Jonathan Chiou

This captures the coming of age feeling growing up as an Asian American in Fremont in the 2000s, but glosses over a key part of the Fremont culture: the absolute, no questions focus on academic excellence. Any questioning of this focus from the children will usually lead to emotional (and sometimes physical) punishment. What I'd like to see from this film is to explore this culture more and how it: - Shapes our interactions between the children and their parents - Dominates the conversations between every Asian parent (every Asian family around MSJHS wanted their child to be the lawyer doctor that graduated from high school early to go to Stanford) - Leads to kids just often getting stuck in CLCs (Chinese Learning Centers) for their summer break - Lead to some parents physically disciplining their children if they weren't doing well in school (Although not set in Fremont, The Fresh Off the Boat book mentions this) - Created a lot of stress and burnout among children as they tried to please their parents and outdo their peers Sean Wang captures the vibe and the culture of growing up in Fremont in the 2000s, but doesn't set up the "asian grinder culture" well.There are glimpses and flashes of this culture, but nothing concrete. I feel like this culture balances the coming of age experiences Chris has in the movie. It'd better show that he was just trying to find himself in a sea of Asian parents trying to min/max their children's lives up until college and make this experience more meaningful. Overall, I'd give this a C: I'd recommend this to people to get the vibes of the Asian American in Fremont experience, but not to deeply understand it. I will be rounding down to 3 stars since I can't do half stars).