Film Review: “Boogie” Fails To Address the Complex Relationship Between Asian and Black Americans
After watching Eddie Huang’s cross-cultural film, Boogie, I immediately thought about Sophia Chang’s interview in the Hulu documentary series, Defining Moments with Ozy. In episode three, the former manager of the Wu-Tang Clan and author of the book The Baddest Bitch in the Room defiantly states, “Growing up as a yellow girl in a white world wanting to be white — I didn’t really belong. Growing up being raised by Wu-Tang, I belonged perfectly.”
As a child of Korean immigrants, Chang struggled to assimilate into her majority-white neighborhood in Vancouver, British Columbia. No matter how hard she tried, the young girl failed to meet her parent’s desire to conform. With very few coping mechanisms at her disposal, Chang turned to hip-hop to express her rage and loneliness. She gravitated to artists like Grandmaster Flash and Public Enemy, since they showed her how they took control of their story. Fast forward to post-college life, Chang hightailed it to New York City and immediately embedded herself into the hip-hop club scene.
Thanks to her in-depth knowledge of all things hip-hop, the ambitious young woman landed a job at Jive Records, which led her to form a professional and long-lasting friendship with the hip-hop phenomenon known as the Wu-Tang Clan.
I bring up the docuseries because Chang’s life story proves that the relationship between Asian and Black folks runs deep. Though there are some tensions between the two ethnic groups, especially with the rise of anti-Asian American hate crimes, the two cultures manage to inspire one another creatively. For instance, the rise of K-Pop is thanks in part to its roots in new jack swing and rap music. And like Chang’s profile piece, it is exciting to see world-famous restauranteur turned acclaimed author turned first time filmmaker Huang explore the complicated relationship between Asian and Black Americans in Boogie. But the film, which tells the story of a young Asian American high schooler with hoop dreams, falls decidedly flat in its execution.
Interestingly, Boogie is not Huang’s first foray into Hollywood. When ABC premiered Fresh Off the Boat, a sitcom based on Huang’s hit 2013 memoir of the same name, they touted it as an authentic take on an Asian American family. Though critics praised the series, Huang, an executive producer of the show, noted that the network whitewashed certain aspects of his life story to attract mainstream audiences, notably his experience with domestic violence. Burnt by this experience, Huang decreased his role from the sitcom and turned his attention to other projects. He hosted Vice’s travel show Huang’s World and published a second book titled Double Cup Love: On the Trail of Family, Food, and Broken Hearts in China. Now the creative figure is telling his version of the Asian American experience with Boogie.
Written and directed by Huang, Boogie follows high school basketball player Alfred “Boogie” Chin (Taylor Takahashi) as he tries to achieve his dreams of becoming a professional NBA basketball player. Taking place in Flushing, Queens, Boogie’s goal is to beat the best ballplayer in the city, Monk (Bashar Barakah Jackson, aka “Pop Smoke”), so he can attract college scouts and earn a full-ride scholarship at a Division 1 school.
A little bit cocky but talented on the court, Boogie has all the makings of a great baller. But to make it to the top, Boogie must learn to set his ego to the side and become a team player. Then he needs to balance his romantic relationship with fellow Black student Eleanor (Taylour Paige) with his extracurricular activities. And he must convince his traditional Taiwanese parents, Mr. Chin (Perry Yung) and Mrs. Chin (Pamelyn Chee), that he has the chops to make his hoop dreams come true.
On paper, Boogie’s premise is intriguing. Watching Boogie pursue a career as a professional basketball player is admirable because it subverts society’s expectations of Asian Americans. Not only do Asians make up 0.4% of the players in the NBA, but as Boogie’s father says during a one-on-one match with his son, “No one believes in an Asian basketball player. It’s a joke. We can cook, clean, count real good, but anything else, we’re picked last.”
But the way Huang executes the story feels problematic. For instance, why does Boogie have to beat Monk to prove that he can play in the NBA? Basketball is a highly competitive sport in New York City. There are plenty of players for Boogie to defeat, so making a dark-skinned Black teen the main antagonist in the story is offensive since Hollywood has a history of making Black characters, particularly those of darker skin tones, the villain of the story. And though these two players are supposed to be bitter competitors, Huang does not give the viewer a single reason to care about their rivalry other than Monk used to date Eleanor, Boogie’s love interest in the movie. Aside from that, the two ballplayers barely interact with one another until the last 30 minutes of the film.
Along with its subpar writing, the characters in Boogie lack depth and are full of clichés. Unlike iconic characters like Monica Wright and Quincy McCall in Love & Basketball, the film does not dig into “why” Boogie wants to play ball. Sure, Boogie wants to help his family get out of poverty, but he never reveals why or what inspires him to keep playing the game, which is an essential component of sports films like Moneyball and A League of Their Own. Nor does the film explain why Boogie can play dominos or namedrop the rapper Noreaga like a savant on Black life. Instead, it just expects the viewer to accept Boogie’s actions without explanation.
Unfortunately, Boogie’s love interest Eleanor does not fare well either. For a director who loves Black culture, his characterization of Eleanor tends to veer into “sassy Black girl” territory. Rather than going through an arc of her own, Eleanor spends most of the film snapping at Boogie for his fallacies in a terrible New York City accent. And even though the actors who portray Boogie and Eleanor do their best with the script, neither performer can pull off playing high school students since they are both pushing their early thirties.
In terms of Huang’s skills as a filmmaker, his direction in Boogie is rudimentary at best and boring at worst. Sure, the basketball games are fun to watch. The final match between Boogie and Monk at an outdoor basketball court is full of energy and tension. And the romantic montage between the two leads is generic but still cute. But some of the shots tend to crib Spike Lee than honor him (lots of extreme close-up shots), and the lighting is a little too dark at times. The tone of the movie is also all over the place. It is as if the film does not know whether it wants to be an edgy teen drama or a serious indie film. That said, Huang’s taste in music is solid. He has a knack for picking bops highlighting Asian and Black culture, such as “Exhibit C” by Jay Electronica and “Plug Speak Taiwanese” by Bad Boy Raco G.
There are many problems with Huang’s first feature film, but I still believe the filmmaker has potential. Like Chang, the Asian American man managed to take control of his narrative while navigating a white-dominated world. And instead of throwing in the towel after his beef with ABC, the memoirist turned director decided to make a film on his terms. That is an accomplishment in itself.
Boogie’s writing is problematic, the characterizations lack depth, and the overall filmmaking is stale. There is no getting around that. Still, the premise, which follows the aspirations of an Asian American ballplayer, has merit. Perhaps with a little more time and a writing partner by his side, Huang can create a film that is just as intriguing as the filmmaker himself.