SLOW JAM KING

San Francisco Premiere

USA 2004 | 104mins | Video Color

In person: Director Steven E. Mallorca and actor Whitney Melton

A motley multiracial threesome—led by a bespectacled Filipino American who dreams of being a "gangsta pimp"—hit the road from New York City to Nashville in this astute Wes-Anderson-inspired comedy of cultural identity, assimilation and appropriation. With his father only a memory and his mother busy line-dancing to the Nashville Channel, it's hard for the confused JoJo to find and define himself. Only hiphop and country rule the media around him, and the Bruce Lee-imaged shirt he wears is as ill-fitting as the gangster pose he practices in the mirror. The thug life eventually calls when JoJo impulsively carjacks and kidnaps a cowboy-hatted perfume salesman from Tennessee. With JoJo's friend Devaun in tow, they embark on a road trip to Nashville, where the salesman's past identity may come back to haunt him, and where JoJo's uneasy self-image may finally come into focus. His inner "Filipino Warrior" may even emerge, especially after he meets a (Filipina) damsel in distress. Wisely avoiding the flash and fury of most indie films, director Mallorca draws instead from the character-driven comedy of a RUSHMORE or SIDEWAYS, with an easy-going aesthetic and story-telling flair that never stumbles while it tackles more serious issues. After premiering at the Philippines' CineManila International Film Festival, SLOW JAM KING screened at New York's Asian American Film Festival, where Mallorca deservedly won the Best Emerging Filmmaker Award.

—Jason Sanders

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