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Spa Night

Play trailer Poster for Spa Night 2016 1h 37m Drama LGBTQ+ Play Trailer Watchlist
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96% Tomatometer 26 Reviews 60% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
A closeted Korean-American teenager follows his desires and finds more than he bargains for at a Korean spa.

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Spa Night

Spa Night

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Critics Consensus

In depicting one man's sexual awakening, Spa Night explores the tension between tradition and individuality with tenderness and compassion.

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Critics Reviews

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Kate Erbland IndieWire 01/02/2017
B-
Although Seo and Ahn are able to tap into David's confusion and agony -- especially when filtered through the lens of his damningly hopeful parents -- there's never much more to David (or his story) than that. Go to Full Review G. Allen Johnson San Francisco Chronicle 09/29/2016
3/4
Writer-director Andrew Ahn has made a confident, assured, low-key debut that's a textbook example of how to make a compelling small-budget movie. Go to Full Review Sheri Linden Los Angeles Times 08/25/2016
The assured feature debut by Andrew Ahn is also the story of a young gay man's sexual awakening, and its sensitive lead performance affectingly expresses the tension between tradition and personal identity. Go to Full Review Joe Lipsett The Queer Gaze (Podcast) Dec 1
3.5/5
Ahn's feature debut is beautiful and melancholy. Some may struggle with David's impassivity, but it's arguably the point. Seo is wonderfully captivating in a nearly silent performance. Go to Full Review David Lamble Bay Area Reporter 06/09/2020
With its deft, open-ended ending, Spa Night paints a poignant picture of the role gay men and women are playing in elevating and expanding the definition of success in the early moments of this new Millennium. Go to Full Review Elissa Suh StageBuddy.com 03/13/2020
[It] takes its time letting his desires to build up, reminding us that this is more than a coming-out coming-of-age story as it alternates and intermixes the struggles of immigrant life, and the particular condemnations of nontraditional masculinity. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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08/22/2020 A terrific indie drama, and great portrait of Los Angeles Koreatown See more 05/18/2020 damn that was bad. the plot and the acting.... eh... See more 05/17/2020 Boring and slow. This movie could have been 20 mins long See more Fong Kok Hoong F @RT29722865 04/24/2020 This Sundance debut is an intimately observant drama about a son of migrant parents dogging the American dream in Los Angeles' Koreatown agonizing in his own skin of academic ineptness, flustering sexuality and dereliction of filial piety. See more 01/04/2019 It's a really surreal experience to see my life reflected so much in a piece of media - to the point that I find myself crying and needing to stop. Andrew Ahn's Spa Night (2016) is subtle and slow with its storytelling but has moments of extremely potent emotion stitched into it that gut-punches you every time. Read full review here: jane-han.com/blog/2017/1/29/qthssllycbm0n0yepnyyrs46fduquk See more Richard Y @richyung 04/16/2017 Half baked and unexplained story, way too long, full of static shots, could be reduced by half, should be way more explicit with hetaed sexual scenes, horrible photography with cameras in the wrong position mostly, lighting too bright, waste of a good cast, I wonder if the director has actually visited a gay sauna at all, poor film on an interesting topic. See more Read all reviews
Spa Night

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Cast & Crew

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Andrew Ahn

Director

Joe Seo

David

Haerry Kim

Soyoung

Youn Ho Cho

Jin

Tae Song

Eddie

Ho Young Chung

Spa Manager

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Spa Night

Spa Night (2016) Spa Night (2016) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis A closeted Korean-American teenager follows his desires and finds more than he bargains for at a Korean spa.
Director
Andrew Ahn
Producer
David Ariniello, Giulia Caruso, Ki Jin Kim, Kelly Thomas
Screenwriter
Andrew Ahn
Distributor
Strand Releasing
Production Co
Strand Releasing
Genre
Drama, LGBTQ+
Original Language
Korean
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 19, 2016, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 6, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$37.5K
Runtime
1h 37m
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