Movies for APAHM 2024

Continuing with the theme of categories running together and boundaries being crossed, one potential issue with these lists is that they include material that is not specifically American. 

For example, Minari is about Korean immigrants. A Taxi Driver is set in Korea, though contact with the outside world is a key component. In writing about the heritage of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, does it count if it is about the heritage that they had before their coming to the United States?

That's not to say that there is not value in reading about other countries and watching films from them. However, in deciding that the various heritage months have value, I frequently think about whether I am making good use of them.

Because when we are looking at the Pacific Islanders, it wasn't really that they came to America, was it? It's more like we forcefully came to them. Then it becomes more of an indigenous issue, reminding me of the overlap between Native American Heritage and Hispanic Heritage.

For now, I am still catching up on things that have been on my reading and watch lists for years, so I am just going with it. Maybe after that I will have a more sophisticated general analysis. Maybe I will do specific breakdowns, like books about Chinese American immigrants and the building of the railways and in the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, but also with books about China for that.

For extra fun, at least two of the movies I still haven't watched are about Asian immigrants in England. 

It will take me at least one other round to get through the current list, and I expect it will be a good experience regardless. Reviewing this last round, I am getting all emotional about how some of these movies made me feel.

Movies set in other countries:

The King of Masks (1996, China)

In a film where gender is clearly so important, I am kind of amazed at how the reviews I read for this ignored Master Liang. That seems like a real oversight, especially when so much of the crux of this is Wang accepting Doggie as someone he can pass his art down to, even though he was sure he could not and would not because she was a girl.

Shall We Dansu (1996, Japan) 

For July I am doing daily dances (there will be a post about that) and I just posted the final number from this movie -- which I adore -- Sunday. It has such a good heart. I love dance, yes, but I also love films and media that find affection for people, as flawed as we are. This movie excels.

Shaolin Soccer (2001, Hong Kong)

If sometimes you watch a kung fu movie and you like the action but then some of the wire work and effects make it kind of ridiculous, well, move that into soccer, and you have this film. Strictly for fun.

A Simple Life (2011, Hong Kong)

It's such a quiet movie that it is kind of hard to explain what happens. A servant to a well-to-do family has a stroke. They have cared about her, but as one of the sons cares for her, the dynamics change and it is touching.

He Named Me Malala (2015, Pakistan and England)

Sometimes I am not sure if I should count Middle East with Far East, but I did watch this documentary. While I was familiar with the general story, this did a good job of explaining more, and going over the danger.

A Taxi Driver (2017, Korea)

This one made a strong impression on me, because I had no idea that South Korea had that kind of oppression and suppression; that's supposed to be on the North Korean side. With some of the policy issues now, it makes more sense. 

I remember thinking at the time how you simply cannot take democracy for granted. While that was not unclear before, there have been numerous examples since. 

One emotional part of the movie was that the real journalist expressed his sadness at not being able to find the driver. The film showed an imagined ending that was relatively happy, but I was afraid that it meant he was caught and killed after the reporter left. 

No, but he was traumatized, and that probably did shorten his life. Better than one might hope, but still with some sadness.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Taxi_Driver

Very much about the immigrant experience:

Picture Bride (1995)

Brides finding that their husbands to be were much older than expected was a familiar story, but this does a good job of humanizing everyone and providing an outcome that feels good, even with a lot of pain along the way.

Minari (2020)

A Best Picture nominee, I felt this alternated a lot between slow and weird. Ultimately the need to save each other does prevail, and then other things fall into place.

Documentaries:

Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks (2019) 

There were a lot of things here that I had never thought of, like an interplay between martial arts and break dancing, and then cross influences. As they went over the history and showed the footage it made sense, but they are connections I would not have made on my own.

Taky Kimura: The Heart of the Dragon (2020)

Between this and the previous title, I feel like I know a lot more about Bruce Lee than I had. His name carries a lot of weight, but it does not necessarily come with a lot of details. It becomes easier to feel the loss.

Waterman (2021)

A good look at Duke Kahanamoku and his legacy, which goes far beyond Hawaii. 

No easy categorization:

Stuber (2019)

Really very much an "American" film, but Dave Bautista has Filipino (and Greek) ancestry, and Kumail Nanjiani was born in Pakistan. 

There were times when I felt they overshot "funny", exactly the way a typical comedy (that I would normally not bother seeing) did, but it had enjoyable moments and good character growth. 

As it is, for Nanjiani I preferred The Lovebirds (2020) and I really enjoy Bautista as Drax, though I have not specifically seen either of the two main Guardians movies, so that was from Avengers: Infinity War and the Christmas special. 

It's okay.

The Farewell (2019)

This one pretty much gutted me. I think it will come up more at some point when I need to write about grief. It really got me about carrying the burden for someone, and it almost feels like the most important part of any kind of martial arts is the yelling. 

Getting into difficult parent-child dynamics:

I am going to spend more time on this topic, so I am not going to write about the individual films now. I did write something already about the last one:

Bao (2018, short)

Turning Red (2022)

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

https://sporkful.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-everything-bagel.html 

(Hey! A reference to hating my job from two years ago! I hung in there for a while.)

Getting into YA: 

I am just mentioning these here because they are movies that I watched, but thematically they are going to make more sense somewhere else. I will get to that soon.

To All the Boys: PS I Still Love You (2020)

To All the Boys: Always and Forever (2021)