Spa Night

Play trailer

Spa Night

2016

1h 37m

Drama

LGBTQ+

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

96%

Tomatometer

26 Reviews

60%

Popcornmeter

250+ Ratings

A closeted Korean-American teenager follows his desires and finds more than he bargains for at a Korean spa.

Watch on Fandango at Home

Stream Now

Critics Consensus

In depicting one man's sexual awakening, Spa Night explores the tension between tradition and individuality with tenderness and compassion.

Read Critics Reviews

Kate Erbland

IndieWire

01/02/2017

B-

Although Seo and Ahn are able to tap into David's confusion and agony -- especially when filtered through the lens of his damningly hopeful parents -- there's never much more to David (or his story) than that.

Go to Full Review

G. Allen Johnson

San Francisco Chronicle

09/29/2016

3/4

Writer-director Andrew Ahn has made a confident, assured, low-key debut that's a textbook example of how to make a compelling small-budget movie.

Go to Full Review

Sheri Linden

Los Angeles Times

08/25/2016

The assured feature debut by Andrew Ahn is also the story of a young gay man's sexual awakening, and its sensitive lead performance affectingly expresses the tension between tradition and personal identity.

Go to Full Review

Joe Lipsett

The Queer Gaze (Podcast)

Dec 1

3.5/5

Ahn's feature debut is beautiful and melancholy. Some may struggle with David's impassivity, but it's arguably the point. Seo is wonderfully captivating in a nearly silent performance.

Go to Full Review

David Lamble

Bay Area Reporter

06/09/2020

With its deft, open-ended ending, Spa Night paints a poignant picture of the role gay men and women are playing in elevating and expanding the definition of success in the early moments of this new Millennium.

Go to Full Review

Elissa Suh

StageBuddy.com

03/13/2020

[It] takes its time letting his desires to build up, reminding us that this is more than a coming-out coming-of-age story as it alternates and intermixes the struggles of immigrant life, and the particular condemnations of nontraditional masculinity.

Go to Full Review

Read all reviews

08/22/2020

A terrific indie drama, and great portrait of Los Angeles Koreatown

See more

05/18/2020

damn that was bad. the plot and the acting.... eh...

See more

05/17/2020

Boring and slow. This movie could have been 20 mins long

See more

Fong Kok Hoong F

04/24/2020

This Sundance debut is an intimately observant drama about a son of migrant parents dogging the American dream in Los Angeles' Koreatown agonizing in his own skin of academic ineptness, flustering sexuality and dereliction of filial piety.

See more

01/04/2019

It's a really surreal experience to see my life reflected so much in a piece of media - to the point that I find myself crying and needing to stop. Andrew Ahn's Spa Night (2016) is subtle and slow with its storytelling but has moments of extremely potent emotion stitched into it that gut-punches you every time. Read full review here: jane-han.com/blog/2017/1/29/qthssllycbm0n0yepnyyrs46fduquk

See more

Richard Y

@richyung 04/16/2017

Half baked and unexplained story, way too long, full of static shots, could be reduced by half, should be way more explicit with hetaed sexual scenes, horrible photography with cameras in the wrong position mostly, lighting too bright, waste of a good cast, I wonder if the director has actually visited a gay sauna at all, poor film on an interesting topic.

See more

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Andrew Ahn

Director

Joe Seo

David

Haerry Kim

Soyoung

Youn Ho Cho

Jin

Tae Song

Eddie

Ho Young Chung

Spa Manager

Lovesong

83%

57%

Lovesong

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Lovesong

Postcards From London

50%

31%

Postcards From London

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Postcards From London

Boys Life 2

83%

75%

Boys Life 2

Watchlist

Boulevard

53%

31%

Boulevard

Watchlist

Beach Rats

84%

57%

Beach Rats

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Beach Rats

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Know Your Critic: Manuel Betancourt, Critic and Culture Writer

Film Independent Awards: Moonlight Sweeps with 6 Wins

Awards Leaderboard: Top Movies of 2016

View more photos

Synopsis

A closeted Korean-American teenager follows his desires and finds more than he bargains for at a Korean spa.

Director: Andrew Ahn
Producer: David Ariniello, Giulia Caruso, Ki Jin Kim, Kelly Thomas
Screenwriter: Andrew Ahn
Distributor: Strand Releasing
Production Co: Strand Releasing
Genre: Drama, LGBTQ+
Original Language: Korean
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 19, 2016, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 6, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $37.5K
Runtime: 1h 37m

Most Popular at Home Now