The All-American

A Korean American teen is deported to his birth country in Milan’s stark debut. Aspiring football player Bucky, who was born in South Korea, was raised by his stepmom in Tibicut, Wash., after his Korean father abandoned him there as a small child and his mother died. When Bucky’s uncle robs a car dealership, Bucky tries to intervene but is arrested. The police then uncover an error in his citizenship documents, and he’s deported to South Korea. Unable to even say his birth name of Yi Beyonghak let alone speak Korean, he works as a barback and searches in vain for his father. After a few months, he is granted permission to return to the U.S., but is pressed into South Korean military service before he can leave. During his grueling basic training, he’s hazed by other conscripts, only one of whom will talk to him, the geeky Chong Junho. Bucky figures out from garnishes on his paycheck that his father has taken out massive loans in his name, and after being caught sneaking into a superior’s office to call his stepmother for help, he and Junho are dispatched to a remote island. The setup is convincingly Kafkaesque (if devoid of absurd humor), and Milan skillfully captures Bucky’s increasing disorientation. This is a memorable riff on identity. (Apr.)