Out of the Past, Into the Future: Johnson Cheng

By
Cody Beltis
February 05, 2021

Out of the Past, Into the Future is a bi-weekly series that aims to chronicle a limitless scope of work by Columbia filmmakers representative of the past, present, and future. This series investigates how Columbia film projects, and the bespoke stories therein, are enmeshed with tales of history and experience, and harbingers of what’s to come. 
 

This week we sat down with alumni Johnson Cheng '20 to discuss his latest film, Lonely Blue Night, an homage to his childhood in the San Gabriel Valley. 

Having grown up in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles, California, film alumnus Johnson Cheng ’20 is familiar with the diaphanous ambiance of a Los Angeles evening. He grew up in a neighborhood northeast of downtown, ramparted by the verdant parapet of the San Gabriel Mountains, and blotted with violet jacaranda in the city streets. Unlike New York City, the evening glow in Los Angeles is warm and soporific. Yet, the social milieu in this immovable setting for Johnson’s latest film is fraught with doubts, towards cultural assimilation and the American dream, for the largely homogenized demographic. 

“A lot of times I'll write screenplays around locations,” said Cheng. “If I find an interesting place with interesting people in it, then I'll spend as much time as I can there, until a story pops into my head. The San Gabriel Valley is a treasure trove of locations that I find fascinating. I've spent most of my life here, and it's hard to put into words what this place means to me. All I can really say is that there is a lot of ‘life’ on every corner.”

Johnson’s most recent film, Lonely Blue Night, is a nostalgic tableau of a Chinese family living in the San Gabriel Valley, in which a mother’s decision to leave her daughter in the care of a white American homestay for English immersion is beautifully brought to light. The consequences that follow effectuate the narrative textile, when they reunite for a discordant family dinner at a Dim Sum restaurant. 

Lonely Blue Night was an official selection in competition at the 2020 AFI FEST, where it won the Audience Award, and was acquired by HBO and HBO Max. The film was created as part of Film Independent's Project Involve, their signature diversity fellowship program. Cheng, an award-winning Chinese American writer and director, whose films have been official selections at over 100 international film festivals, including Tribeca, AFI FEST (Audience Award), TIFF Kids, Palm Springs (Best Student Film Award), Reykjavík (Golden Egg Selection), Atlanta, Nashville, Cinequest, Uppsala, Giffoni, and Short Shorts Tokyo, was accepted to the program after attending Columbia University’s MFA Film program in Directing and Screenwriting. 

“The film is a portrait of a family, and how they interact with both each other, and the other people in this space of a Chinese restaurant—the rituals and rhythms, and how they perform around the stage of a dinner table,” Cheng said. “We shot the film in long wide shots. When the curtains are pulled at the beginning, everyone in the film is performing in a sense.” 

Lonely Blue Night is entirely set in Cheng’s hometown, in and around the banquet-style Dim Sum seafood restaurant. Cheng said he often found himself contemplatively wandering the narrow hallways, adorned with fish tanks in the walls, while out to dinner with his family. This was a reservation that satiated Cheng’s creative thinking, and his propensity for quixotic visual culture as a youth. Many of the scenes in this film were images from his memories, he said. 

If you go to Thai Town in Los Angeles, just south of Griffith Park, there are eateries that feature live performances of classical music or covers of songs. Performances are ubiquitous in a city that cherishes live entertainment and music. Similarly, a lineup of indie bands will take the stage at restaurants in the bohemian neighborhood of Silver Lake, and pop performances are the zeitgeist in West Hollywood. 

The title of the film, Lonely Blue Night, is a kind of homage to performance culture. It’s taken from the title of the song, “Lonely Blue Nights” by Rosie and the Originals, released in 1961 and led by doo-wop singer Rosie Hamlin. Cheng said the film is centered around the themes and tone of the song, and performed in karaoke at the Dim Sum restaurant throughout the film. The film also features “The Star-Spangled Banner” performed on violin, played by the daughter. 

“I've always had a complicated relationship with karaoke,” said Cheng. “I was never a fan of it because I'm a terrible singer, but later on in life, somewhere between listening to Chinese friends singing American pop songs in karaoke bars in China, and remembering family singing Chinese oldies, I had this strong feeling about this seemingly trivial activity of covering a song— to express something in themselves, through someone else's words. Throughout the film, I try to unpack these ideas of aspiration, assimilation, performance, and longing through the singing of this song.” 

For the lead role, Cheng cast actress Diana Lin as the Mother, well-known for her performance in Lulu Wang’s The Farewell. “Working with Diana was one of my favorite experiences of making the film,” said Cheng. “It was such an honor. Many times she would surprise me with something in a take that I couldn't have imagined. I can't wait to work with her again.” 

In addition to Film Independent’s Project Involve, Cheng has been the recipient of the HBO APA Visionaries Award, Princess Grace Award (Cary Grant Film Award), and the AT&T InspirASIAN Student Film Award. He is an alumnus of the New York Film Festival Artist Academy, Telluride Film Festival Student Symposium, Reykjavík Transatlantic Talent Lab, Short to Feature Lab, Visual Communications’ Armed With a Camera Fellowship, and Film Independent’s Project Involve. Johnson is also a member of the Motion Picture Editors Guild. 

Previously, Cheng’s narrative short film, Iron Hands, had its world premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival, Canadian premiere at the 2018 TIFF Kids International Film Festival, was selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick, and was acquired by Topic Studios and Film Movement. Most recently, Johnson shadowed veteran TV director Adam Bernstein on FX’s limited series, Fosse/ Verdon

“I think just the simplicity of shooting in a place with family and friends on set, helping out, everyone having a good time -- all of these things I'll remember forever and carry with me to other shoots in the future,” said Cheng. The film can be streamed on HBO Max here

Still from Lonely Blue Nights, by Johnson Cheng '20