Directors like Yasujiro Ozu, Tsai Ming-Liang and Fassbinder influenced Byler, thus Charlotte Sometimes is more In the Realm of the Senses than Pulp Fiction. Byler knows Charlotte Sometimes is the polar opposite of BLT and appeals to a different audience. The film was also nominated for two IFP Independent Spirit Awards.īetter Luck Tomorrow's street-marketing team turned moviegoing into a political statement, uniting a community behind a movie with Asian American actors in lead and supporting roles. Charlotte Sometimes has won more awards than BLT, including an Audience Award at SXSW 2002, a Special Jury Award at Florida Film Festival and Best Dramatic Feature at the San Diego Asian Film Festival. Last year, both films crisscrossed each other on the festival circuit. "It wasn't long ago when we assumed the only reason to make an Asian film was to further a political agenda, and if you weren't furthering the political agenda, you weren't down with 'the cause'-and people still say this to me!"īyler hopes to build on the success of Better Luck Tomorrow. "I would like to prove that there's a place for art films from the United States and from Asian American actors and directors," Byler says. Byler-who is half Chinese-shows Asian Americans exploring relationships, masculinity and eroticism within an art-film format.Īs in Justin Lin's Better Luck Tomorrow, the characters aren't defined by their racial makeup but by the decisions they make. He shot Charlotte Sometimes on digital video and blew it up to 35 mm. That "some guy" is Eric Byler, in town for a quick press junket. "I love it when people leave the theater talking about the characters as if they're real people, accusing them, indicting them, defending them as if they're real, forgetting the fact that some guy wrote and directed it," Byler says. The characters' afterimage lingers long after Kim's acoustic cover of the Cure song ushers out the reel the film produces enough sexual tension to power a small island and fuel hours of cafe discussion. Kim is equally delightful and infuriating as the monkey wrench thrown into the bizarre love triangle.īyler surprises with subtle charms, conveying drama and intimacy with simple dialogue, improv and deafening silence. Idemoto anchors the film as a Camus-reading mechanic torn between the woman he secretly adores and the woman passing through. The movie moves at a leggy, languid pace with sharp characters seemingly plucked from an Adrian Tomine graphic novel and imbued with guarded sensuality. When a sexy and mysterious stranger named Darcy (Jacqueline Kim) shows Michael some attention and brings everyone together in a series of uneasy gatherings, Charlotte Sometimes gets its legs and stands erect as a powerful and emotional art flick. They chat, flirt and watch anime videos, to Michael's growing consternation. After loud love-making sessions that Michael can't escape hearing through the thin walls, Lori retreats upstairs to his abode for nonsexual, post-coital pillow talk. Lori's boyfriend, Justin (Matt Westmore), is a self-obsessed piece of work. Lori (Eugenia Yuan) and Michael (Michael Idemoto) share a duplex as well as a hidden attraction to each other. WRITTEN and directed by Eric Byler, Charlotte Sometimes (yes, named after the Cure song) captures the in-between days of relationships on the ups or on the outs. Just a Friend: Michael (Michael Idemoto) watches his chicken skewer fall through the barbecue grate as Lori (Eugenia Yuan) and Justin (Matt Westmore) look on in a scene from 'Charlotte Sometimes.'ĭirector Eric Byler talks about his $21,000 miracle, 'Charlotte Sometimes' Metroactive Movies | 'Charlotte Sometimes'
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