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.

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.

Andrew Suh is a convicted killer like no other. I came away from this powerful documentary feeling he was as much a victim as the man he shot.Suh was the only son in a Korean family in which Jokpo, or filial piety, required such rigid patterns of obedience that it seemed he had little free will. At 11, apparently instead of going to school, Andrew was spending days by his cancer-ridden father's hospital bed.His older sister, Catherine, always treated as lesser due to being a girl, violently rejected Jokpo. One day her father got so angry that he doused them both with gasoline and reached for a match. Mrs. Suh stepped in to prevent the murder/suicide but showed no sympathy for Catherine. "What have we done? This is not our daughter!" she cried.Several years later, Mrs. Suh was found fatally stabbed at her dry-cleaning job. Her 37 wounds suggested a crime of passion. When Catherine later claimed to Andrew that her boyfriend had committed the murder -- and now was starting to slap her around -- she asked Andrew to kill him. The 19-year-old apparently felt he had to do as implored. This excellent film, illustrated by family-tree diagrams and evocative pencil drawings, shows the potential deadliness of traditional, immigrant-family values when they are transplanted into America. It's a case study in how desperately Western styles of intervention may be necessary to help within such insular environments. The highly intelligent and articulate Andrew tells his story from behind the bars that will hold him until he's aged. He makes few if any excuses for his behavior (though he does not evince much regret for having taken a life). Catherine, now imprisoned some 30 miles away and rejecting any contact with her brother, remains an enigma. Although badly treated in childhood, this story suggests her problems are extremely deep-seated. Could Andrew have walked away from Catherine's call to arms? Without having grown up under Jokpo, it's hard for me to say."I just want to know what you would have done," Andrew asks the viewer.