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Honesty, integrity mark 'The Motel'

Writer-director Michael Kang's first feature — "The Motel" — is a sensitive, enlightening slice-of-life study of 13-year-old Chinese-American Ernest (Jeffrey Chyau), who works for his single mom at her sleazy, prostitute-populated motel.

Palm Pictures 'The Motel' B+ The verdict: An interesting, artfully made character film about being 13 and Asian-American. Director: Michael Kang Starring: Jeffrey Chyau, Sung Kang, Jade Wu, Samantha Futerman, Alexis Chang Run time: 76 minutes Release date: June 28, 2006 Rating: Not rated, but contains sexual situations, language, and brief violence. On the web Official movie site Rate 'The Motel'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

Ernest's hormones are raging and so is his mother, who better understands how to use a baseball bat to get owing customers to pay up than she does her son's Americanized view of living and his inner need to write an essay about his life at her rundown establishment.

The film is most enlightening in its little moments — the chubby Ernest in one scene pretending to battle "Star Wars"-style against invisible intruders and then in another, finding a nudie mag and making moves to practice intercourse.

There is honesty and integrity in the filmmaking and the performances, which make "The Motel" among the best character studies of the year.