a good start. Asian Persuasion,
Jhett Tolentino's first effort as a director, is filled with a diverse cast
and crew from top to bottom and specifically, according to Tolentino, is made
up of 21 different Asian ethnic backgrounds. That must be why I could feel
such a sense of community come across on screen throughout the movie's 93
minute run time.
That being said, this is still a very universal one that could take place any
where and really at any time although I feel like, in this case, the city of
New York was the perfect choice to see this story play out. Tolentino shows
off the city just as much as he shows off his characters which makes sense
considering his background as a Broadway producer.
The story itself is very entertaining and it was nice that the movie kept to a
lean run time, I think adding anything more would have just slowed things down
and taken away from the lighthearted nature. Watching the movie had that
comfortable feeling reminiscent of classic romcoms or TV shows that you always
remember fondly, the kind you want to revisit over and over because you love
the characters so much.
Ultimately, I think the characters themselves are really what is at the heart
of why this story works. You don't buy into the goofiness of the story without
believing in the people or caring for what they are going through and the
performances drive that home in a very effective way. The movie is about
relationships, friendships, being part of a community, and leaning on the
people around us when we need them the most or being there for the people who
might need us the most.
Thank you for readung my reivew, please check out my interview with director Jhett Tolentino:
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