The double standard of race still perpetuates (spoilers).

@gregg-67 Are you even part of a racial minority or a group that's subject to discrimination? If you are, then please, do tell us, how do you deflect racial stereotyping? And If you're not part of a marginalized group in society, be it through race, gender, or sexual orientation, then you have utterly no business telling me I was fishing for racism in this film.

Oh and you're telling me to stay at home? You certainly have a lot of time on your hands to be telling complete strangers on imdb that they're drama queens.

Anyways, I stand by my opinion. Hollywood's double standard when it comes to racial stereotyping persists unfortunately and this film, which comes from the independent film community who regards itself as a liberal thinking establishment by the way, represents that double standard.

Anyone who would like to have a healthy debate about that and who actually has seen the film and knows the scene which I'm referring to, please, feel free to talk about it with me via this thread.

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@chrisrocknroll Hey man, I just wanted to start off by saying that I really appreciate the thoughtfulness and sensitivity that went into your comment. And when I look at that scene in the context of what the filmmaker was trying to say about issues of masculinity and the roles that females expect from their male counterparts, especially in the face of the life or death situation the onscreen couple faced, which require as the spanish say "cojones" from males to step up to the plate and be chivalrous, sure, it makes me look at that scene from a different light and see that it was created with artistic and philanthropic intentions in mind.

However, my feelings do remain somewhat mixed. Now even though I appreciate what you said and can see the scene from that light, maybe the fact that you aren't part of a minority group as you yourself have stated makes you more accepting or perhaps lax about the scene in question or that fact that you've revealed about yourself slightly hinders the ability to see it as something that, consciously or unconsciously, perpetuates negative sexual stereotyping of Asian males.

See the thing is, I didn't hear what you heard from the story he told the tourists about the "Doctor having all the men stand in a line and slapped their testicles against each other like a set of Newton Balls". I heard something way more abrasive towards the end of the Georgian tour guide's story which is that castration took place by asian men putting each other's penises in each other's mouths and biting. That's what I heard and what I'm reacting negatively to. There's also an emasculation aspect to it that I can only take offense to and I'm sure other Asian men would agree with me. Even though I see what you're saying about the film being a sort of meditation on masculinity and or man's inhumanity to man if you will, I just don't think it was necessary to go there.

And if it is okay to go there, well then I ask you this: how many films have you seen where someone who isn't African-American comes out in blackface say in a dramatic movie that dealt with racism and or slavery?

You can come up with an equally valid argument that by doing a scene like that in a film that dealt with what black people have struggled with that a filmmaker is making a case against racism. But the thing is, I think a movie with a scene like that would have a very hard time getting financed, finding a distributor, or even being released. Yet by going to that extreme in this film it's "okay" since it's done for artistic purposes or is making a statement about masculinity or gender roles?

It's a double standard to expect one group of people to just accept negative racial stereotyping in the media and encourage them to view that negative representation as being artistically motivated and then to turn around and completely protect another group from any negative stereotyping whatsoever. That's what I'm talking about. It's almost like there's this hierarchy in Hollywood as to which racial groups it's okay to poke fun at and which racial groups it isn't okay to poke fun at and we, ie people of Asian descent, seem to be close to or at the very bottom of that hierarchy.

Anyways, I wish everyone can be just as sensitive and as thoughtful as you are in regards to the scene in question. But I think it will probably make people chuckle more or get grossed out and possibly make them think the worst, that castration of that nature actually exists in Asia, rather than encourage them to scratch their chins and connect the scene to the film's grander statement about gender roles and masculinity.