SXSW Review:
"The Donut King"
Release Date: N/A
Rating: N/A Running Time: 94 minutes "Donut is American breakfast,” says Cambodian-American entrepreneur Ted Ngoy in Alice Gu’s The Donut King, which received this year’s SXSW Special Jury Recognition for Achievement in Documentary Storytelling. “While they’re driving, they bought a few donuts with coffee. So, there’s such a big demand every day, I look at the business opportunity. Fast food places, they always chose the prime locations, close to [the] freeway. It’s [a] perfect location for running a donut shop.” Ngoy’s rise from Cambodian refugee to California’s so-called Donut King in just a few swift years is both as simple and more complicated than his declaration suggests. Gu’s compelling documentary—executive produced by Ridley Scott—offers a sweet and then a sour look at the American Dream as experienced by a resourceful, ambitious and hard-working immigrant. The former Cambodian army major’s love affair with donuts began with his first bite while he worked two jobs to support his family months after arriving in California. Gu takes great delight in chronicling Ngoy’s near-immediate success as a small-business owner who quickly challenged Winchell’s Donut House—the iconic chain where he learned to bake donuts and run a donut shop—and at one point in time forced Dunkin Donuts to put on hold its expansion plans for California. More important, Gu finds immerse pride in Ngoy’s dedication not just to his fellow Cambodian refugees that sought solace in California but in helping to set up those friends and family in the donut business for themselves. But life is not always like a sugary treat. Gu explores the hardship Ngoy and his family faced in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge before offering a cautionary tale about the temptations that come with achieving the American Dream. Regardless of the path Ngoy ultimately went down, his entrepreneurial triumphs and commitment to community are reflections of capitalism at its most uncorrupted. Through Ngoy, Gu also shows how invaluable contribution immigrants made then and now to the American way of life. Ngoy’s legacy, as shown at the end of The Donut King, also remains safe and secure. Gu introduces us to the second generation of Cambodian-America donut shop owners who owe their success to Nogy, most notably Mayly Tao a,k.a. The Donut Princess. Says Tao: “I’ve got to take a little bit of what my parents did, that American dream, that hustle, and really make them proud and see how far we can take this.” Imagine where we would all be if we had even one-tenth of Ngoy’s hustle. Robert Sims Posted: April 8, 2020 Web site: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2020/films/2023313 |
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