TIFF: World Premiere of ‘Drifter’

More than a year after principal photography ended, Sung Kang’s long-awaited flick ‘DRIFTER’ finally hit the big screen. Those of us in Toronto really lucked out, with the World Premiere included in this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The first-ever public screening took place Saturday night at the massive Scotiabank Theatre in downtown Toronto.

As if Toronto traffic wasn’t bad enough, TIFF closes multiple streets downtown, roughly Adelaide to King and University to Spadina, creating a pedestrian-friendly festival zone. As moviegoers wander toward their theatres, they can stop at activations like the Korean Culture Centre for traditional snacks or the Lavazza Coffee photo booth

Although ‘DRIFTER’ is pure car cinema, forget about driving downtown during TIFF. Parking is nearly impossible, and even the 504 King streetcar was disrupted by the festival road closures.

A call to Beck Taxi had us cruising down the Don Valley Parkway in a Toyota Sienna minivan, just like Sung Kang’s real-life daily driver. Not exactly Lola, but somehow appropriate transportation for the occasion.

Once we reached the city core, our first stop was Sushi Yugen at the corner of Adelaide and York. Parked right out front was a replica of Lola, the hero car from ‘DRIFTER’. The restaurant had even hosted Sung Kang for an event earlier in the week. Cross-promotion at its finest!

A short walk west brought us to Scotiabank Theatre, one of TIFF’s downtown movie palaces. On festival nights, the place feels less like a multiplex and more like a movie terminal, with crowds pouring through the doors and up the escalators toward one premiere after another.

The towering complex at Richmond and John is one of the festival’s busiest locations for premieres, movie stars and serious film fans. Originally opened in 1997 as the Paramount Theatre, the cinema helped usher Toronto into the era of giant stadium-seating “megaplexes,” for better or worse.

The premiere of ‘DRIFTER’ was held in the 552-seat Cinema 1, and every seat had been sold out weeks in advance. Heading up the escalator and standing in line for popcorn, we were shoulder-to-shoulder with stars of the movie, including professional drifter Adam LZ, who plays a larger-than-life, fictional four-time world champion version of himself.

So, what’s the movie all about? Is it ‘Rocky’ on wheels, or ‘The Karate Kid’ sliding sideways? The parallels aren’t subtle, and the movie doesn’t seem particularly interested in hiding them. ‘DRIFTER’ is an underdog story about a lonely man who finds solace, purpose and eventually connection through drifting.

Sung Kang plays Tree, an isolated man living in Barstow, California. He works maintenance at Willow Springs Raceway and appears to live in one of the garages. We’re introduced to Tree as a boy moving to Barstow with his mom and dad, but by the time we meet him as an adult, everyone is long gone. He’s friendly with the young guy who runs Frankie’s Tire Shop and clearly interested in the guy’s sister, but Tree has very little real connection with the outside world. He seems happiest drifting alone through an abandoned skateboard park.

Without ruining the plot, a bizarre convergence of circumstances earns Tree an invitation to the film’s equivalent of the world championship of drifting: the Legends of Drift event. Suddenly, the owner of Willow Springs wants to coach him. Funny, because during all those years Tree spent picking up trash and cleaning floors, that same guy barely gave him a second look. But just like Mickey in ‘Rocky’, once there’s a shot at glory, the old man wants in.

In ‘F&F: Tokyo Drift’, Han Seoul-Oh tells his young protégé Sean, “There’s no wax-on, wax-off with drifting.” Nearly 20 years later, Sung Kang, who played Han, gets to revisit that philosophy from the other side of the lesson.

In ‘DRIFTER’, the old mentor character Bennett looks more Santa Claus than drift master. But when he arrives at the track to begin Tree’s training, the movie gives us a little clue that this old dude might know exactly what he’s doing. Bennett is driving an early-’70s Nissan Skyline GT-R. Exactly. The owner of Willow Springs owns a right-hand-drive “Hakosuka” GT-R. The car tells the audience everything they need to know before Bennett ever proves himself behind the wheel: this guy used to be somebody.

