There are a number of ways to interpret Adrian Tomine’s Shortcomings (Drawn And Quarterly), the graphic novel released as part of his indie cult series Optic Nerve. Part race-relations study, part real-world relationships examination, the story raises a number of questions, but never does the disservice of answering them outright.
Those unanswered questions are part of what makes Shortcomings so realistic. The pieces of the story feel brief, and Tomine never wastes time. That makes the few positive moments so believable, and the multitude of uncomfortable experiences seem endless for the characters, even if they’re actually just as fleeting.
Shortcomings follows Ben Tanaka, a 31-year-old Bay Area movie theater manager that is bitter and negative at almost every turn. (“I know a lot more about movies than she does,” he remarks early on in the book, referring to a film-maker who submits to a local Asian-American film festival. “I work in the industry.”)
Tanaka finds himself with more reason to scour when his girlfriend, Miko Hayashi, takes an internship in New York that she may or may not have ever brought up to him. Tanaka, exasperated, proclaims to Miko that he would never consider moving to New York, to which she replies, “I know. I wasn’t really asking you to.”
From there, the story delves deeper into elements of cheating, mistrust, regret, self-doubt, and failed attempts at new beginnings. Nowhere is an resolution easy, especially in Tanaka’s case. In a few instances, there may not be an answer.
Dark, all too real, and more potent than could be expected, Shortcomings is less an escapist read to avoid reality and more a cautionary tale on the perils of ignoring it.
-Jaime de’Medici
Shortcomings
Adrian Tomine
Hardcover graphic novel, 108 Pages
$19.95, Drawn And Quarterly
Drawn and Quarterly: www.drawnandquarterly.com