“Why does it happen just at the time you’re reaching out to someone to connect, that person is pulling away? And just when they turn around to reach for you, you’re turning away. Why are we never synchronized in relationships?” – Shawn Ku
(please read the full interview here)
Amazing how he always asks the right questions and leaves one pondering.
I wasn’t looking to be inspired when I sat down to watch the documentary “Committed” on four filmmakers experiences at the TIFF 2010 (Toronto International Film Festival). With both young and old, experienced and first-timers premiering their films/documentaries, it featured Shawn Ku’s Beautiful Boy and was aired on AMC in October, 2010. It left me inspired for good.
Not sure if it’s me that reads between lines and relies on queer instincts rather than actual human interaction to get to know someone or is it Mr. Ku’s honesty that strikes everyone the same? Far and beyond his skills as a filmmaker, he says what he means and means what he says, is firmly rooted to the ground, looks past and beyond what many fail to see…his actions seem to match his words and his words make the ‘most’ sense, AND he tells stories that touch the soul. (Read/listen to his interviews here, here and here)
I must be dreaming, had been my first thought. But following Mr. Ku’s life, and work religiously for the past two years, I have come to believe in him. He has changed one life for the better. Mine. It is with the hope that someone else might gain a positive insight through my experience that I started this fansite and ‘Committed’ is one documentary I truly recommend.
The documentary is heartwarming to say the least. It brought tears to my eyes and hope, strength and joy to my heart. After Beautiful Boy was awarded the Fipresci Award at the TIFF 2010, the documentary aptly ends with these beautiful words,
‘We make mistakes, we don’t always get it right, the point is to keep trying…’
‘… for anyone who ever felt like there is no option, there is!’ – Shawn Ku
Thanks to Marrian Cho (Editor), I found the video on his website. Please click on the link ‘Committed – Shawn Ku by Morgan Spurlock’. It’s an abridged version of the original.
Here is an excerpt still available on AMC’s website- an interview by AMC’s Jacob Soboroff:
Found a recent review of the movie Samsara by Pan Nalin (2001) on MovieSpirit.com.
“Shawn Ku is exquisitely gifted as both actor and director. I also loved Beautiful Boy and reviewed it here. From the first moments of Samsara, I felt that Ku was sharing his own spiritual insights and lived experience through the character Tashi. I look forward to seeing more of Shawn Ku’s work!” – Martine Joseph of MovieSpirit.com
Me too. Glad to find genuine critics (people with genuine tastes!!) sharing my view.
I believe there is a hidden talent in everyone (even those who think they have none). Unfortunately, only a few among us are aware of it. Fewer have the courage, will, strength or dedication to pursue a dream. Fewer still would encourage or stand by someone who has a dream, recognizes his/her potential and wants to pursue it. I admire Mr. Ku for having the courage to defy all odds and set an example of what right attitude, intention can do. His talents are many but what really shines through his work is his heart and soul.
Waiting eagerly to hear about his next film…
Check out this video posted by Arthur Niemynski on Vimeo.
Slick Devil Movie House Interviews Shawn Ku:
Shawn Ku’s BEAUTIFUL BOY might be one of the most emotionally gripping films released this year, and Ku was unsure at first if the subject matter, about parents adjusting after learning their only son went on a shooting rampage after taking his own life, would be rife for a film.
However, the actor and choreographer turned writer/director…(read more)
*****
MovieLine.com – The Verge: Director Shawn Ku Breaks Through With Beautiful Boy
As unlikely showbiz career tracks go, Shawn Ku has one of the funkiest: Harvard-educated scientist. Passes up Columbis Medical School to hoof it on Broadway. Dabbles in acting for the camera. Moves behind the camera. Directs a teen musical for MTV. Wins big at Toronto for his theatrical feature debut Beautiful Boy, a heavy drama starring Maria Bello and Michael Sheen and opening this week. What could possibly be next?
That’s the question Movieline leveled at Ku…(read more)
*****
TribecaFilm.com – Beautiful Boy: Shawn Ku
Beautiful Boy, the feature debut from writer/director Shawn Ku, is a small, intimate drama that packs an emotional punch. Kate (Maria Bello) and Bill (Michael Sheen) are a suburban American couple whose mundane, everyday life is rocked by the news that their 18-year-old son Sam (Kyle Gallner) has done the unthinkable: he’s gone on a shooting rampage on his college campus, ending in his own suicide.
