BFI London Film Festival 2023: Shortcomings
In a way, Shortcomings was the perfect film to open up the London Film Festival this year. More often than not, deciding what to see in this context is based on minimal information. It might be a screenshot, a brief synopsis or just a director’s name. Sometimes, if we’re honest, it’s the run time. In this case, it was precisely that. Its direct opponent was Steve McQueen’s 4-hour epic documentary Occupied City.
Sometimes the choice is made before we even get that far, because a loved one is involved in a film that’s screening. That’s exactly where Shortcomings begins. Ben (Justin H. Min) has been dragged along to see “Just the Beginning” at an Asian film festival - a film that his girlfriend, Miko (Ally Maki), is presented as being the auteur behind. The big problem for Ben is that it isn’t very good, and as an aspiring filmmaker himself, he isn’t planning to hide his disdain for it.
There are shades of High Fidelity and Don Jon in that Ben is, essentially, a flawed asshole who’s forced to learn the error of his ways through his romantic relationships. He’s arrogant, dismissive and selfish, but it’s all a front that he uses to hide his low self-esteem. While we’re encouraged repeatedly to see Ben’s flaws, his redeeming feature is that he’s just about interesting enough to carry some insightful conversations about minority representation in film, and the fetishisation of different cultures. Those who missed the hype for Everything Everywhere All at Once might find themselves nodding along to some of his less egregious monologues.
There are elements that could have been more subtle - at one point we’re literally told by Ben’s friend, Alice (Sherry Cola), exactly what conclusions we’re supposed to be drawing about him - but Shortcomings has a self-awareness that narrowly makes that okay. The butt of a lot of the humour throughout is the film itself, and it’s difficult not to be charmed by a romcom that has no intention to be taken any more seriously than we want to take it.
Shortcomings won’t be remembered as a classic, nor will it gain any kind of cult status, but that’s okay. There’s space in the world, and certainly at film festivals, for smaller films that just plan to make us smile for a while. That’s all we need from this one, and it’s all it gives us.
★★★☆☆