Terminal USA

Jon Moritsugu's 1993 American film covers a single evening with a Japanese American family. The mother is stealing the dying grandfather's medication, the sister is sleeping with the family lawyer, one son gets perfect grades and another uses drugs. The film takes the model minority narrative as a direct target. The family looks successful from outside and is entirely broken inside; Moritsugu pushes that contrast to excess and rescues no one. The production was supported for public television and drew reaction when it aired. The manner is close to punk aesthetics; the colour is excessive, the editing irregular and the performances deliberately overstated. Moritsugu both directs and stars. Who it's for: those who like nineties American underground cinema. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a measured manner; the film contains crude humour, drug use and aggressive imagery.