Emotion Through Comedy, Not Despite It

MOVIE REVIEW
Mushroom Dad
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Genre: Comedy, Drama
Year Released: 2025
Runtime: 13m
Director(s): Michael Yuchen Lei
Writer(s): Michael Yuchen Lei
Cast: Lawrence Kao, Kelvin Han Yee, Michele Selene Ang, Adam Faison
Where to Watch: shown at the Tribeca Film Festival and HollyShorts

RAVING REVIEW: MUSHROOM DAD offers up a unique experience as a short film that suggests a feature-length understanding of character, tone, and emotional timing. Michael Yuchen Lei’s story unfolds over the course of a single life-changing evening, set against the chaos of a restaurant opening, with something far more focused at its center. Julian, a young chef hoping to define himself through his craft, is confronted by the father he keeps at arm’s length. Their strained relationship is immediately evident in how they occupy the same space—Julian’s control clashing with his father’s dissolution, each trying to mask the emotional toll beneath their interactions. The film wastes no time establishing a sense of frayed connection. When the accident sends everything spiraling, it becomes clear that the chaos simply forces into the open what both men have been burying.

The surreal moments do not exist for show. Instead, they serve as a visual tone for the things Julian and his father could not find words to express. Instead of long monologues or simple resolutions, Lei opts for imagery and movement that replicate the feeling of wrestling with memories you’d rather avoid. The film’s comedy works in direct relationship with its pain—laughing at the absurdity of a situation doesn’t erase the stakes. It allows them to surface in a quieter, more revealing way. This fusion of humor and vulnerability defines the short, giving it a lived-in texture that elevates it beyond its premise.

A significant part of the film’s impact comes from Kelvin Han Yee’s performance as the father. He captures the contradictions that often define immigrant parenthood: pride wrapped in worry, distance wrapped in sacrifice, and a quiet desperation to be understood by a child who grew up in a different cultural reality. His portrayal never reduces the character to an archetype. Instead, it presents a man who has made mistakes but still wants to show up, even if he fumbles every attempt. Those contradictions shape the core of the story, giving the chaos meaning.

Lawrence Kao brings a distinct energy to Julian, a man so focused on what he is building that he doesn’t see the baggage he carries. His struggle is conveyed through performance rather than exposition—glances, tension, the tightness in his speech. He performs the role of a “successful son” with precision until the night’s events force him to confront how much of himself he’s been avoiding. What grounds his arc is the recognition that his ambition isn’t the issue—it’s that he’s trying to outrun the parts of himself that came directly from his father. In the moments where the surreal collides with the real, Kao finds the humanity in a character who initially seems unreachable.

The supporting cast adds intrigue without taking focus away, serving as catalysts for the story rather than distractions. Michele Selene Ang and Adam Faison help shape the restaurant industry's atmosphere, highlighting how Julian’s fracture intersects with professional pressure. Their presence reinforces the tension: the night is meant to symbolize Julian’s independence, yet it ultimately forces him back into the world he thought he’d outgrown.

Lei’s direction reflects a comedy about truth, not avoidance. His decision to use psychedelic imagery as a metaphor for suppressed emotion doesn’t trivialize the characters; it renders their worlds accessible and advances the story. The project feels like the product of a filmmaker encouraged to speak from experience rather than shape his story to fit a predetermined mold. That authenticity is reflected in how confidently the film blends tones and how willing it is to sit in discomfort before offering catharsis. 

The film allows imperfection to drive emotional release. Nothing about the father-son dynamic resolves elegantly, nor does the film pretend that one chaotic night can repair years of distance. What it does offer is a brief, disarming, and honest moment of recognition. The mind-altering mishap strips away the walls both men built around themselves, revealing the longing beneath the frustration. It’s not forgiveness, and it’s not closure. It’s an acknowledgment. And sometimes, especially in the context of families, that acknowledgment means more than any tightly scripted reconciliation.

MUSHROOM DAD succeeds because it understands the power of a small story told with intention. It uses humor not to avoid pain, but to illuminate it. It refuses to simplify a complicated relationship and instead presents a snapshot that feels like a window into two lives that have been circling each other for far too long. In just 13 minutes, Lei delivers a deeply personal narrative shaped by culture, tension, emotional inheritance, and the strange, surprising ways that love can appear when people finally stop pretending they don’t need each other.

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[photo courtesy of 271 FILMS, RISING VOICES, INDEED PRODUCTIONS]

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