By Omeleto
.
.
Ryan and Kev are two best friends who flee high school and skip class, wandering around town and hanging out. They talk about girls, past experiences they’ve shared, kick around a can like a soccer ball.
But they haven’t quite discussed the future, where the pair will go their separate ways to different colleges. Ryan can’t wait to leave the San Gabriel Valley where they live and head to Stanford in the fall. But Kev doesn’t understand why his friend feels the way he does. When they run into Ryan’s crush, Elaine, the underlying differences in temperament and worldview between the two boys widen into a chasm, one that pushes tension to the surface and forces them to make sense of their friendship.
Written and directed by Allan Zhang Tran with a warm, engaging eye and ear for his young characters, this short coming-of-age drama is a seemingly loose, amiable snapshot of two friends facing the precipice of adulthood. But it sharpens into a meditation on the complexities of friendship where feelings of jealousy, vulnerability and betrayal go unsaid but never swim far from the surface.
The writing and direction handle this emotional terrain with great patience and grace, establishing an unhurried pace and understated atmosphere that gives these characters plenty of room to be who they are. It laces moments of visual lyricism reminiscent of Wong Kar-Wai with a slice-of-life naturalism that captures the colors and textures of the San Gabriel Valley, which we experience alongside the pair as they wander about during their skip day. In many ways, the friends are typical teens hanging out and talking smack as they kill time together, suspended in suburbia as they wait for their real lives and selves to begin.
But underneath the jocular rapport are their insecurities, hopes and fears. These drive their choices and behavior, though they can’t yet articulate why or how. Actors Bloom Li and Ray Yamamoto as Ryan and Kev, respectively, capture both the distinctive demeanors of their characters, with one being more introverted and the other more outwardly confident. But they both can dig deep into the vulnerabilities and fears of their characters with compelling honesty and authenticity. Their underlying tension boils into outright conflict, which forces everything into the open and alters the tenor of their relationship going forward.
“Valley” ends with a pair of scenes that show the friends in their separate homes, and we get a glimpse of the unique pressures they face, both as young men and as Asian Americans. Together the scenes show just what their friendship offers Ryan and Kev: a space to be themselves. It’s a quietly moving conclusion to a film that seems modest and unassuming on the surface but grows richer and more resonant as we spend more time with the characters and understand their inner worlds. Though it has great specificity of character and location, ultimately “Valley” leaves viewers in a thoughtful, wistful space of appreciation for those friends that we grow up with. Even as life takes us to different places, they always retain their affection in our hearts and memories, with an honored part in the story of our lives.
Transcript provided by YouTube:
let’s
go let’s go
[Music]
[Music]
good [ __ ] man
good [ __ ]
look at you man little ryan growing up
i didn’t even think you’d do that [ __ ]
[ __ ]
i never thought i’d see the day you
rediction man
and what’s the name of that girl that
you were into since like uh sophomore
year what’s your name
jack what are you talking about
nika
no it was like
it’s celine
elaine
big titties i know what you say
like i respect it you try titty [ __ ]
that dude i get it bro i like that hey i
like her smile
her smile
what are you [ __ ] gay bro hey [ __ ]
you all right look
she’s got a warmth about her oh warmth
what the [ __ ] bro she’s not a space
heater okay bro [ __ ] psycho what i’m
talking about yeah i do know you’re a
[ __ ]
man you at least talk to her right like
because you’re in your classes and
whatnot
yeah we talk yeah yeah all right good
yeah okay so what’s the last thing you
said
i like your shoes
what
yeah i told her i like her shoes
pro
telling her you like her [ __ ]
sketchers is not gonna get you anywhere
skechers i don’t give a [ __ ] what she’s
wearing the point is girls don’t [ __ ]
guys who just be cocking their footwear
give me that [ __ ] what you doing
wow
is
yo remember back in chinese school we
spit bubba at each other all over the
[ __ ] courtyard yeah every saturday
yeah and afterwards your palms pick us
