~Film~

  👋     Hi again, blog! 🎥     This week's film was  Better Luck Tomorrow . It was directed by Justin Lin who also worked with the Fast & Furious movies. Better Luck Tomorrow is an independent film that held many similarities to Hollywood narrative films, but it includes more Asian American representation. Hollywood tends to oversexualize Asian women's bodies and hardly gives Asian American males any character other than the geek or the Kung Fu guy. Justin Lin tried to change that pattern through his film. 👍    This film started off strong by showing us a dead person's hand peeking out of the ground. We get a glimpse at the main characters, Ben and Virgil, and just by their way of speaking and the limited actions they make, we could already tell they weren't your typical Asian American guys (at least, according to Hollywood standards). We get to see them go from being the nerdy kids to practically becoming gangsters. I thought this fil...

  👋     Hey, blog! 🎥     This week's film was AKA Don Bonus . It was a documentary that showed the life of an Asian American high school student named Don.  👍    This film was very real and I was impressed by how Don took on the challenge to show his life as it was.  He recorded many hours of footage, but it was compressed to be less than an hour long. Even though it was a short film, we got to see his life on a personal level. We saw his life at home. We saw his life at school. We were even introduced to his family members and friends.  🤔    While watching this film, I had many deja vu moments. He lived in a bad neighborhood where gunshots hit his house. Even young neighbors broke their windows. I used to live in a neighborhood just like that when I was younger. Seeing him struggle to stay on track in school reminded me of many of my old elementary school classmates. They were constantly conflicted with the urge to es...

👋       Hi again, blog! For those new here, my name is Luisa. I'm a sophomore and I am planning on majoring in film studies. I'm currently in Chicago, Illinois.  ~~~ ❓    Why am I taking this course? I am a big fan of Asian movies and dramas (especially K-Dramas💜). I enjoy having an understanding of diverse places and I know this class will help me learn a lot through the study of the history of Asian Americans in film. I am particularly excited about the week in which we will discuss K-pop artists and their fan communities. I've taken a few courses which also have focused on Asian arts and I hope to apply what I've previously learned to this class. ~~~

  👋     Hey, blog! 🎥     This week's film is part of the Hong Kong action cinema category and is titled  Kung Fu Hustle . Hong Kong cinema gained popularity fairly quickly. Although Hong Kong is relatively small, the effects of its cinema are grand. This can be seen by how their action cinema is watched by a large population here in America, and by how its entertainment inspired and was replicated by Hollywood cinema 👏    I really enjoyed this film! It was very funny, especially during the scenes where everyone in the crowd appeared to be weak but their looks were actually very deceiving. The lion's roar lady reminded me of Doña Florinda from El Chavo Del Ocho because of her hairstyle and her personality. The fighting scenes were very cool! I also really enjoyed the flashback where we got to see how the mute girl was being defended by the soon-to-be hero.  🤔    There were many scenes that reminded me of some stuff. The scen...

  👋     Hello again, blog! 🎥     Today we will be talking about the film titled Run . This is a Nollywood film. Nollywood was very successful in quickly building its infrastructure during political instability. A lot of films were made without using expensive film equipment. Nollywood brought a boost in economic status until streaming grew which didn't bring any profit.  👍   I liked how well-made this film was. It's impressive that it was made without the use of extravagant film equipment. I appreciated the location shooting of Nigeria in the film. 😲   This film was such an "Oh my God!" film for me because of the situation. I couldn't believe how such a good person could run into such bad luck all of a sudden. It was pretty funny seeing her go from talking about her regular daily life to her explaining all that she went through because of misunderstandings. I was upset that no one listened to her and instead objectified her...

  👋     Hey, blog! 🎥    The film we will be discussing today is called Kuch Kuch Hota Hai . It is a Bollywood film. Bollywood cinema includes Indian and South Asian films. Their popularity is very large in those countries and is gaining attention in the United States at a pretty constant rate. Bollywood cinema includes a lot of singing and dancing! This film, in particular, had so many long singing and dancing scenes that the film was over three hours long! Thankfully the music was catchy! This film even won an award for its soundtrack! 😅   My first impression of this film was that it was too long and I would probably get bored right away. That was not the case at all after I began watching it! It was so capturing. The storyline was so good that I got submerged in their world. It didn't even feel like I had been sitting down for more than three hours.  💛    I loved all the songs and dances! I got a bit of déjà vu after list...

  👋     Hi, blog! 🎥    This week's film was Ali: Fear Eats the Soul . This film falls under the German cinema category. Like other film eras, German cinema wanted to try new things that would make films distinct from the past. The history before this new German cinema came to be was intense. It basically revolved around WWII and Nazis who were destroying all the progress that came after the first world war. Germans knew that their history was rough and since they had pretty much witnessed their close older family members go through so many struggles, they felt like they had to include a bit of it in their films. This can be seen in this week's film since there was a part in which Emmi talked about Hitler's favorite restaurant.   😬   This film brings so many uncomfortable feelings. From the start, there is so much blank staring and awkwardness. Although this film appears to be one in which love is born, it is everything but that. Ali had be...