This Asian Pacific American History Month (APAHM) has given us a wave of media content featuring our community. We got documentaries that gave us broad overviews of our history (PBS’s series “Asian Americans”) and ones that had a more hyper-focused approach (“Seadrift”). Netflix debuted teen-led comedies “Never Have I Ever” (which, okay, premiered a few days before APAHM, but we’re still counting it) and “The Half of It,” which illustrated two very different takes on coming of age stories. Netflix even brought back beloved animated series “Avatar: The Last Airbender” for a new generation to discover and premiered “The Lovebirds,” starring Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani.
Since the dawn of time, humans have told each other stories. Stories have always been a source of entertainment, but they also contained messages: lessons to be learned, inspiration, or hope. They are also an acknowledgement of lives lived — proof of existence in face of adversities big and small. Stories are what we come back to when we want to laugh, or cry, or feel like we’re not alone. They won’t solve everything, but they can be a small light when everything else feels dark. We wanted to take a moment, especially this year, as APAHM comes to a close to celebrate stories that have impacted and inspired our staff. These are TV shows and movies that we love.
Here are our staff picks:
“Sailor Moon” was a show my sisters and I loved to watch when we visited our grandparents in Japan, and I was ecstatic when it was popular enough that my non-Asian classmates started watching it too. There weren’t a lot of Asian students at my school, and this was probably the first time I felt I could share something Japanese with my peers that was perceived as cool and not a curiosity. “Sailor Moon” probably also informed my tastes as an adult because I still love stories about kickass women and friendship. More recently, “The Farewell” was one of my favorite movies in the past year. Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes both at the same time, “The Farewell” was on the surface how a family comes together to say goodbye to their grandmother, while shielding her from her terminal diagnosis. But it’s also a story about how immigrants are changed by their adapted homes, while still cherishing the bonds and values from their birthplace. The emotional legacy of having a family that straddles two continents, the East vs. West philosophical debates, and the melancholy of feeling like you’re stuck somewhere in between two worlds were things that deeply resonated with me, as the daughter of an immigrant. I hadn’t seen these topics portrayed in that much nuance before. It could have been an emotional gut punch, but Lulu Wang’s funny and heartfelt film was made with such love and sincerity that I felt like a friend was gently holding my hand.
– Saiya Floyd, Staff Writer
I absolutely loved “Comrades: Almost a Love Story”, a 1996 Hong Kong film starring Maggie Cheung (ZHANG Manyu) and Leon Lai (LI Ming). On a superficial level, I connected with the main characters because, just like me, they were born in Mainland China, worked in Hong Kong, and ended up in New York City – but they struggled and adapted in a completely different time in history. The film beautifully, and at times humorously, depicts the romance, loneliness, and camaraderie experienced by the Chinese diaspora in the 1980s.
– Diana Xu, Social Media Coordinator
The “Untamed” (Chén Qíng Lìng) makes me feel things. This totally-not-BL drama is the hottest new science to come out of China, and every moment of seeing how much effort the cast and crew put into an actual love story between the two leads, without queerbaiting, restores my faith in the film industry. That, and seeing its international success drive up interest in the xianxia/wuxia genres has me sharing my childhood fantasy worlds outside of Chinese circles for the first time. Speaking of my childhood, the 2002 “Gua Sha Treatment” is an indie film about cultural misunderstanding. It taught me how drastically Chinese American families could be broken up, for something as simple as using an old medicinal treatment. Its characters personified that single-plank bridge between east and west that I was walking, before I even understood what it was.
– Demi Guo, Staff Writer
As someone who’s grappled with the question of belonging all my life, Mira Nair’s “The Namesake” struck a part of me that hadn’t felt seen until I first watched the film. Adapted from Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel, Nair’s film delicately navigates the emotional tussle between sacrificial first generation parents and their second generation son uncomfortable with his hyphenated identity. The film is full of moments and scenes that resonate deeply with me and my family’s experiences, whether it’s Ashima (Tabu) adapting to a new life and country after getting married, Ashoke (Irrfan Khan, whom we lost this year) quietly working his life away for his family, or Gogol (Kal Penn) altering his name and behaviors to fit in as more American. My first professional job was with Mira Nair, as her assistant. I distinctly remember the very first time I met her, bumbling as I poured out my feelings on “The Namesake”, trying my hardest not to get choked up. The film has stellar performances across the board, but it is Irrfan Khan’s character Ashoke who has the most memorable lines, including a poignant moment with his son, where he says: “Remember that you and I made this journey together to a place where there was nowhere left to go.” I’m someone who rarely cries during movies, but “The Namesake” gets me every single time I watch it.
– Pulkit Datta, Events/Industry Programmer
It’s near impossible to think about this list and not include an Ang Lee masterpiece. Fun fact that Lee is also an Asian American International Film Festival alum. While I am a fan of all of Ang Lee’s works, I’ll have to tip my hat to “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000). Not only was this the first non-English movie I’ve ever seen, it was the first time I saw Asian actors on the big screen. This film taught me you can still enjoy movies while overcoming the “one-inch tall barrier of subtitles” à la Bong Joon Ho, and expanded the world of cinema to a 5-year-old me when it came out. “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” went on to be nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning four of the categories. The film also grossed $128 million domestically, becoming the highest-grossing foreign-language film in America. It made me proud to share a first name with Michelle Yeoh, who played the fierce fighter Yu Shu Lien (although some may know her more as the charismatic matriarch in “Crazy Rich Asians”). It was the first time I saw my parents excited for a film and it was the first time I felt excited to be Asian. Whatever your opinion of the film may be, be it its use of accents and general authenticity, it’s undeniable that “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” will go down as one of the classics to be studied for generations to come.
– Michelle Ahn, Managing Editor