There’s a moment in The Debut where the protagonist, Ben, is called a “chink” during a drinking game.

Shocked and appalled.  “I’m not even Chinese,” he says.

Ben Mercado is a young Filipino American at the end of his senior year of high school.  He’s got a passion and talent for art and desperately wants to attend art school the following year.  He studies hard, he works hard, and even sells his prized comic book collection to pay for his first year in full.  His father, Roland, disapproves, as fathers often do.

Things come to head when Ben’s younger sister has her “debut.”  A Filipino tradition in a similar vein of a Debutante ball or the Spanish quinceañera.  It’s a party filled with food, dancing, music, and family.  Problems are exacerbated by the presence of Ben’s grandfather who has a similarly troubled relationship with Ben’s father.  Masculine, stern, and distant.  All the while, Ben is torn between the world of his Filipino family life and the keg party his white friends are attending.

The Debut is a light romantic comedy that reminded me of My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002).  Both films exist in the world of “light comedy/drama” but end up being distinctly unique because of the their underlying questions of identity and family tradition.  Ben is far from a traditional Filipino.  He doesn’t understand the native tongue, he doesn’t participate in the traditional dancing, and hangs with a group of mainly white friends.

What I really admired about the The Debut is something many people may fault it for.  The film is clearly a low-budget production with all the trapping that come from such a film.  Some awkward acting, stilted dialogue, and a noticeable lack of variety in shooting locations.  However, this is exactly I like best about the film. There’s a very tangible sense of inspiration and passion behind making a movie like this.  It’s incredibly inspiring when a group of people band together to make a film about something they believe in.  Especially a film like The Debut, whereit’s about a group of people who have often been marginalized in Hollywood.  According to the Wikipedia page, the director had trouble getting the movie funded to begin with.  Being Halloween season, I’m reminded of my favorite horror film The Evil Dead (1981).  There’s something charming about a group of film students throwing buckets of blood on each other in the middle of the woods.  The Debut has a similar appeal for me.  This is our movie and we’re going to make it our way.

I noticed a striking resemblance to a previous text, Donald Duk.  Both center around young men who struggle with their Asian identity and in both works, the main characters have white friends who seemingly embrace and enjoy the culture more than our narrator/main character.  They’re able to see the culture and tradition through a new set of eyes.