In what I thought to be the saddest movie scene of the year, 16-year-old Hayoung enters an empty house and imagines her family of four—mom, dad, her, and her little sister Ara—all living in it, having dinner together, all happy and glowing. In reality, Hayoung’s parents’ marriage is on the rocks, and they’re nowhere close to affording such a house financially. I’m talking about Smoking Tigers here, which is about this lonely Korean-American girl trying to find a sense of belonging in early-2000s Southern California. There have been movies on similar themes before, but what sets Smoking Tigers apart is its final act and the climax. If you’re familiar with American independent cinema post 2010, then you probably know that coming-of-age movies of this kind usually end with an emphatic (and sometimes even dopamine-inducing) final scene. Contrary to that, the ending of Smoking Tigers is rather anticlimactic, but that’s what makes it far more effective, in my humble opinion. Let us take a closer look at that.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens in the Movie?
Not every American dream takes off after all! For the Lee family, it clearly hasn’t worked out. The family dynamics are also in shambles as Hayoung’s Appa and Umma (we never get to know the father’s name, although much later in the movie we find out that the mom’s name is Jess) are now living separately. Hayoung and Ara are staying with Umma in a shabby-looking, crusty apartment, while their father hasn’t been able to manage more than a makeshift home in a garage. He’s trying to be there for the family as much as possible, as we see him trying to sell a fancy carpet to a woman in the opening scene of Smoking Tigers. Hayoung is also accompanying her father, which results in her returning home pretty late and Umma getting annoyed. In spite of Hayoung’s reluctance, Umma makes her enroll at a costly coaching center, which guarantees students getting into prestigious universities like Stanford. Life is quite hectic there, but Hayoung still manages to make some friends—Rose, Joon, and Sam.
Why Does Hayoung Lie To Her Friends?
It only makes sense given Hayoung is already embarrassed by her family situation. The very notion of a happy family – consisting of a mom and dad along with their two kids, all of whom live in a nice-looking house that obviously means they’re financially sound; is deeply rooted inside her brain, and for her, that’s the only socially acceptable thing. She’s already hurting inside as it’s not working out for her family, and then she becomes friends with these other Asian-origin kids, whose families are doing pretty well. Hayoung’s reality is what makes her sick out like a sore thumb in the otherwise perfect group. Naturally, she would keep things to herself and even go to the extent of making Rose pick her up in front of that empty house in order to solidify her lie. You feel really sad for her though, as you know she’s in this situation through no fault of her own. Hayoung just happens to be unlucky enough to be in such a terrible situation.
She may have lied to her friends, but there is no way she doesn’t care for them. Upon knowing Rose is getting abused by her overbearing mother for not being able to perform well in the tests at the coaching center, Hayoung goes out of her way to help Rose by letting her cheat. That eventually backfires when the friendship falls down later in the film, thanks to Rose getting concerned about Hayoung’s growing closeness to Joon. She’s quite right though, as Joon is indeed a budding casanova and Hayoung is naive enough to believe in his lies and dream about a future. However, I have an alternative take here. The only reason Hayoung indulges in a fling with Joon is that she wants to find an escape route from her regular life, which is quite miserable. At least on the outside, Joon has been nothing but nice, which is enough for Hayoung to fall for him. There’s no denying that Rose actually cares about Hayoung, but she obviously doesn’t understand what Hayoung is going through. And when Rose and the others (Joon and Sam) finally find out the truth about Hayoung, the friendship is understandably over. It was never meant to last anyway. There’s one interesting scene where Hayoung is sitting alone after the final exam of the coaching center, while Rose comes to look for her in their usual spot. She doesn’t see Hayoung, as the latter is clearly hiding, and after looking around for a few seconds, Rose leaves. That basically means that Rose is done with the friendship and she doesn’t intend to put any more effort into it.
What Is The Significance Of Cigarette Smoking In The Movie?
Sure, smoking is injurious to health, but life can’t go on following good advice, and art has no responsibility of doing society right. Not to mention, the movie never ever tries to portray smoking as something cool. It’s remarkable how it is used as a plot device that stands for both acceptance and liberty. We see Appa smoking cigarettes most of the time, and he deliberately makes Hayoung try it so that she never picks up the habit. His intentions are earnest here. The man tries everything to hide the fact that he’s a failure, and his smoking habit (clearly a sign of stress) only proves it further. For Joon though, cigarettes are a symbol of freedom—at least, that’s how Hayoung sees it. It also plays an important factor in her getting into Joon, even though, deep down, Hayoung most likely knows that she and Joon are not endgame. We never see Hayoung and Joon smoking together though; instead, we see them fake writing on each other’s hands with cigarettes. Kids that age are usually scorned for having such an adult thing as a cigarette in hand, so naturally here cigarettes are used as a representation of freedom. Anyway, it was only a matter of time before Hayoung picked up the habit, which finally happens when Appa announces that he’s leaving.
What Happens to Hayoung?
As I’ve mentioned already, Smoking Tigers doesn’t have an ending where something big happens to the character, or some other kind of massive event. Appa leaving for Korea was always on the cards, and with that, Hayoung’s dream of a perfect family was over. But in what I consider the most important scene of Smoking Tigers, we find Hayoung explaining to Ara that they’re still a family despite Appa leaving. She goes on to say that it’s better, given Appa and Umma always used to fight when they were together, and Umma is considerably happy now that Appa has left. That also indicates that Hayoung now sees her mother with compassion, compared to how it was at the beginning of the movie, where she sort of resented her for breaking up “the perfect family.” It’s refreshing how the movie (and the lead character) practically discards the parameters of an ideal family set by society. Hayoung has certainly come of age here, and it’s evident from how she speaks to her father on the phone in the final scene. In stark contrast, we see Hayoung getting mad at him and accusing Appa of abandoning them when he first breaks the news.
The ending of Smoking Tigers signifies that Hayoung is finally over it. She has picked up smoking though, but for her that is a sign of acceptance. There’s no guarantee that Hayoung’s life is going to get better in the future, but at least she will handle every situation head-on. Maybe the smoking will increase, or she might quit it one day; but for now, that shouldn’t be our concern. Life doesn’t have to be perfect; sometimes, it just needs to be lived.