While that sounds like a ripped-from-the-headlines synopsis, the film goes much deeper …(read more)
*****
Film Independent – Filmmaker Interview: Shawn Ku
In anticipation of Film Independent’s screening of Beautiful Boy, Director Shawn Ku has a revealing, deeply personal, and surprisingly funny conversation with Film Independent….(read more)
*****
Toronto Film Scene - Beautiful Still – an interview with Shawn Ku, by Joseph Belanger
Asia Pacific Arts - Complications of Fear – an interview with Beautiful Boy writer/director Shawn Ku
Examiner.com - Interview : Writer/Director Shawn Ku (Beautiful Boy)
Blacksheep Reviews - Beautiful Still, an interview with Shawn Ku
DIFF 2011 Video Interview – BEAUTIFUL BOY writer/director Shawn Ku, co-writer Michael Armbruster, and producer Lee Clay
WGA, West – What happens when you are making other plans
Filmmaker Magazine – Shawn Ku, “Beautiful Boy”
Reel Talk Show premiered ‘Beautiful Boy’ on 05/23/2011 at Landmark Theatres, LA. It was a 6 hr drive to the theatre from where I live. I am glad, grateful, thankful that I was able to make it that day ’cause I got to attend a Q&A with the filmmakers, Shawn Ku and Michael Armbruster after the show. I even got to talk to Mr. Ku at the end of the day.
I found him to be most gentle, sweet, down to earth and extremely humble, who is so easy to talk to. He is a very good listener too (and very patient ‘cuz he let me talk…uhmm actually blabber for I was really nervous!!!) His life, talent and work has inspired me to dream and be who I want to be. I have learnt so much just listening to him. He reaches out to his audience without preaching. He shares his own life experiences and tells stories based off of them. Which is what makes his characters so real, so authentic. He is an amazing storyteller and a very brave filmmaker.
No doubt, driving back home for me that evening wasn’t tiring at all.
The movie is an experience, either you feel grateful for it or leave the theatre in despair. It very tactfully brings you to a level of consciousness where one has or is very close to giving up defending ego-centric views and is ready to face/accept reality.
The Beautiful Boy DVD released in October is a timeless treasure. Check out a review here.
To all parents young and old, couples married or unmarried, singles wanting a relationship, people getting over a broken relationship, people on the verge of breaking up, people looking for answers as to why and what went wrong with their relationship — buy the movie and you won’t be sorry. To people looking for answers — this movie doesn’t give you any. It makes you ask questions. It has that subtlety of asking the right kind of questions that eventually will lead you to the answers you seek. Check it out.
‘Beautiful Boy’ is about being human, making mistakes, finding comfort in denying those mistakes for the longest possible time, about failing to be perfect in a perfectly imperfect world…realizing there’s a lot more to life than failures and success or the notions of it. Its about growing disconnected, disintegrated and falling into pieces before reevaluating, re-assimilating that which you are left with – humanity. And much more.
The audio commentary that is a part of the special feature is special indeed. It takes you through some brilliant filmmaking.
Another great review from Inside Pulse — Dallas IFF’11
“Director Shawn Ku treats the material so tenderly that each argument Bill and Kate get into, each hurtful thing they say to one another, is felt directly through the screen. The audience at the Dallas International Film Festival was literally in tears.”
I am pretty apprehensive about going to a theatre to watch Beautiful Boy. For I know I will be crying inconsolably.
…is a search inwards! It makes you cringe at your own belief system, the stereotyped behaviour that we cling onto when given a chance to pass judgements or announce our verdict on someone’s so called criminal/sinful actions.
Do we give a thought to what role we as a society play in the social prosecution of people indirectly related to the crime….the family of the criminal for example?
After coming across Shawn Ku’s Beautiful Boy, I felt ashamed at the way I have judged people in the past, whether criminal or not! It has changed my viewpoint of life, taking me deep down the surface of something shameful, ugly and evil and has compelled me to find the beauty that lies beneath that ugliness!
Cinema to me is what Shawn Ku has attempted with Beautiful Boy…(please check out the trailer here).
Loosely based on the harrowing tale of the Virginia Tech Shooting that took place inside the college campus in 2007, the movie is about a couple already feeling the jolts of their failing marriage and how they cope with a tower of terror/shame/guilt that falls upon them after their only son is found guilty of a mass shooting at his college (who later takes his own life).
The anger, pain and the loss in a massacre such as this is so huge and the shock so sudden that processing such complex emotions is extremely difficult. The easy way most of us find is to dump the blame at someone. In this case, with the shooter dead, its the parents who people (whether directly affected by the crime or not) literally want to bury alive.
This film doesnt actually deal with the horror or even the actual crime but tries to present the aftermath. The parents who were close to getting a divorce before this happened actually start to feel the need to be close to each other, sharing the grief, the responsibility of the crime, even the future. When it seems like there are no solutions, the director I feel is telling us..we are probably not looking hard enough for a solution to our problems or do we need a harrowing tale like this to happen to realise what is more important in life??
To deal with the loss of your only child is life altering in itself but to endure the horrifying pain and guilt of considering oneself a terrible parent, of having to shoulder the responsibility of a crime as chilling as this, is harsher than anything life can offer.
If even one person out there reading my blog can feel hopeful about a similar situation, it will be worth a mention. Watching this movie, one might realise how it might be worth it to try n give another chance to whatever they are giving up on.
I insist that before watching the film, please read the Director’s statement on the movie website. It is what touched me. As I highly await the theatrical release of the movie sometime in May this year, I thank Shawn Ku for showing a way out of darkness, a way to bury the guilt…find the ray of hope, and follow it!
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