Bitter Melon

2018 | USA | 97 Minutes | Dark Comedy

This home-for-the-holidays dark comedy is the story of gay Filipino-American Declan who returns to his San Francisco childhood home for Christmas where his brother Troy lives with their mother, his wife and daughter, ruling the house with fear and intimidation, going so far as physically abusing his wife. During the holiday vacation, Declan fantasizes about murdering his abusive brother, but, as tension grows, will it remain only a fantasy?  H.P. Mendoza handles both themes of domestic abuse and homosexuality with deft assuredness, making the audience see gay Declan and abusive Troy as complex characters with real motivations.