Spa Night

Released Aug 19, 2016

1h 37m

Drama

LGBTQ+

List

96%

Tomatometer

25 Reviews

60%

Audience Score

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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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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Kate Erbland

indieWire

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.

Rated: B-

Jan 2, 2017

Full Review

G. Allen Johnson

San Francisco Chronicle

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.

Rated: 3/4

Sep 29, 2016

Full Review

Sheri Linden

Los Angeles Times

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.

Aug 25, 2016

Full Review

David Lamble

Bay Area Reporter

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.

Jun 9, 2020

Full Review

Elissa Suh

StageBuddy.com

[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.

Mar 13, 2020

Full Review

C.J. Prince

Way Too Indie

The film's specificity, combined with Ahn's sensitivity towards his own characters, go a long way to establishing Spa Night's unique placement among US cinema.

May 22, 2019

Full Review

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Audience Member

A terrific indie drama, and great portrait of Los Angeles Koreatown

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

damn that was bad. the plot and the acting.... eh...

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Boring and slow. This movie could have been 20 mins long

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

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.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

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

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

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.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

Full Review

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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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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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