Dirty Hands

Plot Summary

The documentary is based on the titled subject, David Choe, a young hypomanic American street artist who, with brazen honesty, executes every unfiltered idea that pops into his mind. He has been accused of being “An extreme Mountain Dew commercial” to “beautifully disturbing” and “Edward Hopperesque.” The film begins in the year 2000, when director Harry Kim decided to document Choe upon his dropping out of art school in order to pursue his creative dreams without abandon. Choe devises numerous criminal schemes that afford him to hitchhike across the globe via trains, planes and automobiles. By skirting the legal constraints of society, he is allowed to “freely” create his art. Eventually, his nonchalant law-breaking style lands him in serious trouble. After a series of arrests, he finds himself in solitary confinement in a Tokyo prison, totally broken down and uncharacteristically still. During these dark times, he finds himself reflecting on his own selfish history, one riddled with heartache caused to his friends, family and his long-term girlfriend. Upon release from prison, a radically religious Choe, returns home with the hope that he can overcome his criminal temptations and repair the damage caused to loved ones. We see Choe’s unwillingness to grow up, his struggle to make it as an artist and his fight to hold on to his sanity. Faced with an ever-growing appetite for destruction, Choe realizes that in the end he must make sense of the chaos that echoes in his head, face his demons and learn how to harness them for the good of his life and burgeoning art career. Director Harry Kim fully captures the complexity of Choe through a collage work of archived home video from Choe’s childhood, still photographs, intimate artwork, animation and eight years of footage shot while on the road with the artist.