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Raymond (Chris Tashima) and Aurora (Allison Sie) are putting their relationship to rest. The details are sketchy to us at first, but like many relationships, compatibility has become a factor down the road. He is a few years her senior, previously divorced and as a college professor has deep seethed feelings about the cultural identity of Asian-Americans; something Aurora, the product of mixed parents has rarely had to encounter for her ability to pass as white. Each has the requisite best friend (Michael Paul Chan & Kelly Hu) now free to vehemently voice their disapproval of the other’s mate and assign blame to placate the loss in their lives.

Raymond is stubborn when it comes to his social beliefs and harbors the universal code of being unable to let go of what he truly cares about. This leads him to casually spend time in the home he shared with Aurora while she’s away. It’s not much of a shock to her when she calls and hears Ray’s voice on her line. Instead of reacting angrily, she accepts this as part of the healing period and allows it to continue. Her friend, Brenda (Hu) is less sympathetic and views every one of his actions as a way to either come on to her or confuse Aurora. But as he eloquently puts, of everything they both do in the time being, “it all hurts.”

It’s this curative process which Byler captures so eloquently not with words or the solid performances of his cast, but in a brand of motioned silence that sways the characters in their downtime from confronting their feelings. The kind of grand sweeping statements about love and loss are sidestepped in favor of capturing the mood, both exterior and interior, the way Yasujiro Ozu might have. In no way am I suggesting that Byler’s style infringes as a sort of auteuristic posturing pushing out the characters or the story to prove what he can do with a camera. Quite the contrary, Byler molds the silence into the fray and enlightens every sentence with an authenticity that’s all too rare in cinematic dealings with the most precious of emotions.

Americanese is about a break-up but also about so much more, slowly peeling away old layers but never discarding them so Raymond and Aurora’s motives, past and future, become clearer without ever registering as false. When Raymond is given a picture in the final scene, the choice he reaches is an agonizing one, but one which is easy to accept for us, having made the journey to that decision with him. The 2006 film festival circuit has already produced one great relationship dissolution with Flannel Pajamas at Sundance and now the South by Southwest festival was wise enough to debut the very first print struck of Americanese. An honorable mention is certainly due on Collin Souter’s list of the great break-up films, but even moreso to be discovered by audiences without having to wait around for another of Roger Ebert’s Overlooked Film Festivals (where Charlotte Sometimes received a special screening a few years ago.) Eric Byler is the real deal, no matter what point of view you feel he’s coming from.

link directly to this review at http://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=13943&reviewer=198
originally posted: 03/21/06 04:20:37
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