Cringe: ⭐
Enjoyment: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Kayla, an underprivileged Japanese American 16 year old, endangers her promising future as an aspiring artist when she becomes involved with a drug dealer.
Introduction#
Model Minority is a 2012 drama film directed by Lily Mariye, appearing to be the first feature film she directed. It features Nichole Sakura, as Kayla, in the lead role. She is supported by several other people playing her family, as well as Delon de Metz as the bad-guy boyfriend character. This is a relatively low budget drama, but the cast and crew make good use of what they have.
First off, a gritty coming-of-age drama is right up my alley, whether or not it’s particularly good. Second, I think Nichole is a really interesting actress, first seeing her in the sit-com Superstore, and then in Teenage Cocktail. Model Minority appears to be her first lead role, so I had to check this one out!
Plot#
Model Minority is a story about Kayla and family, composed of her father, mother, younger sister, and grandma. Everyone lives under the same roof, to start, except for the grandma. The family live in a typical American suburban home, not far from the “bad area” of town. Kayla’s father, Ken works a blue-collar job and is an alcoholic, while her mother Angie, works several jobs and has a heroin addiction. Despite how much the parents work, the family is struggling financially, barely making enough to put food on the table. You can presume this is due to the parent’s substance abuse problems, combined with the general capitalist hellscape that is the United States.
Despite this, the girls are in school, and they have bikes to get around and the other basic necessities a teenager might need, less a cell phone. Kayla’s sister, Amberlyn, is portrayed as a couple years younger than her older sister, so about 14. Kayla and Amberlyn are close, at least in the beginning, bonded in the shared struggle of growing up while dealing with poverty.
It doesn’t take long for further issues to develop, which set up the primary story arcs for each character. Kayla and Amberlyn are both bullied in school because they are not as privileged as others, and it’s clear they yearn to become popular, as all teenagers do. Kayla wants to start dating a very nice black guy her age, but is told by her mother she’s not allowed to, based on the colour of his skin. This sets her up to rebel, where she allows herself to get picked up the local drug dealer, a guy named Treyshawn, who is at least several years older than her.
Meanwhile, all is not well with the family. The father ends up moving out of the house, leaving the two girls and the mother Angie. Angie sinks deeper into her addiction, and now has the girls going to pick up her “medicine” and effectively leaves the girls unsupervised. Now they do whatever they want; Kayla stays out late with her boyfriend and Amberlyn starts partying with some new friends and meeting boys.
What follows is a slow-burn drama, where we watch as each character devolves in a realistic, gritty, fashion. It’s all very relatable, especially to anyone who grew up around western poverty.
Review#
Model Minority is a coming-of-age drama that really hits home and makes effective use of it’s talent and limited budget. Most, if not all, of the acting is on point, and I’m impressed by both the Lily Mariye’s direction and Nichole Sakura’s debut lead role. This would be a good film to watch with your kids, as a cautionary tale about the effects of drugs on their stability, freedom, and livelihood. This is one of the rare films that made me cry, as I was so invested in each character’s story and struggle.
The film earns itself 1/5 cringe stars, the lowest possible amount. While I figured, going into this, that it could end up being just a bad movie or too much like a Lifetime fantasy, it wasn’t at all. I’d like to have given it a perfect score for enjoyment, but it receives 4/5 simply because it is a gritty, dark, and sometime uncomfortable film, and very effectively so.
I thought I’d enjoy Model Minority, but wasn’t sure that it would be any good. I’m happy to say that this film was not a disappointment, and you should absolutely check it out. To be on the safe side, though, maybe not on a day you’re feeling down.