A Cure Within The Cure
Feature Director: Eric Byler of "Charlotte Sometimes"

By Minnie Chi

In the Cure single "Charlotte Sometimes," vocalist/guitarist Robert Smith mourns the existence of loneliness singing, "Night after night she lay alone in bed/ Her eyes so open to the dark/ The streets all looked so strange/ They seemed so far away/ But Charlotte Sometimes did not cry." Every note he sings is a tear and every guitar chord, a pang of longing. In the song, 'Charlotte' may be simplified as a person, a very sad soul. 'Charlotte Sometimes' can be read as a universal syndrome of isolation that can sometimes occur, and when it does, it persists and painfully so.

A character named Charlotte does exist in Eric Byler's directorial debut titled after the ethereal pop elegy but she is not the only one who suffers from the very human void that Byler deracinates in his film about relationships and the motives that sustain, pursue and shun them. Like the song says, Charlotte (played by Jacqueline Kim) is the catalyst who "hopes to open shadowed eyes/ on a different world." Her confrontational character brings out the buried truths in the three people she involves herself with: a bookworm and mechanic named Michael (Michael Idemoto), his best friend and next door neighbor who he secretly covets, Lori (Eugenia Yuan), and Lori's handsome yet insensitive live-in lover, Justin (Matt Westmore).

Eric Byler admitted that he was indeed a Cure fan during his formative years. As a half-Chinese half-Caucasian youngster growing up in Northern Virginia, he mentions that he and his sister felt very much displaced for not being full-blooded white. When he moved to Hawaii at the age of twelve, his "Asianness" gained him acceptance though that meant he was only half accepted by the Asian majority. It's no wonder as a hapa kid, he spent his time finding his own individuality and listening to bands like the Cure. "It wasn't until after I shot the movie and began editing it that I realized I needed to call it 'Charlotte Sometimes'," Byler says in between tossing popcorn into his mouth while lying comfortably on the bench in the hallways of Laemmle's Faifax 3 Theater where his movie is screening for the second weekend. "To be honest, I wouldn't even say that it was the song that influenced the film. When I read the lyrics, it looked as if someone had taken this screenplay I had already written and made it into a poem. It was so...uncanny."

Oddly enough, "Charlotte Sometimes" started out as a comedy in a workshop that Jeff Liu (co-story author) and Byler participated together in about seven years ago. When Liu suggested Byler continue with the script on his own, the bi-racial Wesleyan film major started to envision how the story would unfold on screen. He also started to deal with and define the characters in a very personal way. Byler states that the plot stems from his own imagination but the characters are combinations of real and fiction. "Jaqueline's character, Charlotte, is an amalgamation of Jacqueline and I. Matt Westlake's character, Justin, is an amalgamation of Matt and I. Eugenia Yuan's character, Lori, is based on countless Asian American women that I know, and Michael's character is me, Michael and the composed and dignified, quietly confident full-blooded Asian man that I could never be," Byler specifies.

Byler is proud to say that the film turned out better than he envisioned with the luck of working with a team of wonderfully talented and driven actors, filmmakers and crew. He would have never fathomed the idea of "Charlotte Sometimes," a movie that was first recorded on digital film and produced on a meager $20,000 budget thanks to Byler's supportive parents, to be chosen for countless awards including the Audience Award for First Narrative Feature at the 2002 South by Southwest Film Festival, Special Jury Prize for Narrative Filmmaking at the 2002 Florida Film Festival and Best Narrative Feature at the 2002 San Diego Asian Film Festival. The two most exciting nominations that Byler's debut has received are the John Cassavetes Award (for the best feature made under $500,000) and Jacqueline Kim's clever performance as Charlotte for Best Supporting Actress for the Independent Spirit Awards.

What catapulted interest in the film, however, was renowned film critic Roger Ebert's riveting review in the Chicago Sun-Times, which Byler certainly acknowledges as a helping force aside from the many nominations and recognition. "Reviews are the only thing a film like this has going for it," the tired yet relaxed director/writer states. "There were a number of reviews that I thought had hit the nail on the head, like Ebert's first one, but his second review is so morose and so melancholy that it actually scared audiences away." Byler explains that he was deeply and personally touched as an artist when Ebert, who was so inspired by his dark indie, wrote a short story "so somber that it made people cry." "Look at what we've got here: Asian Americans in a romantic drama, no Kung Fu, no violence of any kind, no guns held sideways or right side up, no prostitutes. We have none of the things that mainstream wants to see from Asian Americans; none of the things that we've been selling," Byler emphasizes.

But is "Charlotte Sometimes" really an Asian-American film? Since it contains an all-Asian American cast (Matt Westmore as the half-Asian exception), the answer is both yes and no. Yes because of the cast's ethnic setting and no because as Byler puts it, "it would all be about race if the cast were mixed. The only way it can be universal is to make everybody Asian. Then people forget about race and just see them as human beings because everybody is Asian," Byler assuredly replies but still has more on his mind and takes a deep sigh. "The only real reason why the characters were all Asian is that I am the artist and it's my artistic vision. I don't see why my reasons for my artistic visions should be any different because I'm Asian American," he continues. "The worst stereotype - we talk about 'fresh off the boat,' the emasculated Asian man, the exotified Asian female, a couple of those are touched upon in my film - but the worst stereotype that faces Asian American filmmakers is the stereotype that our movies are supposed to fight stereotypes." It's true.

Asian American filmmakers are so used to sticking to a political agenda that dictates their so-called art, which ironically negates the cause and actually feeds the stereotype that Asians in America can only sell their "Asianness," not their artistic worth. "Where do Asian Americans go for our stories? We keep over and over again using generational conflict, East vs. West assimilation and themes of racism," Byler replies in mild frustration, genuinely disappointed at this restrictive filmmaking philosophy, which is only a reaction to the precedent and hardly offers a real solution. "Maybe the time isn't here yet, but eventually we're going to have to accept that Asian Americans have the same right to make art films and personal films that every other group in this country has."

Towards the end of the interview, Byler confesses that the previous Saturday amidst his movie's opening dates, he was seriously torn between giving up or pursuing film from here on out. He says he's been living in shambles without a computer, which is a torture for any writer. Fortunately, his debut film has gained enough profit to pay his parents back and has gained him enough attention to lead him to greater opportunities. He is currently in talks to direct the feature film, "American Knees," an adaptation of Shawn Wong's novel. Byler is the type of director who doesn't undermine his audience's intelligence. Through unresolved silences, cinematic nuances and heavy realism, his film goes beyond merely depicting the Asian American experience (as if there is only one) or blandly instructing a course on ethnicity training, which "The Joy Luck Club" did enough of to last white America for 30 years, according to Byler. Instead, it reveals something that is even more profound than our yellowness, and that is life. Never have Asian Americans been portrayed onscreen as such real people facing real consequences, breathing the same air as the viewers themselves, and that's enough reason why Byler's "Charlotte Sometimes," though an enchanting song, is even a greater breakthrough film.

www.charlottesometimesthemovie.com

July 3, 2003