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Shortcomings
A graphic mystery of human desire
By Cara Bayles
del.ico.us
reddit!
Adrian Tomine (of Optic Nerve fame) makes gestures to graphic novels' origins. Like his predecessors Will Eisner and Frank Miller, he borrows from the film noir tradition with his stark black and white illustrations, his choice of settings (bars, empty apartments, movie theaters, and alleys in New York and San Francisco), and his miserable antihero, Ben Tanaka. But the mystery of Shortcomings isn't a murder or a jewel heist; it's what makes Ben tick.
Ben, a 30-year-old theater manager of Japanese heritage constantly quarrels with his girlfriend, Miko, about pretty much everything. He's snarky and unsupportive, and Miko suspects he has a thing for white women. The more we watch Ben stumble through romantic relationships, the uglier attraction becomes.
The comic drops a heap of political identity buzzwords—assimilation, fetishization, white-washing, coming-out—but manages to do so in ways that are intrinsic to the plot, so it never reaches the level of polemic. Rather than telling you that the personal and the political are inextricably linked, Tomine shows it through raw character action that explores the strings that tie people together, and how fragile those knots are.
ADRIAN TOMINE
THU. 2.28.08
THE BRATTLE THEATRE
40 BRATTLE ST.
CAMBRIDGE
HARVARD SQ.
617.876.6837
6PM/$5
BRATTLEFILM.ORG
