“The film is both oddly specific while still feeling universal. Though the Chinese backdrop and customs are intrinsic to Billi (or Wang), there’s an aching bittersweetness to the whole affair. The film revels in this the tricky gray area of a life that feels halved—half truths told to soothe family worries, homelands traveled through as an outsider, the family get-togethers that make you want to laugh and cry.”
I talked to Lulu Wang about how she captured that balance on film, and finding clarity on her own family through making a film about the lack of resolution.
Zosha Millman 