Asian American film Archives - No Man Is An Island

“Starring Jerry as Himself” Blends Fact and Fiction in a Tale of Scams and Family

·August 9, 2023·3 min read

Inspired by the tale of a Taiwanese American immigrant retiree, “Starring Jerry as Himself” captivates with authentic acting and masterful staging Read More

“Therapy Dogs” Offers a Cleverly Stylized Depiction of High School

English Film

·November 16, 2022·3 min read

Therapy Dogs is a creatively stylized take on high school, following two friends in their senior year. Though the film is unlikely to appeal to all viewers, given its deliberately disjointed narrative, it manages to capture something of the nihilism–and violence–of wayward teenagers Read More

“Dealing With Dad” Aims for Asian American Family Drama but Has Mixed Results

English Film

·November 1, 2022·3 min read

Dealing With Dad has all the makings of a solid comedy about an Asian American family. Nevertheless, the film simply fails to come to life somehow. Maybe it’s because the entire movie feels tonally off-key. Perhaps it has to do with its near-complete lack of soundtrack, an odd choice outside of the art house genre . Or, it may have to do with how few of the movie’s jokes hit the mark Read More

“Dear Corky” Pays Tribute to a Beloved Photographer of Chinatown

English Film

·October 25, 2022·2 min read

“Dear Corky” is a tribute to the photographer Corky Lee, who spent decades documenting Asian American life, and died in 2021 from COVID-19. The short documentary film was assembled from footage shot of Lee before his death, though this may not have been with the aim of creating a documentary about Lee at first Read More

A Trainwreck of an Asian American Gangster Film

English Film

·August 24, 2021·5 min read

With violence against Asian immigrants in the US spotlighted by incidents such as the shootings of Asian spa workers that took place in Atlanta in March, Snakehead is not just a film in remarkably poor taste, it is also a comically bad film. This is all the more so, in consideration of the production crew, which seems to largely consist of Asian Americans Read More

A Film About the Asian American Working Class

English Film

·April 23, 2021·5 min read

If you are like me and consider Crazy Rich Asians one of the worst Asian American films ever made, you might very well enjoy Minari Read More