By Mr. Will Wong
Up-and-coming Filmmaker Sean Wang is a name to look-out for as evinced by his heartfelt and funny meditiation of life in NAI NAI & WAI PO (GRANDMA & GRANDMA). Wang returns home to visit his two paternal and maternal grandmothers who happen to live together, sleep together and are BFFs.
The Documentary Short, spanning 17 minutes begins as a festive reunion. The energy of their playful banter between the two women is infectious – fart jokes, “making it rain” and all. But as the Film progresses, we get glimpses into Wang’s grandmother’s past lives, which weren’t so easy. In Mandarin-Chinese, they speak on widowhood, not having necessities during times of war and looking back at photo albums to remember what they looked like. The underlying theme though is an appreciation of the now and getting to spend time with their grandson, and this could their last time together.
So many emotions, affecting, sweet and self-reflective. And incredibly timely as American Cinema continues to experience an renaissance of the Asian-American experience right now. Wang leaves us wanting more and we get why right away he felt it was a great idea to document these fascinating and endearing women who happen to be his two grandmothers.
NAI NAI & WO PO is not to be missed. It screens at SXSW ’23 as follows:
Mar 12, 2023
2:15pm — 3:46pm
Mar 16, 2023
6:45pm — 8:16pm
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