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Kwan (Kevin David Lin) takes his first phone call of the day as he stares out into his neighborhood, in Monday.
Director Dinh Thai from Monday:
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imilar to The West and the Ruthless, Dinh Thai’s short film Monday follows the main character for one day of his life. In the culturally diverse world of Los Angeles, a young hustler named Kwan navigates through various cliques while facing racism, danger and a moral struggle with his illicit occupation. He bounces from neighborhood to neighborhood, providing contraband to whoever needs it. Each encounter is tinged with racial undertones and on this day, his illicit activity brings him to a halt. Monday screens on April 29. Zócalo Magazine: Congratulations Dinh, on your film taking top prize in HBO’s first Asian Pacific American Visionaries short film competition. Can you tell us a little bit about the competition and where your film will be seen? What kind of response have you received? DT: Thank you. Our cast and crew have been very excited about the film and we feel so lucky to have it be recognized by HBO. The competition was announced last August and my friend Mong Chan tagged me on Facebook. That’s how I found out about it. My two other filmmaking friends Gregg Furuoka and Fidencio Casas have been inspiring me to write and direct, purely just by example. They’re always creating something. They were already planning on making a film for the contest. So after brainstorming ideas, I started writing Monday in September and the first draft was complete in a few days. You know, the serendipitous connection with my friends and this contest is very special to me. Something inside turned on and it felt like the right time to finally write and direct a short. And incidentally, last night we won two awards at the Playhouse West Festival; Grand Jury for Best Screenplay and Best Short.
ZM: Tell us about Monday. What inspired the story? What influences did you draw upon? From the very start, the film takes on a racial dialog. At times this dialog is uncomfortable and provoking, and then at other times it is, dare we say, almost comical. How did you balance those? DT: Many parts of Monday were inspired by personal experiences growing up and being an Asian American male in Los Angeles. From the openly racist banter to the adjustment of personas with various friends and the relationships between characters, those details have been dramatized, but they stem from a honest place. And to be blunt, that’s just how my friends and I speak to one another. So if we were laughing at each other in real life, there would be a good chance that would work on camera. I think some comedy is inherently rude and uncomfortable, because it’s based on real life stereotypes. I don’t think I was trying to balance anything, I was hoping to be comedic by being abrasive. My opinion is that racism is real, but the hate and the thought of superiority behind racism doesn’t have to be. ZM: As we follow the main character Kwan around, his client base are individuals of different ethnicities. We see his appearance and attitude almost morph depending on which client he is with. Do you think Kwan is forced to adapt or even assimilate because he is in his client’s space? Or is he voluntarily changing, perhaps because he sees the value in maintaining these complex relationships? DT: The morphing was a fun way to explore how Kwan really sees himself. He’s not just one of those personas. He’s all of those personas. That could be a metaphor for the American dream. We’re told we can be anything, just as long as we work for it. continues...
April 2017 | ZOCALOMAGAZINE.com 31