A pair of Japanese siblings get stranded in small-town California and become friends with other twentysomethings they meet, despite the complete lack of a common verbal language.
Acting
Cory Zacharia's performance is uncomfortably real — you can't look away.
Direction
Ott captures mumblecore intimacy without the self-conscious cleverness.
Director
Mike Ott
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Lead actor Cory Zacharia was a non-actor discovered at a karaoke bar in Little Rock, Arkansas; his character's delusional grandeur reportedly mirrors his own personality.
Part of the 'mumblecore' movement that dominated late-2000s indie cinema, though Ott hybridized it with slow cinema's contemplative immigrant narratives — a rare American film that treats language barrier as formal device, not plot obstacle.
US