up and take us to a noodle joint down
the street
that’s kind of crazy
oh your mom been since
shy
regular [ __ ] you know
yeah it’s me
what’s up what yeah
what you gonna do about what’s up you
won’t do [ __ ] [ __ ] you
[ __ ] stupid-ass [ __ ] look at that
[ __ ] [ __ ] up
[Music]
so
[Music]
[Music]
maybe
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
because
you ever think about leaving
leaving
like
can’t wait for this year to be over with
be off to college
out of the san gabriel valley
[ __ ] this place
but this this place is your home
i don’t know it’s like here
i’m being exactly who i’m expected to be
this is stupid man talking like this
i mean [ __ ] everyone feels that way
sometimes bro not you
like if we’re being honest or whatever
i always envy that part about you
that you’re exactly who you want to be
i never felt that
so what you’re gonna leave
what’s that gonna do
you’re gonna move up and down the
country six seven times
change everything around you nothing
about you
that’s where it starts man
i don’t know maybe when i’m when i’m up
at stanford
i could change
you know the new environment in stanford
yeah i applied
oh yeah
stanford
and what’s that supposed to mean i said
man
i just didn’t think stanford was like a
option you know that’s my number one
choice okay you’re a smart kid you know
i just didn’t think stanford smart i
thought maybe like
uc
san diego
at least i’m [ __ ] going to college
all right
okay
[Music]
[Applause]
hi can i get
one thank you
what’s up
you have like really nice skin you know
like i’ve been trying to fix up my skin
because like i’ve been trying those like
we’ve been fixing yeah those korean like
12-step face mask things like i’ve been
trying to do that but it’s not really
working because like i don’t know i feel
like it’s kind of the same i actually
use them well i try to but it’s in
korean oh look look who’s here
what’s up man
you know this kid right
ryan ap physics right
yeah yeah
elaine
yeah
kicks
oh uh thanks hey sketches
no
oh uh how’d you do on the practice exam
practice exam
in class today we skipped out before
second period you didn’t notice that
ryan wasn’t in class well it’s a huge
[ __ ] class
and honestly
didn’t know you could talk until now
i’m kidding
but seriously though
didn’t take you for the type to ditch
first time for everything i guess oh man
ryan’s becoming a man
plus all you got to do now is get your v
card right
come on elaine don’t be so surprised
look how he dresses
he’s got the first team all virgin
jersey on today
number zero again zero [ __ ]
why are you such a [ __ ] dick
on the reel though you could help him
out you know come off the bench you got
all the equipment from a little assist
like chris paul
[ __ ] up oh
hey
ah ask me you’re good
you’re crazy
hey
what’s up guys i should um oh [ __ ] hey
i’ll do it
guys
i should probably hey i can fight
i think i should get going
yo yo yo
what are you a ninja
yo ryan you gonna help me out get this
[ __ ] off me bro hey yo that hurt
oh
you all right
hell
hey what’s up
hey come on
you [ __ ] off man
everything’s just so [ __ ] easy for
you right
like it’s all a joke
like you’re tough right what are you
talking about man i was trying to help
you up the [ __ ]
are you serious right now
calling me out like that in front of her
i mean yeah i mean it’s not my [ __ ]
fault you got a zero game
[Music]
[ __ ] you
[Music]
guys
[ __ ]
[ __ ]
[ __ ]
so
i know that sometimes i could
be difficult but like
sometimes that shit’s easier you know
all my life i thought like
one day i just
change you know like one morning i just
wake up and be better and
[ __ ] stupid
and that like my parents you know could
look at me and be like
that’s my kid
like that’s my son
i [ __ ] it up
wow i didn’t i didn’t even start my life
and i’m a [ __ ]
[ __ ] [ __ ] you’re not a [ __ ]
all that [ __ ] i said earlier
[ __ ] that all right
you know you’re my only [ __ ] friend
right
for real
nobody else knows who i am as a person
that [ __ ] you said to me earlier about
being who i want to be
you think i know you don’t think i want
more out of this you know i want to i
want to help my mom
feel me
i know i don’t want to be some [ __ ]
piece of [ __ ] disappointment
i’m gonna be a [ __ ] man
i was hoping i’d change
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
oh
[Music]
[Applause]
wow
[Applause]
[Music]
[Music]
kevin
come on
[Music]
she
foreign
um
okay
right
hannah
tonight
so
[Music]
so
[Music]
so
[Music]
you
—
This post was previously published on YouTube.
***
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