No se. Obviamente habla sobre buenos temas y todo, pero no habla bien sobre los temas. Los personajes son superficiales, siento que esperan que el trauma de sus vidas sean suficientes para conectar con ellos, pero no. De verdad odie al gringo, no podía con el. No se. Tal vez era el punto pero no disfrute la película. No me gustó la escritura y me cansé del score al principio. Solo está bien la nave del olvido. 
Osea de verdad hace mucho tiempo me costaba tanto acabar una película.

No se. Obviamente habla sobre buenos temas y todo, pero no habla bien sobre los temas. Los personajes son superficiales, siento que esperan que el trauma de sus vidas sean suficientes para conectar con ellos, pero no. De verdad odie al gringo, no podía con el. No se. Tal vez era el punto pero no disfrute la película. No me gustó la escritura y me cansé del score al principio. Solo está bien la nave del olvido. 
Osea de verdad hace mucho tiempo me costaba tanto acabar una película.

If this were only 30 minutes long it would be 5 stars but after 30 minutes the whole thing gets stale.

If this were only 30 minutes long it would be 5 stars but after 30 minutes the whole thing gets stale.

Upon the bustling, busy, bleak back alleys and streets of Manhattan’s Chinatown, two tragically vulnerable souls meet and gradually fall in love. Alas, romance’s bliss is only temporal and illusory. Trauma and pain’s monstrous head rears, with claws scratching away at the beautiful facade of romance, and cruel reality’s voice reverberating like a gong, it all boils down to a choice at the crossroads. Perhaps in another possible world, in the next life it could all work out. Right now “I just need to make my life.”

The narrative isn’t all that remarkable and unique. But the themes explored are timely. The largely overlooked persecution of the Uyghur people as a subtle and indirect context that lurks in the background barely visible, means Aishe’s an alienated outsider to her own Chinese immigrant community. We are left to wonder (with appropriate suspicion) what happened to Aishe’s father. And just like the rule abiding soldier who does as their told, no questions asked, you dedicate your health and best years to the war machine, just for it to churn you out, damaged and broken, in other words FUBAR. Something all too apparent in the character of Skinner (Fred Hechinger). Illegal immigrant Aishe (Sebiye Behtiyar) enters America the reason all immigrants do: the American Dream and the search for a better life. Instead we only see time and time again how the system has let her down and perpetrated her oppression (very timely of our present reality with Trump). Through her marginalisation, she is robbed, taken advantage of, incarcerated and profit off of. With a mix of ignorance and an undying spirit of industry, she keeps going, she keeps on ‘running’ this race, she tries to get stronger, all in hopes of the good life. A life so beyond her grasp, that it almost feels inconceivable to the mind’s strongest imaginations. What’s worse is her only source of help, is a traumatised dishonourably discharged soldier who at the end of the day would have only been a potential honey trap for domestic abuse. Religion is nebulous and seems to only be exclusive for the comfortable, while neglecting the poor. The apt use of anamorphic lens to capture the internal ocularisation of the couple in their romance, where in that moment the whole world seemed to revolve around them. What puzzles me the most about the narrative is the lack of willingness to show the true extent of ugliness in a psychologically damaged soldier and an illegal immigrant, there’s a surprising amount of restraint to show violence and exploitation and a sense of distance to the character’s situation.

It’s a film that truly thrives off of its themes as motifs and its cinematography that elicits a tone that’s bleak yet somewhat hazy and bittersweet.

If this world throws you away, you let it happen. Not me. I will live a good life. I’m going to live my own life.

Upon the bustling, busy, bleak back alleys and streets of Manhattan’s Chinatown, two tragically vulnerable souls meet and gradually fall in love. Alas, romance’s bliss is only temporal and illusory. Trauma and pain’s monstrous head rears, with claws scratching away at the beautiful facade of romance, and cruel reality’s voice reverberating like a gong, it all boils down to a choice at the crossroads. Perhaps in another possible world, in the next life it could all work out. Right now “I just need to make my life.”

The narrative isn’t all that remarkable and unique. But the themes explored are timely. The largely overlooked persecution of the Uyghur people as a subtle and indirect context that lurks in the background barely visible, means Aishe’s an alienated outsider to her own Chinese immigrant community. We are left to wonder (with appropriate suspicion) what happened to Aishe’s father. And just like the rule abiding soldier who does as their told, no questions asked, you dedicate your health and best years to the war machine, just for it to churn you out, damaged and broken, in other words FUBAR. Something all too apparent in the character of Skinner (Fred Hechinger). Illegal immigrant Aishe (Sebiye Behtiyar) enters America the reason all immigrants do: the American Dream and the search for a better life. Instead we only see time and time again how the system has let her down and perpetrated her oppression (very timely of our present reality with Trump). Through her marginalisation, she is robbed, taken advantage of, incarcerated and profit off of. With a mix of ignorance and an undying spirit of industry, she keeps going, she keeps on ‘running’ this race, she tries to get stronger, all in hopes of the good life. A life so beyond her grasp, that it almost feels inconceivable to the mind’s strongest imaginations. What’s worse is her only source of help, is a traumatised dishonourably discharged soldier who at the end of the day would have only been a potential honey trap for domestic abuse. Religion is nebulous and seems to only be exclusive for the comfortable, while neglecting the poor. The apt use of anamorphic lens to capture the internal ocularisation of the couple in their romance, where in that moment the whole world seemed to revolve around them. What puzzles me the most about the narrative is the lack of willingness to show the true extent of ugliness in a psychologically damaged soldier and an illegal immigrant, there’s a surprising amount of restraint to show violence and exploitation and a sense of distance to the character’s situation.

It’s a film that truly thrives off of its themes as motifs and its cinematography that elicits a tone that’s bleak yet somewhat hazy and bittersweet.

If this world throws you away, you let it happen. Not me. I will live a good life. I’m going to live my own life.

REALLY loved this. An incredibly thoughtful exploration of two classes of people (immigrants and veterans) that have been consistently treated like shit throughout American history and how their experiences coincide. I loved Minding the Gap and Bing Liu as a documentary director but I was surprised just how deftly he was able to execute this film as a first time narrative director. The film is gorgeously shot and gorgeously acted, especially by Sebiye Behtiyar who gives a very quiet but nuanced performance. Definitely one of my favorites of the year.

REALLY loved this. An incredibly thoughtful exploration of two classes of people (immigrants and veterans) that have been consistently treated like shit throughout American history and how their experiences coincide. I loved Minding the Gap and Bing Liu as a documentary director but I was surprised just how deftly he was able to execute this film as a first time narrative director. The film is gorgeously shot and gorgeously acted, especially by Sebiye Behtiyar who gives a very quiet but nuanced performance. Definitely one of my favorites of the year.

Bing…..what the hell man….stop making me so sad I love you

Bing…..what the hell man….stop making me so sad I love you