One of Bennett’s training methods involves duct-taping a paintbrush to the back of Tree’s car. Tree has to overcome his fear, initiate a drift and paint one continuous red stripe across a wall without tearing the bumper off. Serious Mr. Miyagi vibes. After multiple tries, Tree succeeds and leaps out of the car to celebrate. Bennett calmly hands him a Q-tip and tells him to paint the wall again. That got one of the biggest laughs of the night.

Anyone expecting ‘DRIFTER’ to be an extension of the F&F universe is in for a surprise. Yes, there are cool cars and plenty of drifting, but Kang is reaching for something much deeper than tire smoke.

The title ‘DRIFTER’ refers not only to Tree’s vocation, but to the man himself. Tree is drifting through life. He has no family, few friends and lives almost entirely alone, feeling invisible to the people around him. Kang explores loneliness, not belonging and not being seen, feelings many of us have experienced at one point or another.

Tree lives a solitary life, and the movie cleverly uses tandem drifting as a metaphor for his emotional problem. Solo drifting lets Tree control everything himself. Tandem drifting forces him to trust another driver, mirroring his struggle to let another person into his life.

Tree can’t simply drive his way out of his past. His redemption comes from trusting the people around him: his mentor, the woman he loves and the found family that begins forming around him. His real victory isn’t winning Legends of Drift or beating Adam LZ, portrayed in the movie as a four-time world champion. It’s realizing that he doesn’t have to face everything alone.

After the credits rolled, Sung Kang and several stars of the movie were brought onto the stage for a short Q&A. Since this premiere was happening at TIFF rather than the Auto Show, the questions came mostly from cinephiles rather than gearheads.

One film-school nerd had clearly been reading the credits closely. He pointed out that the Sony FX2 was listed among the cameras, then asked Kang whether they had also used the Sony FX8 and what they thought of it. Kang eventually had to bring the cinematographer up on stage to basically say, “No.” Others wanted to know about the anamorphic lenses, those gorgeous horizontal lens flares and the inspiration behind the musical score.

In a way, it was too bad nobody from the automotive world got to ask Formula Drift event winner Adam LZ what it was like portraying a larger-than-life, fictional four-time world champion version of himself. Or to ask motorsports personality Rutledge Wood how appearing in ‘DRIFTER’ compared with hosting ‘Top Gear USA’ or reporting on NASCAR and the Indy 500.

Like nearly every time Sung Kang has spoken about this movie, he described ‘DRIFTER’ as a love letter to the car community. He really seems to mean it. His cool-cat portrayal of Han in the F&F movies brought him worldwide fame and admiration, but Hollywood has rarely given Kang the opportunity to carry a movie himself. Gearheads never needed convincing.

Shortly after midnight, back outside on Richmond Street, a replica Lola sat parked in front of the cinema seemingly waiting for Tree to climb in. There was even a tricked-out AE86 wearing Forza Motorsport livery trying its best to steal the show.

Moviegoers streamed out of the theatre, some already looking up drift schools on their iPhones. When they spotted Lola, smiles crept across their faces and people stopped for selfies with the car that is practically a character itself, and is even credited by name in the movie.

When Sung Kang and his friends finally exited the theatre, there were squeals of excitement from the women in the crowd. Apparently this 54-year-old Korean-Californian is something of a sex symbol. After signing autographs and posing for pictures, it was the guys’ turn. Gearheads who never had movie tickets had waited around the corner for the screening to end. While Sung stood outside the theatre, the song of his people began to play. Imports like Subarus and Hondas arrived on scene, followed by lowrider Impalas. Drivers revved their engines and dropped their hydraulics in salute to one of their own. Kang had just spent two hours telling us that cars create community. Outside the theatre, Toronto’s gearheads proved his point.