Close Call Movie Review
Close Call is a coming of age awakening heartfelt story about a teenage girl trapped in a downward spiral of promiscuous sex, drugs, alcohol use, and criminality. Brutally honest in its depiction of the damage wrought by the breakdown of the family in contemporary America, Close Call adds another theme to the story: The ever-widening gap between first generation parents and the generation Y children. Close Call focuses on sixteen-year-old Jenny Kim, born and raised in corrupt Los Angeles. Family problems lead to a divorce causing Jenny to suffer from intense feelings of alienation and abandonment. Ignorant of her native culture and unsure of her place in American society, Jenny finds herself vulnerable to the evil influences and temptations surrounding her from friends, raves, boys and other mishaps. While her mother loses control of her, it is her father, David, who reunites with Jenny and leads the teenager to redemption. Never losing his all-consuming love for Jenny, David proves willing to make any sacrifice to save her. It is the intense psychological interplay between father and daughter in two different worlds that forms the heart and soul of Close Call.
MEDIA REVIEWS
Close Call is DISTURBING but ACCURATE. A STORY THAT HAS NEVER BEEN TOLD WITH SUCH HONESTY.”
-YOLK Magazine
A Korean-American 16-year old can go just as wild as any other high school girl, wilder even than the girls in ‘Thirteen.’ Annie Lee’s beautiful Jenny Kim misses nothing on the path of self-destruction. With her it’s not just a case of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll in copious amounts but almost all of their direst consequences: rape, brutality and murder. Jenny’s downward spiral is all too familiar in real life, and … her traditionally conservative Asian ancestry plays … a sharp, fresh edge. Jimmy Lee’s valid point that a connection with one’s ethnic culture can be a source of pride and identity…
-Kevin Thomas, LOS ANGELES TIMES
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