Before the title credits roll, childhood friends Ryan (Harrison Xu) and Daniel (Ivan Leung), aspiring actors living in Los Angeles, spend one last weekend together creating a movie before Ryan moves to Canada with his fiancé. The first fifteen minutes are spent determining the film’s subject. Ryan, who is more of an auteur, says, “It’s like an Indie-arthouse Terrance Malick sort of thing.”
Daniel, the duo’s high-hipster doofus, doesn’t know who Malick is. Instead, the struggling actors make a gayish “meta-Asian-stoner-coming-of-age bromantic dramedy.” It is most likely the first of its kind, and therein lies the subtle genius of “Extremely Unique Dynamic.”
Ryan and Daniel decided to make a movie about friends making a movie about friends making a movie about friends making a movie. They create new character names, and those characters pick names. The layers are slapped on like quilts on a bed on a frigid winter night. It spirals out of control rather quickly, and things get very meta. Picture “The Watermelon Woman” mixed with “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle,” and add a dash of “But I’m a Cheerleader.”
The two grab a whiteboard and some Dry-Erase markers and discuss the finer points of filmmaking. They decide that every film needs four things: interesting characters, a great dynamic, a good plot, and a secret revelation.
Danny says, “What if my character is secretly gay?”
Danny uses his character in the film-within-the-film to come out to his friend in (what passes for) real-life [Leung is an out gay actor].
Side note: The film blurs the lines between cinema and reality, and some of it gets lost in the weeds, literally and figuratively, as the creators may or may not have been high during filming.
There’s a hilarious cameo by Hudson Yang (“Fresh Off the Boat”) playing a slightly wobbly version of himself. Every time he appears, bold comic sans title cards announce him as “Hudson Yang from “Fresh Off the Boat.’”
When Ryan becomes frustrated with Danny, he calls in another Dan (Nathan Doan) to hang out with them. The Other Dan enters the house right at the climax of an argument between the two lifelong pals. The Other Dan has very few lines, but his facial expressions convey volumes.
The movie is interspersed with faux-home movies from Dan and Ryan’s childhood., but Young Ryan (Lucas Lui) and Young Daniel (Jason Sun) are actors (the two filmmakers met in an acting class in Los Angeles and were not childhood besties like their movie counterparts).
The movie is silly but makes a sharp point about Asian stereotypes. Danny and Ryan are like no other Asian men in film, giving the movie some depth. If you’re looking for an Avant-garde masterpiece, “Extremely Unique Dynamic,” look elsewhere. It is, however, a buoyant and witty tale about friendships between straight and gay men.
“Extremely Unique Dynamic” is at its best when it explores the feelings of its main characters. There is an unnecessary montage of Los Angeles landmarks, but when the boys end up on a rainbow crosswalk in the heart of West Hollywood, Ryan cheekily announces, “What is this place? I’ve never been here before.” The apparent lie creates a gargantuan laugh.
Leung’s malleable face contorts into delightful gawks, smirks, sneers, pouts, and grimaces. He is a joy to watch. Xu is charming, but the lion’s share of laughs come from Leung.
Whether or not there’s a solid script in “Extremely Unique Dynamic,” the movie feels adlibbed, but it also has beautiful moments of sincerity.
Unlike most LGBTQ films, there are no sex scenes in “Extremely Unique Dynamic,” and, frankly, the movie doesn’t need any salacious moments to make its point. The two barely hug. If you’re looking for more titillating material, you may get a small thrill with Xu exercises shirtless.
Xu and Leung directed “Extremely Unique Dynamic,” with Katherine Dudas. Dudas makes a surprise cameo at the end of the Film, which is a laugh-out-loud moment. It’s also one of Xu’s funniest moments.
Xu and Leang have an extremely unique dynamic, and their movie, “Extremely Unique Dynamic” proves it.
“Extremely Unique Dynamic” will screen on October 12, 2024, the Reel Q Film Festival’s Closing Movie, at 9:00 pm at The Harris Theater, 809 Liberty Ave, Pittsburgh, PA. For more information, click here.