highclass_lady

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If you're an adopted Chinese girl, or an adoptee in general, especially an international adoptee, this movie is extremely triggering & painful. For some adoptees, especially girls adopted from China during the One-Child Policy, the possibility of meeting your birthmother is quite unrealistic, so when (spoiler) we learn that her birth mother has passed away, the scene at the grave is incredibly visceral. The movie also doesn't bother to explore the emotional core of the story in any meaningful way to make exploring this triggering material worth it. I understand that this is a comedy, but either it should not have been or they should have handled the story more competently & done a much better job with what they chose to work with. The way this film used this story is extremely cruel to many adopted kids.

PLOT & CHARACTER SPOILER-FREE REVIEW A psychological thriller & a commentary on fear & human ignorance & the sheep led astray mentality so eagerly embraced by parents & adults, who on the surface don't seem like the type of people who would willingly destroy so much of a kid's life, or turn a blind eye to the humanity & rights, but are dangerously flawed, persistent, & easily tricked humans who represent real people you could know. It portrays morally complex characters who feel real, teens who talk like real teens, social norms & dynamics that feel like how you be with your friends, all pulled together amidst practices & policies, wording & deception packaged, polished & sold that is written to be not far removed from what really goes on in the systems of institutionalised child abuse in America & other current societies. Yes there are the science fiction elements, but it is some of the operations, the protocols, the propaganda, the practices, & even the wording used by The Program that bears a purposeful but haunting resemblance to real-world horror practised in the Troubled Teen Industry. It personalises real issues represented that connect to real-world dangers faced by teens under the guise of protection, the goal of profit, & the merchandising of "safety" solutions or "miracle cures" for mental illness. The world these teens live in is truly distressing, & it also boldly explores mental thinking patterns & states of mind in a way that maps out the character's struggles & how they see things based on their evolving states of mental health. It asks the question of who are we without pieces of ourselves, without our own pasts, without our true memory of our lives, without the relationships that are a part of who we've become? It explores the desperation & torment & vulnerability of some other force having the power to restrict or strip you of your own agency & personal choices through survival -ridden, nearly impossible choices, gaslighting, restraint, & other imbalances of power, as is the reality that many abused youth deal with throughout adolescence. While perhaps this rather dark but poignant & book is apt to be initially misunderstood by some, especially by those with easier lives, anyone who grew up too soon, had awful parents or wolves in sheep’s clothing for parental figures, especially anyone who was a foster kid, boarding school kid, or kid sent away, or forced into therapy will feel this book to some of the deepest & most raw levels of their soul. It's both cathartic & almost too real. Although it should be read by far more than listed here.