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. 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. Read the full review
A coming-of-age film about 13-year-old Ernest, who is growing up in the sleazy motel his mother owns. Misunderstood by his family and blindly careening into puberty, he befriends Sam, a charismatic but self-destructive man who has recently checked into the motel. Sam decides to take Ernest under his wing and teach the fatherless boy the rites of manhood.
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
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: B+
"... among the best character studies of the year."
The Palm Beach Post: B
"... a well-observed slice of life that might take you back to your feelings when you were Ernest's age."
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