Spa Night is a 2016 American coming-of-agedrama film written and directed by Andrew Ahn (in his feature directorial debut). It stars Joe Seo, Haerry Kim, and Youn Ho Cho. It centers on a closeted Korean-American teenager who, living with his financially struggling immigrant parents, chances upon a secret cruising spot when he takes a job at an all-male spa.
David, an 18-year-old living in Koreatown, Los Angeles becomes an employee at a spa to help his financially struggling parents. He soon discovers illicit gay sex between the customers, which forces him to consider his own sexuality.
While this has been described as a coming out story, the focus is on the internal world of David, and his deep struggles and uncertainty, as a teenager, about how to be a good son but how to also be himself in what is a conservative family and rigid community.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of 25 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "In depicting one man's sexual awakening, Spa Night explores the tension between tradition and individuality with tenderness and compassion."[3]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 76 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[4]
Stephen Holden of The New York Times described Spa Night as "a contemplation of the loneliness, tension and anxiety of outsiders pursuing a piece of the American dream" and "a looming family tragedy of immigrants desperately trying to maintain a foothold in an oppressive, upwardly mobile and conformist subculture."[5]
Sheri Linden of the Los Angeles Times called the film "erotically charged, quietly devastating" and praised that Seo's "sensitive lead performance affectingly expresses the tension between tradition and personal identity."[6]
Nigel M. Smith of The Guardian gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and remarked, "Ahn's muted approach to his material, coupled with the passivity of the film's lead character, leaves Spa Night feeling too cold to fully engage." Smith also commented, "Despite its setting and Korean American cast, Spa Night unfurls in a largely expected manner."[7]
Boyd van Hoeij of The Hollywood Reporter stated, "Ahn subtly teases out his protagonist's inner struggle, often by letting David interact with the small but fine-grained gallery of supporting characters."[8]
Peter Debruge of Variety opined, "Cruising is a tricky dynamic to capture onscreen, and Spa Night only partially succeeds, concerned more with David's bystander curiosity than the sophisticated nonverbal seduction going on around him. Then again, Ahn doesn't aim to sensationalize."[9]
Kate Erbland of IndieWire gave the film a grade of "B-" and noted, "The beautifully lensed drama is, like its protagonist, compelled and often obsessed by the human shape and form, and Ahn's film artfully uses the physical to tell a mostly standard issue coming-of-age story with style."[10]
Sheila O'Malley of RogerEbert.com gave Spa Night 3 out of 4 stars and wrote, "The film is admirable in presenting the issues a gay kid faces in an extremely specific environment, and for resisting a more conventional storyline."[11]
^Morgenstern, Hans (December 23, 2016). "2016 Ffcc Award Winners". Florida Film Critics Circle. Archived from the original on September 25, 2023. Retrieved September 25, 2023.
