Logline
When an insecure woman goes on a date at a traditional Japanese tea house, her best friend's advice about white guys with Asian fetishes threatens to ruin her love life and her sanity.
Director's Statement
Wabi-Sabi is a Japanese philosophy which embraces the beauty of simplicity, flaws, and the effects of time and imperfections. The wabi-sabi approach to life is to accept what is, stay in the present, and appreciate the transient nature of life.
In this film, our characters are not there yet. The modern world is too often sadly focused on materialism, status comparison, and perfectionism. The perpetual lie we are told is that we are not good enough. It’s no wonder that finding authentic connection and romantic love is so difficult when everyone seeks perfection in others and in themselves - even though perfection does not exist.
This is a story about people who want to connect and the thousand little cuts that get in the way.
A white guy, Peter, invites Reiko, a biracial white and Japanese American woman, to a teahouse for a first date. Her best friend, Nina, warns her that this is a red flag for a white guy with a Japanese fetish. Since Reiko is already insecure that she is not Japanese enough, Peter’s erudite knowledge of Japanese culture and his connection with Keiko -- the tea ceremony artist from Japan -- magnifies Reiko’s insecurity. What is supposed to be a simple first date gets painfully complicated, all leading to a shattered, broken mess.
The form of this film reflects the story. In an East meets West blend, and reflecting my own point of view as a third culture kid and homegrown American film nerd, this modern American rom com also gives homage to classical Japanese cinema. First dates are already awkward enough. Everyone tries so hard to hide their flaws and be the perfect version of themselves, all in a desperate search for love. But there is beauty in the embarrassment. There is beauty in mending broken objects.
Kintsugi, an ancient art form that stems from wabi-sabi, wherein you fix broken objects with gold fillings and give them “golden scars” reminds us that there is elegance in our imperfections because they tell a story.
