3.5/5 stars

Depicting the prosaic concerns of two adult children in a single-parent family in Hong Kong during the Covid-19 pandemic, Lo’s bittersweet film is a character-driven drama that is heavy on feelings. It is thoughtful and endearing, and prefers minor developments to major dramatic conflict.

The film begins with an old photo as its protagonist, Mei-chen (Gladys Li Ching-kwan in her most complete performance yet), explains in a voice-over that it is the first and last time she was pictured in a family portrait alongside her father, who left the household before she turned one and never returned.

All her life she has regretted not having had the opportunity to get to know her father, although she faces more immediate problems in the present.

Mei-chen, who is inexperienced in romance, has just started using a dating app at the urging of her happy-go-lucky cousin (Amy Tang Lai-ying), but her first date produces not a match but an awkward trip to a love motel, followed by plenty of unanswered texts and even more question marks in her head.

BJ (Anderson .Paak) is an LA-based karaoke bar drummer, passionate about making it big with his original music. On a particular evening in 2009, he encounters Yeji (Jee Young Han), a punk emo girl who struggles to find a committed man in the city. They fall in love after a duet and dinner date at a Korean restaurant. They break up after a while because of his lack of involvement with her. 12 years later, the very confident BJ is still working at the same place with no prospects. His boss Cash (Jonathan “Dumbfoundead” Park) connects him to a new gig in South Korea as his great aunt’s drummer for the show she hosts, an American Idol-like competition for the next teen K-Pop star. 

Cash tries to get BJ to meet Kang (Kevin Woo), the show’s heartthrob, and see if they can work together. While on the job, he’s rebuffed by Kang and winds up meeting one of the lowest projected contestants, Tae Young (Soul Rasheed, .Paak’s IRL son). When he sees Yeji for the first time in 12 years, he realizes that Tae Young is his biological son. In the wake of this discovery, BJ takes it upon himself to take Tae Young under his wing and teach him with his know-how about music outside K-Pop, putting the “Bla” in “Blasian”. With his skill, BJ makes every effort to turn Tae Young into a superstar.

Tito Jackson, one of the original members of the seminal Motown group the Jackson 5, has died. He was 70.

Jackson’s death was announced late Sunday by his three sons. They did not disclose a cause of death for the late guitarist and background singer, but said they were “shocked, saddened and heartbroken.” Representatives for Jackson did not immediately respond Monday to The Times’ requests for comment.

“Our father was an incredible man who cared about everyone and their well-being,” sons Taj, Taryll and TJ said in a statement posted on Instagram. “Some of you may know him as Tito Jackson from the legendary Jackson 5, some may know him as ‘Coach Tito’ or some know him as ‘Poppa T.’ Nevertheless, he will be missed tremendously. It will forever be ‘Tito Time’ for us. Please remember to do what our father always preached and that is ‘Love One Another.’ We love you Pops.”

Jackson, born Oct. 15, 1953, as Toriano Adaryll Jackson, was one of seven siblings to the late King of Pop Michael Jackson, and of superstar Janet Jackson. He was among the founding members of the hit-making Jackson 5, which came together in the 1960s under the tutelage of domineering patriarch Joe Jackson, then caught the eye of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. After being introduced to the nation by Diana Ross, they put forth the beloved “bubblegum soul” singles “ABC,” “I Want You Back” and “I’ll Be There.”

Alongside brothers Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael, the family group gave rise to the “Jacksonmania” that consumed the nation. The group was nominated for three Grammy Awards. The hitmakers were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. In saluting them at the ceremony, Gordy declared that the group gave “Black kids from the ghetto a license to dream.”

Jackson was the last of the nine Jackson siblings to release a solo project and was chided for having an insignificant role in the Jackson 5. Although he launched his solo career in 2003 as a blues musician, he made his official debut in 2016 with “Tito Time” and released “One Way Street” in 2017.

He told the Associated Press in 2019 that he he purposely held back from pursuing a solo career because he wanted to focus on raising his sons, who formed their own music group, 3T, and released the songs “Love One Another” with Stevie Wonder, “Anything” and “Stuck on You.”

“I took that sort of personal,” Jackson told AP, dismissing criticism from sports commentator Charles Barkley that he didn’t contribute enough to the Jackson 5. “I am not upset about it. But it just hurts in a way where I tried to do the right thing in life, you know, raise my sons as good young Black men who do the right thing by people.”

Jackson primarily raised his sons on his own after his ex-wife, Delores “Dee Dee” Martes, whom he wed at the age of 18 and divorced in 1988, died. While her 1994 death was originally ruled an accident, Donald Bohana — a businessman Martes dated for three months — was convicted of second-degree murder in her drowning in Ladera Heights. Bohana was sentenced to life in prison in 1998.

Days before his death, Jackson wrote on Instagram about visiting a memorial dedicated to Michael Jackson in Munich, Germany. He expressed his gratitude for “this special place that honors not only his memory but also our shared legacy. Thank you for keeping his spirit alive.”

In addition to his sons, Jackson is survived by his brothers Jermaine, Randy, Marlon and Jackie, sisters Janet, Rebbie and La Toya and their mother, Katherine. Their father Joe Jackson died in 2018. His brother Michael Jackson died in 2009.