The Comedown

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A free-spirited DJ, ready to leave the country due to an expiring visa, must face her fear of commitment when her stoner friend-with-benefits proposes a green card marriage on the eve of her departure.

13 min 15 sec / USA / 2020

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12571528/

Entering 2020/2021 Film Festival Circuit

Director’s Statement

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that I wrote and directed this film during my engagement to my now-wife who was then living across the ocean in Japan. We had dated each other for a few years in New York before her visa ran out, and we decided to get engaged while she was in Japan with plans of reuniting in a few years once I was finished with graduate school and she was finished with a few years of her current job. During those years apart I began to wonder about the future- my reasons for wanting marriage when my whole life I had never wanted it, my fears of commitment, my anxieties of moving too fast- would I regret this decision? Was I only getting married because of visa issues? Do I really love this person enough to spend the rest of my life with her?

For me it was easy- yes, yes yes- I love this woman more than anything! However, I have countless Korean American artist friends who have been burdened with artist visa issues- to the point where some of them had to get married to stay in the country to pursue their artistic dreams. Luckily, I am truly- to this day, madly- in love with my wife, but what if I wasn’t? What if I only got married because of other reasons- visa reasons? Or because it was the least terrible choice? Would I marry somebody I didn’t love if it allowed me a better chance to grow into the artist that I want to be? Why do I have to make such a big decision just to be a little bit happier? Is happiness, even if it is drug induced or hedonistic, only a privilege for those born on certain pieces of land? Like most of my films, this one stemmed from my deepest fears and insecurities and grew out of all the what-ifs in my mind that revolved around worst case scenarios.

With the aid of conversations with friends going through visa issues of their own and hearing about relationships pressured and doomed because of distance or legal reasons, I set out on making this film. I wanted to make a film that commented on the absurdity of the difficulty of migration- that dealt with the tragedy of wanting to feel free in a world full of forced commitments- that suggests a hedonistic person is just as worthy of a visa as anybody else because the mere idea of being “worthy” of a place is a problematic issue in itself- and that explores the inner conflicts a lot of Korean-American artists deal with when it comes to issues of belonging, identity, and home. Greena might be a reflection of the worst possible version of myself, but doesn’t that person still have the right to live the way that they want to?