'Charlotte Sometimes' a masterful film by Hawai'i-born Eric Byler
Nichi Bei Times, May 2003
"Charlotte Sometimes," a film directed by Hawai'i-born Eric Byler, doesn't insult your intelligence. It will challenge you with a complex, methodical, sexy and subtle portrayal of a Japanese American auto mechanic named Michael and his relationships with two women.
Although "Charlotte" just opened in San Francisco last night at UA Galaxy 4 theaters with a special showing and cast party sponsored by manja.org (and co-presented by Bay Area Pau Hana), the film has already earned critical praise and awards through its screenings at numerous film festivals, including the Hawai'i International Film Festival, the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival and Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival last month.
The Chicago Sun-Times' Ebert gave the film a thumbs-up in one of his most glowing reviews and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin ranked Byler as one of the "Ten to Watch in 2003."
The film also received two nominations this year from the IFP Independent Spirit Awards, the "Oscars" of the independent film industry, for Best Feature Under $500,000/The John Cassavetes Award and Best Supporting Female for star Jacqueline Kim.
In addition to Kim, the film stars Michael Idemoto, Eugenia Yuan, Matt Westmore, Shizuko Hoshi and Kimberly-Rose, who is also from Hawai'i.
Set in Los Angeles' Silverlake area, auto mechanic Michael (Idemoto) is secretly in love with his friend and tenant-neighbor Lori (Yuan), but won't reveal his longing for her. Michael would rather not risk their friendship, further complicated by the fact that Lori has a boyfriend, Justin (Westmore).
Michael visits his regular hangout, a local bar where Annie (Kimberly-Rose) works, and clumsily meets Darcy (Kim). Charismatic but mysterious, Darcy goes back to Michael's place where they talk and come to the brink of sleeping with each other. Michael's internal emotional détente begins to unravel amidst the other characters' own personal conflicts.
What's also interesting about "Charlotte Sometimes" is how its backstory reveals the relationship of Asian America and Tinseltown, and the transforming effect that the theatre had on the hapa filmmaker.
"When I went to the studios," said Byler, "they said it was a good script. In fact, they said the script was too good to be an 'Asian' film." (The studios were put off by the fact that a story with Asian characters didn't have martial arts or guns. Go figure.) "But I was determined not to follow the stereotype the mainstream prescribed, and I wouldn't follow the stereotype that we as Asian Americans set for ourselves."
"The next step was to try and meet the studio halfway and cast Asians that were famous," remembers Byler, who talked with quite a few recognizable actors and actresses about starring in "Charlotte." Many were interested in the project, but the pieces didn't come together.
Byler decided to put "Charlotte" on hold and joined the Lodestone Theatre Ensemble. "My artistic inspiration was reborn at Lodestone. Working with them revitalized my desire to make the movie. And it gave me the training I needed to design the performances I wanted."
"I learned a lot from directing actors in theatre. The best performance an actor gives is the first time they realize the meaning of a line and the meaning of scene. (When I was directing theatre) I could see the precise moment when an actor got it. Now if I could only find a way to capture that moment on film."
Byler left Lodestone and returned to "Charlotte" with more confidence and greater insight on how to direct the film.
"I developed techniques strictly for film designed to build the characters within the actors, but disguise from them the meaning of the line or an action while the camera is rolling. The irony is that the movie is 85 to 90 percent scripted. The actors might have known what they were going to say, but they didn't know how they were going to say it until they said it," said Byler.
"In real life, when the words leave your mouth, you know you can never take them back again. You also don't know what the other person is going to say."
Byler developed a technique that involves directing in secret. At no time was one actor privy to the other actor's motivation of intention. Actors were thus forced to watch and listen for unexpected turns and then respond extemporaneously, allowing the camera to capture the actor's true reaction.
The audience sees the "Byler Technique" in many of the scenes in "Charlotte." It creates a different and unconventional feel in the movie - but it works.
"Even if the non-Asian audience doesn't decode it all the way, they can sense that there's something more beneath the surface - the Asian American psychosexual bipolarity. No one mentioned it while we were shooting, but we knew," said Byler. "(Roger) Ebert sensed that there was something real actually developing on screen. It's five confessions - the four leads and the director; we're revealing our deepest desires and our darkest emotions, our most malevolent urges and resentments."
"The script is so haiku that some people didn't get it," said Byler.
"Getting it" wasn't a problem for the audience at the Hawai'i International Film Festival, where Roger Ebert first saw the firm.
"The Hawaii audience cracked up like crazy. Everything was funny to them," Byler recalls. "I think it was unreal to see something so 'real' to them. In fact, I couldn't have written the junkyard scene (where Lori visits Michael at work) without having grown up in Hawaii."
Byler injected other Hawai'i-related details into the film. "In the scene where Lori is rehearsing for an audition, she's reading my script for one of my next films, 'Kealoha,' and in one of the scenes, Eugenia (Lori) is wearing one of my PAL shirts from when I played on the all-star team in '86." ("PAL" is the Police Athletic League, a well-known youth baseball league sponsored by the Honolulu Police Department.)
Byler's "Kealoha" is being produced by Lisa Onodera ("The Debut") with the support of Jason Scott Lee and Kealii Reichel. The story involves a Hawaiian girl in high school and how a boy's love becomes her Holy Grail.
"Charlotte Sometimes" is playing at UA Galaxy 4 at 1285 Sutter Street. Showtimes are 12:30 p.m., 2:40 p.m., 5:00 p.m., 7:45 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. The film is also playing at the Town 3 Theater at 1433 The Alameda (408-287-1433) in San Jose. For more information on the film, visit http://www.twojapaneebruddahs.com.
Keith Kamisugi and Kyle Tatsumoto are the Two Japanee Bruddahs. Email them at wot@twojapaneebruddahs.com.
Eric
Byler, director of
"Charlotte Sometimes"
Michael
Idemoto as Michael and
Jacqueline Kim as Darcy