Happy Cleaners is a 2019 drama about a family who lose their dry cleaning business, and learn to survive the crisis and heartaches that they cause each other.
Do a quick Google search of Korean movies and you’ll see a long list of big budget stylistic action films, packed with hyper violence, overt sexuality, probably some zombies or ghosts, and lots of wild visual effects. Many are critically-acclaimed, rightfully so, but most Western audiences aren’t all that familiar with smaller titles that are more grounded in authenticity, though thanks to streaming services like Netflix, wider exposure is growing. Now comes co-directors Julian Kim and Peter S. Lee‘s Korean-American made Happy Cleaners, a movie that aims to portray a more realistic point of view of a Korean family living in the United States. It’s an honest and understated effort focused on a generation gap that often leaves this a touching and enlightening experience.
In Flushing, New York, Kevin Choi (Yun Jeong) is a restless college-aged man struggling with his place in the world. His grown but younger sister Hyunny (Yeena Sung) – studying to be a doctor – is considering marrying her longtime, but not successful, boyfriend (Jaeki Cho). Both Kevin and Hyunny live with their parents, Dad (Charles Ryu) and Mom (Hyang-hwa Lim), who have been running a steadily declining dry cleaners for more than a decade, with financial ruin on the horizon. Kevin doesn’t want to stay in the business, instead, open a food truck in Los Angeles, getting started on his own on the streets near his home. As collapse endangers the family, with children and parents clashing, there seems no hope to save it all.
What does it mean to be ‘American’? Both Kevin and Hyunny were born in the states and think of themselves as such, while feeling connection to their culture, something that their parents – and grandmother (Jaehee Wilder) – have yet to take hold of, embracing their roots more than the American way of life. As Mom and Dad seek avenues to save the business, including new jobs, the film puts most of its efforts on the pressures mounting between Kevin and his parents. It’s a classic story of leaving the nest told with great respect to people from two different worlds.
Spoken in English, mostly by the younger cast, and in Korean, by the elders, Happy Cleaners explores the stereotypes and expectations often heaped on Koreans in the states while pulling back the curtain to reveal the humanity behind them. It touches on responsibility, commitment, legacy, and fate while feeling very accessible. This isn’t trying to be melodramatic or overreaching in its message, but rather a simple examination of immigrant life two generations lived into their adopted home.
What’s most affecting about Happy Cleaners is how quickly it sheds the ‘this is a Korean movie’ expectation for a genuine personal experience, making this well-balanced about what it means to be Korean in America while being mostly about family. There are no big actions scenes, no gunplay or ghosts, zombies or special effects, yet it remains an authentic Korean and American story. Highly recommended.