I was lucky growing up. Growing up in Colorado, there weren’t many Asian kids at my school. However, I was able to meet many Koreans my age through a community my mother was a part of. It was great to get to know people who looked like me, and who shared similar interests and upbringing. There are some things Korean kids growing up in America have in common and can all laugh together about.
Did any of you have relatives that would smoke? I did.
Because of them, I developed an association of tobacco with ‘family’ and a fondness for the smell. As it turns out, I wasn’t alone with these feelings as I shared them with the protagonist of Smoking Tigers (2023). This film is a loving recollection of a Korean-American teenager coming of age in L.A., packed with many personal touches that I believe a lot of people can relate to.
Hayoung (played by Colorado’s own Ji-Young Yoo) will be going to college soon and life cannot be more stressful: Her family lives in a cramped apartment, money is tight, and her relationship with her Mom (Abin Andrews) is strained. Mom is going through a trial separation with Dad (Jeong Jun-ho), whose upbeat and positive attitude makes him faultless in Hayoung’s eyes, as opposed to Mom, always full of concern. Hayoung’s time is broken up between private school and tagging along with her parents during their respective house calls servicing Korean families; Mom brings her daughters along to her piano lessons, and Dad goes door-to-door to pitch his carpet business. During these visits, Hayoung peeks inside to find clean white furniture and happy portraits: Ubiquitous items found in many Korean households. ‘Why does everybody have what I lack?’ she thought.
What makes Smoking Tigers’s coming-of-age story so unique is that despite its American setting, it features a cast comprised only of Korean/Korean-American actors. The characters do not interact with anybody outside of their community because while they may have sacrificed many comforts of their homeland to come here, many cultural institutions have been brought over to Los Angeles.
Several key scenes take place at the Jimjilbang (Korean bath house), where Hayoung’s Mom can relax. I don’t often see scenes of women maintaining their skin in bathhouses, and it was a great way for the mother and daughter to be more intimate with each other. On the other hand, because of this film, I discovered that Koreans in L.A. have also brought over Hagwons, the expensive private schools that pile on additional work and stress on kids, not to mention, breed competition among families. The Hagwons teachers, with their Harvard/Yale graduate credentials, are never actually seen teaching but seem to only be there to pass out tests.
Hayoung is enrolled into the Hagwon in an effort to give her a competitive edge for college, or perhaps because it is the thing to do. The actual benefit comes from being introduced to teenagers of her age and background.
At school, Hayoung befriends her classmate, Rose (Erin Yoo), a member of the school’s party-going clique. To ingratiate herself with the group, Hayoung pretends that she lives in an upper-class neighborhood. This new Korean friend group, featuring several bros that spew upsettingly accurate slang, gives her a chance to step away from her family and be introduced to new experiences.
As her bond with Rose begins to deepen, Rose feels safe enough to reveal the bruises her family inflicts as punishment for failing grades. However, despite her new friend opening up to her, Hayoung remains reticent about the truth behind her family; She couldn’t risk it after finally fitting in.
Smoking Tigers takes special care to depict Korean-Americans authentically and without passing judgment, however, I wish the film had a bit more bite. Hayoung’s inner turmoil with her family and new friends wraps up too quickly in the third act to end with a nice 90-minute run time. I believe more needed to be shown with Hayoung’s Dad and Rose, instead of the film skipping ahead to avoid the uncomfortable moments. A longer film could have left more of an impact, but I was satisfied with the closing shot, which was an inspired way to cap off the film’s recurring motif of reflections (shown in the photos above).
On November 10, 2023, I was able to attend a screening of Smoking Tigers (2023) with director So Young Shelly Yo, and during the Q&A after the film, she mentioned that she wanted to tell a personal story for her first feature. I believe she succeeded because I was able to recognize many of the characters of my life through her observations of the Korean-American household. Whether Shelly continues to make personal films or expand into something of larger scope, we shall see. Smoking Tigers is another great addition to the growing trend of Asian-American stories being celebrated in films today, and I look forward to what’s next.
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