Nashville Film Festival 56: "The American" Review

Title screen of "The American," courtesy of Nashville Film Festival

Leo Joo’s incredible performance drives an absurd yet chilling narrative in the dark-comedy short film “The American.” 

Although it runs a mere fifteen minutes, the film, written and directed by Bryan Yanbing Lee, boasts the level of writing and production typically found in a high-budget Hollywood blockbuster. 

The writing itself leads the viewer in what feels like a series of switchbacks as it isn’t immediately clear whether the audience is meant to laugh or recoil in horror.

With stunning yet visceral shots, the director of photography, Jason Wang, immerses viewers in the story almost immediately and pulls on every string of emotion possible, dealing with levels of trauma that white Americans can only scuff the surface of. 

It’s unclear whether a feature-length version of this film would serve better as a cynical political satire or a depressingly funny psychological horror akin to “Black Mirror” and “American Horror Story”, but either way, the cohesive and confident production style from Chris Zilong Wang and Jessica Yiwen Qian proves they can compete with even the most prestigious of filmmakers. 

Possibly the most unsettling moment is one at the end, where Holly Cinnamon’s character praised the Asian-American president, played by Joo, for shooting a defenseless woman and said, “That was the most American thing I’ve ever seen you do.”

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This article was written by Haley Ramsey.