I Was a Simple Man

I Was a Simple Man is an American family drama film written and directed by Christopher Makoto Yogi.[3] The film stars Steve Iwamoto, Constance Wu, Tim Chiou and Kanoa Goo.[1]

I Was a Simple Man
A poster featuring several people by a tree.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byChristopher Makoto Yogi
Written byChristopher Makoto Yogi
Produced bySarah Kim
Starring
CinematographyEunsoo Cho
Edited byChristopher Makoto Yogi
Music by
Production
companies
  • Talk Tree
  • Flies Collective
Distributed byStrand Releasing
Release dates
  • January 29, 2021 (2021-01-29) (Sundance)[1]
  • November 19, 2021 (2021-11-19) (United States)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryUnited States
Languages
  • English
  • Hawaiian
  • Chinese
  • Japanese
Box office$12,669[2]

The film has its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on January 29, 2021, and received a limited theatrical release in the United States on November 19, 2021, by Strand Releasing.[1]

Plot

As a family in Hawai'i faces the imminent death of their eldest, the ghosts of the past haunt the countryside.

— Variety[4]

Cast

The cast includes:[5]

  • Steve Iwamoto as Masao Matsuyoshi
  • Constance Wu as Grace
  • Tim Chiou as Adult Masao
  • Kanoa Goo as Gavin
  • Chanel Akiko Hirai as Kati
  • Nelson Lee as Mark
  • Hau'oli Carr as Ashley
  • Kyle Kosaki as Young Masao
  • Boonyanudh Jiyarom as Young Grace

Reception

The film won the Grand Jury Award at the San Diego Asian Film Festival.[6] It also won the Grand Jury Prize at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and the Made in Hawai‘i Award at the Hawai‘i International Film Festival.[7][8]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 24 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.00/10. The website's consensus reads: "I Was a Simple Man tells a simple story whose deceptively straightforward approach yields richly melancholic rewards." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 83 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". It was named the fourth best film of 2021 in the New Yorker Magazine, where film critic Richard Brody called it "one of the great films about death."[9] Roxana Hadadi wrote on RogerEbert.com that the film is a "100-minute spell of beauty and melancholy, intimate and grand in equal measure",[10] while David Ehrlich of IndieWire called it "masterful" and dubbed it a "Critics Pick".[11]

References
  1. "Sundance - FPG". Sundance. Archived from the original on February 19, 2021. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  2. "I Was a Simple Man (2021)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
  3. Ramos, Dino-Ray (January 29, 2021). "Filmmaker Christopher Makoto Yogi Visits Ghosts Of Memories Past In Familial Drama 'I Was A Simple Man' – Sundance Studio". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  4. Debruge, Peter (December 15, 2020). "Sundance Film Festival Lineup Features 38 First-Time Directors, Including Rebecca Hall and Robin Wright". Variety. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  5. "Film and TV Projects Going Into Production - I Was a Simple Man". Variety Insight. Archived from the original on March 21, 2021. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  6. "ANNOUNCING THE 2021 SDAFF AWARD WINNERS". 2021 San Diego Asian Film Festival. November 6, 2021. Archived from the original on November 7, 2021. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  7. Le, Anderson (November 15, 2021). "HIFF41 Announces Festival Award Winners | Hawai'i International Film Festival". Retrieved December 19, 2021.
  8. "37th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival Announces Award Winners". 2021 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. Retrieved December 19, 2021.
  9. "The Best Movies of 2021". The New Yorker. December 2, 2021. Retrieved December 19, 2021.
  10. Hadadi, Roxana. "I Was a Simple Man movie review (2021) | Roger Ebert". www.rogerebert.com/. Retrieved December 19, 2021.
  11. Ehrlich, David (January 29, 2021). "'I Was a Simple Man' Review: Constance Wu Stars in a Hushed and Haunting Hawaii Ghost Story". IndieWire. Retrieved December 19, 2021.


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