Golden Delicious
Jason Karman’s debut feature is more than just a standard coming-of-age coming-out drama.
Jason Karman is a gay filmmaker whose family moved from Indonesia to Canada and who is here making his first feature film. In it the central character is an Asian Canadian named Jake Wong (Cardi Wong) who at the age of seventeen is struggling to define his own sexuality. Although the film’s screenplay is not by Karman but by Gorrman Lee, the two men have worked together before and it is scarcely chance that this is a film that comes close to echoing Karman’s own experiences including the sense of obligation to his family that is felt by Jake (Karman himself has spoken of the inhibitions that he felt early on through being the oldest child of his parents and someone who was expected to be a role model).
Despite these personal connections, Golden Delicious clearly belongs to that very well-established genre in gay cinema, the coming out story. However, it deviates in certain ways from the standard model and that adds to its interest although it is reasonable to feel that the film has been lucky in picking up as many as ten awards at film festivals. Many films of this kind are so firmly centred on the character who is coming out that the other figures play a somewhat limited role by comparison (the most common are a homophobic bully to contend with and parents who either accept or reject their gay child). Golden Delicious, which is set in Vancouver and features high school students who play basketball, does conform to type in that the team’s captain (Jesse Hyde) is a bully. He targets both the closeted Jake and a newcomer to the area, Aleks (Chris Carson), who is openly gay and is now living next door to Jake and his family. The latter include Jake’s parents who had married young – George (Ryan Mah) and Andrea (Leeah Wong) – and Jake’s sister Janet (Claudia Kai).
Made as recently as 2022 Golden Delicious does portray the modern world so, despite the bullying that occurs, being gay is seen as far more widely acceptable than was the case in films of an earlier era. However, the film does also reflect the present day in the widespread use by kids of phones which can lead to the risk of humiliating intimate images going viral. Nevertheless, the main thing that differentiates Karman’s film is the way in which its treatment of the gay issue is broadened. In this respect it reminded me of the memorable British film made back in 1998, Get Real, which made a point of handling its coming out story in a way to which non-gay audiences could readily relate. The aim in Golden Delicious seems to be much the same. It is partly achieved through elements unrelated to sexuality. Thus, we find that Jake’s parents who run a restaurant that is a family business are at loggerheads and that leads to tensions at home. Dad, who in earlier days had suffered an injury that took him out of basketball, wants to see Jake following in his footsteps while mother, disillusioned by running the restaurant, fails to support her daughter’s desire to develop the skills she is learning at culinary school. Both children suffer from these pressures and many young viewers will identify with their situation.
Even more importantly, Golden Delicious portrays Jake as a youth in the process of discovering his sexuality and thus as someone who has a girlfriend. She is Valerie (Parmiss Sehat) who recognises the real bond between them and who in time pushes him into sex with her. Far from Valerie being a subsidiary character, the role is well written and well played and it is Jake’s sense of commitment to her that makes it all the more difficult for him to accept that it is in Aleks that he is finding his true love. Indeed, if Jake feels that he would be letting down his father if he did not play up to the sporty male image expected of him, he no less strongly experiences a sense of guilt over his inadvertent betrayal of Valerie. What she suffers in consequence is by no means ignored.
All of this makes Golden Delicious an interesting film, albeit one with a catchpenny title since Golden Delicious is the name of the Chinese restaurant and has little bearing on the film which also chooses to make only passing reference to its interracial aspects. But, if there is plenty to appeal here, the film unfortunately has its downsides too. Initially the slowish space is welcome as an opportunity to get to know the characters well, but ultimately a two-hour running time seems excessive and as the tale develops more momentum would have been welcome. Furthermore, the screenplay doesn't explore all the issues involved as fully as it should and then when it reaches a conclusion it opts all too easily for a wide-scale happy ending that is less than wholly persuasive. Theoretically there is another fault too in that Cardi Wong in the key role of Jake is strictly speaking too old to be cast as a teenager. But in the event this casting works for the film because Cardi Wong is immensely engaging: he has a warmth that readily encourages empathy with Jake and what is more he has the appeal of a true film star as is apparent from this, his first leading role. Faultless the film is not, but there is a lot that is very pleasing about Golden Delicious and that certainly includes its male lead.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Cardi Wong, Chris Carson, Parmiss Sehat, Ryan Mah, Leeah Wong, Claudia Kai, Jesse Hyde, Hunter Dillon, Zavien Garrett, Jeff Joseph.
Dir Jason Karman, Pro Kristyn Stilling, Screenplay Gorrman Lee, Ph Alfonso Chin, Pro Des Jordan Bent, Ed Mike Jackson, Music Mary Ancheta, Costumes Karyna Barros.
Golden Delicious Films-Peccadillo Pictures.
120 mins. Canada. 2022. UK Rel: 30 October 2023. Available on digital platforms. Cert. 15.
