Shortcomings Screenplay

The annotated and expanded screenplay adaptation of the landmark graphic novel Ben and Miko's relationship is in trouble. He's a struggling filmmaker, she works for a local film festival, and in various ways, they're both searching for something else. When he's not managing a derelict movie theater, Ben spends his time obsessing over unavailable blonde women, watching Criterion Collection DVDs, and eating in diners with his best friend Alice, a grad student with a serial dating habit. When Miko moves to New York for an internship, Ben begins to explore what he thinks he wants, throwing himself headfirst into new relationships, unfamiliar surroundings, and uncharted emotional territory. Equal parts comedy and drama, Shortcomings explores the complexities of culture, desire, and Asian American identity with a critical eye and unsparing, irreverent wit. Based on Adrian Tomine's groundbreaking graphic novel of the same name, Shortcomings was written by Tomine and directed by Randall Park. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was an official selection at the Tribeca Festival in advance of a theatrical release from Sony Pictures Classics. Tomine's screenplay is presented here with extensive annotations, commentary, and bonuses, including alternate and deleted scenes, a selection of color film stills, an introduction from Randall Park, and an exclusive new comic from Tomine. An essential companion to the original graphic novel, this volume is an illuminating document of an iconic story's adaptation from page to screen.

About the Author :
Adrian Tomine was born in 1974 in Sacramento, California. He began self-publishing his comic book series Optic Nerve when he was sixteen, and in 1994 he received an offer to publish from Drawn & Quarterly. His comics have been anthologized in publications such as McSweeney's, Best American Comics, and Best American Nonrequired Reading. Both his graphic novel Shortcomings and his memoir The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist were named New York Times Notable Books of the year. Since 1999, Tomine has been a regular contributor to The New Yorker. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughters.

Review :
"Randall Park's film largely does justice to Tomine's fraught and challenging story of dating mores in a multiracial society. Thanks to Tomine's script, the film follows most of the book's narrative beats, with cultural and political references brought up to date." --The Nation "A character study that takes the good, the bad, and the ugly of someone and gives them to you with a series of chasers to ease the burn. Ben is someone defined by his shortcomings until he isn't. The movie itself never comes up short." --Rolling Stone "A hilariously cynical and angry exploration of the sexual politics of race." --San Francisco Chronicle "Shortcomings, with its casual candor, is free from pressure to be outrageous about its characters' sex lives. The film shows both Tomine and Park to be versatile as storytellers, and sets a new benchmark for graphic novel adaptations of its kind. One can only wish that our own worst moments might be captured with so much grace." --LA Times