From Omeleto.
A father has a talented son.
ACADEMY BOY is used with permission from Luke Jin. Learn more at https://academyboyfilm.com.
Jian is a Chinese immigrant in England, as well as the father of Theo, a talented young English football player. Proud of his son, Jian will do anything to support Theo, including driving him to a crucial trial at a Premier League youth academy. If Theo can get a spot, it will boost his chances of a professional career in the sport.
Jian watches from the sidelines, warned by a coach to keep quiet. But as Theo’s trial proceeds, Jian can’t help but try to coach Theo. Jian’s instructions, entreaties and chiding are his desperate attempts to galvanize his son, but they soon threaten his relationship with Theo — and raise the eyebrows of the team coaches and managers for all the wrong reasons.
Directed and written by Luke Jin, this penetrating yet compassionate short drama takes place at the intersection of children, their parents and high-level athletics, where the stakes for the future feel high, the pressure is concentrated and the emotions are both strong and fragile. This hothouse combination, combined with thoughtful, contemplative visuals, makes for quiet but riveting storytelling, as an overly invested father’s demanding anxiety for his son endangers the future he so clearly wants to protect.
We meet Jian and Theo on the drive on the way to Theo’s academy trial, with Jian laying out what’s at stake and how to get it. "This is serious," he tells Theo, who is worried about not being good enough. The scene is full of shadows, with Jian a mostly dark presence. What stands out at first is his voice coming through the darkness: strident, pressured, anxious. Even when we enter the academy proper and Jian and Theo settle in, that voice continues to haunt Theo and viewers.
As Jian watches quietly at first, we can hear his anxious inner dialogue without a word, especially through actor Chris Lei’s antsy, driven performance. It’s painful as a viewer to watch Jian push Theo, played by an uncertain diffidence and appealing naturalness by young performer Tyler Madolid. The storytelling is deft at catching the unspoken thoughts in an action-packed scene, as coaches, players and parents make judgments, assumptions and observations, weaving in subtext as the youngsters play, perhaps unaware of the full implications of the trial. But when Jian comes to understand certain underlying assumptions about this new level of football play, he realizes the limits of his sideline coaching — and the role he must play as a parent instead.
Well-observed, contemplative and visually somber, ACADEMY BOY ends with Jian’s internal reckoning, as he comes to understand the wider field of play and power that he and Theo are entering. As a parent, he must see the wider view that Theo cannot, and he understands that what Theo is up against is much bigger than any technique he can coach. The end remains uncertain for Theo’s future in the sport, but what has transformed is Jian’s better understanding of his role as a parent — an understanding that leaves us with both ambivalence about Theo’s future as a player but also relief that his strong father is truly on Theo’s team, no matter what.
