On a rainy afternoon, sensibility, spontaneity and mystique set the scene for Lucka Ngô’s latest short film, “Rain, Rev, Rhythm,” illustrating the serenity of calculated risk from inside a shiny red sports car. Operating the vehicle is Kong, a Bronx local and a self-named car enthusiast. He’s been driving the Lexus SC300 depicted in frame for four years now and says — in a neighborhood full of replicable BMWs — his feels special.

The film solidifies Ngô’s first attempt at capturing motion and is rooted in personal exploration. “I’ve always wanted to photograph people drifting,” says Ngô, the Viet-Czech artist who shied far away from her usual fashion-centric photography, particularly of Asian women subjects, for this shoot. “There’s so much creative energy in the Bronx. I want more people to see it.”

Skidding out from the left frame amid a backdrop of alluring forestry, Kong’s car spins inward as it’s simultaneously consumed in a pile of exhaust–emphasizing both speed and durability. The video is a collaboration with the newly founded New York-based music house Anima Studios, which focuses on scoring original music for all things film, fashion and culture, as well as the interception of the three.

Ngô said the melody is what guided her vision – with Kong adding that the juxtaposition of the gentle tune stacked atop the messy and loud visuals draws intrigue. But, like most creative projects go, it was scripted with a high degree of impulse: “I listened to the track mad times before the shoot, to feel,” Ngô says. “I didn’t overthink it. I just picked the section that felt right and shot around it … When the bass dropped and the splash hit, that was it. That was the shot.”

While drifting has gained global prominence as a motorsport over the past few decades, many might not know that it originates in the hands of Kunimitsu Takahashi, a Japanese motorist who is largely regarded as the father of the sport. Hailing from the rugged mountains of Japan in the 1970s, Takahashi first introduced drifting as a means to improve race times–although it wasn’t long until it evolved into a subculture of its own right.

Now, with New York accumulating its own growing drift scene, Kong admits the pastime has made him more extroverted and has connected him to a whole new circle of people. At the very least, he hopes Ngô’s short film increases drifting culture visibility: “It’s not as intimidating as it looks,” Kong says. “I just want more people to know that.”

Photo, Video and Direction by LUCKA NGÔ

Talent: KONG

Casting: ASTRO

Assist: DANNY ALSTAR

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