review: gentlemen of the shade by jen sookfong lee

Jen Sookfong Lee was 15 when she and a friend skipped school to see My Own Private Idaho in the theater. She'd just purchased her first pair of Doc Martens and was immersing herself in alternative music; this was basically my life in the early 90s as well, so I found her assessments highly relatable. Throughout Gentlemen of the Shade, Lee explores the culture of the time, the reaction to My Own Private Idaho, the life of the actors and director, and how the movie affected her as well as the movie's role now two decades later. Lee writes, "There was an abundance of hypocrisy in the world around us. Before My Own Private Idaho, I was only dimly aware that this was true and was still, at least partially, a believer in the prettiness of the culture I had grown up in. After My Own Private Idaho? That was a whole different story." Her examination is thought-provoking and the analysis of the period is excellent.
5/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, ECW Press.