Close Call (2004)

A troubled Asian-American teen struggles mightily to cross the minefield of adolescence in the sultry coming-of-age tale Close Call (2004). Jimmy Lee’s feature follows its protagonist—the immodest Jenny Kim (Annie Lee)—as she struggles with petty crime, drug addiction, and a broken home. The latter is actually among the most serious of poor Jenny’s problems. Her inattentive mom (played by Christina Ma) seems incapable of keeping her painted claws off whatever hunk rings the doorbell. Daughter Jenny is actually a paragon of virtue when compared to mom Joanne, who lights up the screen with an amorous interlude that her daughter observes at a tender and impressionable age.