Following two deeply damaged siblings, each lacking a place in the world, Justin Chon’s “Ms. Purple” seems named not for a character, but for a state of mind that’s been a long time brewing.

Purple is also the color of the traditional South Korean dress obediently worn one evening by Kasie (Tiffany Chu), 23, at the insistence of her rich, entitled boyfriend (Tony Kim). But in the United States, where the film takes place, purple vividly signifies daring and defiance, independence and strength. That demands a personality to match, and Kasie is a woman controlled by the demands of men. To her fond-enough boyfriend, she’s property, a sex partner and a compliant plus-one. To the boozed-up businessmen at the high-end karaoke bar where she works as a hostess, she’s a body to be fondled and shared and sometimes drugged. And to her dying father (James Kang), lying comatose in her childhood home, she’s a caregiver whose devotion is necessarily unrequited.

When the aide tending to her father abruptly leaves, Kasie is forced to contact her estranged brother, Carey (Teddy Lee), for help. A lost soul who lives in a trailer and wanders aimlessly from bar to slot machine, Carey urges his sister to place their father in hospice care. She refuses: Flashbacks have already shown us the mother who ran off when the siblings were little, and the wounds her abandonment left on the family. Maybe now, in their father’s final days, the two can find a way to reconnect.