Christmas is a time for family, but perhaps this time Declan, a young gay man living in New York, should have sent a nice gift and a tasteful card to his San Francisco family. Instead, he flies home and re-enters the dysfunction and darkness that have evolved in his Filipino American clan for generations.

Then again, it’s probably best that Declan did make the flight home on this Christmas; his very presence sets in motion an unusual path to family healing in writer-director H.P. Mendoza’s “Bitter Melon,” an intriguing and absorbing independent film shot largely in the unheralded Excelsior neighborhood. The movie is the first to be produced out of the Filipino ABS-CBN program Cinematagrafo, which awards grants to help ethnic Filipinos tell their stories.

While Declan (Jon Norman Schneider) flies in from New York, his brother Moe (Brian Rivera) jets in from Philadelphia. The reason they live 3,000 miles away becomes apparent when we meet the third brother, Troy (Patrick Epino). Unemployed, living in the house of his mother, Prisa (Josephine de Jesus), with his wife, Shelly (Theresa Navarro), Troy is a case study of the Peter Pan Syndrome — an immature, narcissistic man who channels the frustrations of his shattered dreams by playing video games, getting high and, most disturbingly, physically abusing his wife and mother.

Domestic violence is not a laughing matter, but Mendoza gently invites us into the story through humor and welcome distraction. Part of coming home is reuniting with friends, and as Declan and Moe hang out with friends and extended family like Tiva (Mendoza regular L.A. Renigan), Marcus (Corey Jackson), Lisa (Anna Ishida) and others, “Bitter Melon” pleasantly captures the vibe of a distinctive San Francisco working-class neighborhood.

But while the dysfunctional interactions of family and friends make for some side-splitting moments, clouds gather as the family realizes it has to do something about Troy, and the solution might not be legal. At this point, “Bitter Melon” takes a sharp turn into the macabre, with several twists and turns.

What makes the movie smart is its refusal to cast Troy, a difficult role well-played by Epino, as strictly a villain. Instead, Mendoza delves into the cycle of violence that can be passed down through generations (in one subplot, the brothers’ father, who left the family and hasn’t been seen in years, regularly beat Prisa and Troy when Troy was a boy).

This is Mendoza’s third feature as director, after the delightful LGBTQ-themed musical “Fruit Fly” (2009) and the 2012 horror film “I Am a Ghost.” (He might be best known for starring in and co-writing the 2006 crowd-pleaser “Colma: The Musical”). Very different films, but no matter the genre, his films, which can often be joyful, explore the pain of a young protagonist haunted by the past, and how the future is on hold until there is a present reckoning with what has come before.

M “Bitter Melon”: Drama-comedy. Starring Jon Norman Schneider, Patrick Epino, Theresa Navarro. Directed by H.P. Mendoza. (Not rated. 110 minutes.)