I enjoyed "House of Suh." As a former denizen of the neighborhood where the murder took place, I was immediately attracted to the story. My prior life was as a criminal defense attorney, and the Suh case reminds of how real life is much more interesting and complex than fiction. It is too bad that the commercial movie that was made of this case did not feature Asian actors as Asians remain the invisible group in our culture. "The House of Suh" illustrates that stories involving Asian stand on their own and do not need to be Anglicized. That being said, I recommend it to documentary fans, especially those who enjoy the style of Errol Morris. I hesitate to use the term plagiarize, but. . .Ms. Shim has almost completely hijacked Morris' style. No matter, it's a good doc, so check it out.
6 Reviews
A Fine And Thought Provoking Documentary.
JoeKulik19 August 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Iris Shim's The House Of Shuh (2010) is an extraordinarily well thought out, and well executed documentary. It obviously required a lot of preparation, research, and the finding and interviewing of the many relevant "witnesses" to the story told here.
Although the film does evoke some sympathy in me for Andrew Shuh, the bottom line is that is that he was no weak minded puppet when he committed this premeditated murder. He was an already well educated, articulate 19 year old man who was certainly aware of the world around him, and of his viable choices, and options in life. In spite of the "cultural sob story" that this film so dramatically and so effectively spins for Andrew, he is a cold blooded killer. That he killed Robert for murdering his mother rather than to go to the police to report what his sister told him about Robert, was a moral choice that he alone made for himself. His failure to go to the police because of apprehensions of implicating his sister in his mother's murder was again a moral choice that he alone made for himself.
Although Andrew's sister isn't a participant in this very provocative film, it seems clear that she, unlike Andrew, suffers from serious, long term mental issues, and may even be a true psychopath who had no more remorse in manipulating her brother to kill her fiancé than she had in remorselessly manipulating all the other people in her life. As such, the "cultural sob story" related in this story probably is less relevant to her behavior than to her brother Andrew's.
Many True Crime documentaries take the same tack, to varying degrees, that this film does in trying to explain, or even rationalize a criminal's actions in terms of elements in his environment, particularly in his family life as a child. But what all such True Crime documentaries fail to consider is that MANY other people endured the same environmental, and cultural pressures as do the criminals in question without ever resorting to serious crimes. Although there were negative cultural aspects to the upbringing of this brother and sister, they were both well fed, well provided for, well educated, and apparently not the victims of sexual abuse, or severe physical abuse in their upbringing. In short, there are MANY people in this world who have had a far less happy childhood than these two people who NEVER went on to commit murder, or any other serious crime.
Overall, I am still appreciative of this fine example of filmmaking, and I am certainly fortunate to have had a chance to see it. Iris Shim has a very sparse filmography at IMDb.com, which is unfortunate because she really knows what she is doing as a documentarian.
Although the film does evoke some sympathy in me for Andrew Shuh, the bottom line is that is that he was no weak minded puppet when he committed this premeditated murder. He was an already well educated, articulate 19 year old man who was certainly aware of the world around him, and of his viable choices, and options in life. In spite of the "cultural sob story" that this film so dramatically and so effectively spins for Andrew, he is a cold blooded killer. That he killed Robert for murdering his mother rather than to go to the police to report what his sister told him about Robert, was a moral choice that he alone made for himself. His failure to go to the police because of apprehensions of implicating his sister in his mother's murder was again a moral choice that he alone made for himself.
Although Andrew's sister isn't a participant in this very provocative film, it seems clear that she, unlike Andrew, suffers from serious, long term mental issues, and may even be a true psychopath who had no more remorse in manipulating her brother to kill her fiancé than she had in remorselessly manipulating all the other people in her life. As such, the "cultural sob story" related in this story probably is less relevant to her behavior than to her brother Andrew's.
Many True Crime documentaries take the same tack, to varying degrees, that this film does in trying to explain, or even rationalize a criminal's actions in terms of elements in his environment, particularly in his family life as a child. But what all such True Crime documentaries fail to consider is that MANY other people endured the same environmental, and cultural pressures as do the criminals in question without ever resorting to serious crimes. Although there were negative cultural aspects to the upbringing of this brother and sister, they were both well fed, well provided for, well educated, and apparently not the victims of sexual abuse, or severe physical abuse in their upbringing. In short, there are MANY people in this world who have had a far less happy childhood than these two people who NEVER went on to commit murder, or any other serious crime.
Overall, I am still appreciative of this fine example of filmmaking, and I am certainly fortunate to have had a chance to see it. Iris Shim has a very sparse filmography at IMDb.com, which is unfortunate because she really knows what she is doing as a documentarian.
Gripping
thejesuscat6 August 2022
Choices. Assimilation. Wealth. Manipulation. All sad factors contributing to what qualifies as being and gaining success. I watched this during a block of free time after binge watching documentaries. This one was worth watching.
Interesting
krishnadyehouse-6631316 April 2020
What A Disappointment
helenahandbasket-9373427 August 2020
This murderous narcissist fails to accept much (if any) blame, and even though his sister is complete scum, he fails to see what's painfully obvious to almost everyone else in the free world-his sister is a murderer.
Regardless of the issues in their family, plenty of people suffer tremendous abuse and manage to become productive members of society that aren't convicted of murdering anyone.
This documentary is more of the same ridiculous trope of passing blame and excusing abhorrent crimes because of supposed abuse that we're never given actual proof thereof s
Skip this one.
Regardless of the issues in their family, plenty of people suffer tremendous abuse and manage to become productive members of society that aren't convicted of murdering anyone.
This documentary is more of the same ridiculous trope of passing blame and excusing abhorrent crimes because of supposed abuse that we're never given actual proof thereof s
Skip this one.
The father was right all along
revrobertv4 August 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Catherine's father knew the whole time his daughter was a psychopathic piece of crap. As far as Andrews concerned he wants to blame everybody but himself for murdering robert. Catherine needs the death penalty. Andrew needs to have life in prison to never get parole. Robert got what he decided.
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