A family works together. In rural Georgia in the 1990s, the Li family is the only Chinese family in their town, where they run a small restaurant. The entire family helps out, with their father, Sam, running the kitchen, and the mother, Mary, handling front of house. Their kids, Leah and younger brother Andy, take orders and ring up bills in between doing homework and playing on their Gameboy. The family grapples with belligerent customers, language barriers, teen angst and often each other as they try to achieve their American dream, navigate crushes and negotiate cultural and generational tensions. But even when they fight, they find a way to come together, especially in a sometimes hostile world. Directed and written by Jeremy Thao, this slice-of-life family drama is an affectionate, nostalgic portrait of a family working together at a restaurant in 1990s Georgia. The Lis have been in the U.S. for many years and their restaurant has become part of the community, but they still feel like outsiders in various ways, from Sam's difficulties with the language to Leah's wary impatience with her stubborn parents. With loose, gently naturalistic visuals, easy-going rhythms and a musical score beautifully infused with classical Chinese influence, the storytelling weaves the oscillations between conflict and camaraderie to create a warm, openhearted snapshot of an immigrant family. Structurally, the film is a knot of interlocking tensions, rather than one thoroughline. The siblings bicker, as do the parents, and the interactions between the parents and children highlight the cultural differences and dynamics between immigrant parents and their American-born children. The fluid, nimble writing gives each main character a window into their specificity, from Andy's crush to Mary's frustrations that they still haven't quite moved up the socioeconomic ladder, despite years of hard work and slogging. Her conflict with her husband has the most disquieting ripple effect, conveying the toll of years of being strangers in a strange land where they will never be fully accepted. Actors Kurt Yu, Mia Germar, Kristina Jun and Corey Jung are all collectively excellent as the Li family, each delineating their struggles and frustrations. Sometimes they take these irritations out on one another, creating growing resentments. But when a disgruntled customer lobs hateful insults at them for a messed-up order, they realize something valuable: what they have is one another. Heartwarming yet clear-eyed in representing the Li family's travails, WOKMAN resonates especially in capturing the unique and complex closeness that can develop in immigrant families, a complex web of loyalties, feelings and obligations that offer both angst and comfort in a world where they will always be different and sometimes even despised. Textured, honest and full of different kinds of yearning, it is a film about love, made with immense love, celebrating family loyalty, devotion and togetherness.
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