A-Town Boyz

Directed by Eunice Lau, A-Town Boyz follows three Asian Americans (gang leader Eugene Chung and aspiring hip hop artists Harrison “Vickz” Kim and Jamy “Bizzy” Long) as they pursue their dreams against a backdrop of illegal activities. Filmmaker Lau delivers an intimate, fly-on-the-wall documentary that effectively paints a vivid portrait of her subjects’ less-than-lawful comings and goings, as the movie details the ups and downs of the central threesome’s professional and personal lives – with the picture at its best when focused on the trio’s efforts at sustaining something resembling a normal home life. (The ongoing emphasis on one such individual’s family existence, complete with interviews with his girlfriend, provides the movie with its most poignant moments.) And while none of the three men come off as particularly sympathetic or even likeable (eg one subject equates people being afraid of him with respect), A-Town Boyz is, for the most part, a compelling documentary that provides an eye-opening look at the seedier side of the American dream.

**1/2 out of ****