Related Recs

🦟

Dìdi 弟弟 (2024) by SEAN WANG

brought me right back to 2008. izaac wang is great. joan chen is mother and made me cry every scene she was in. the original score is clever and beautiful. how to be cool, how to skate, how to talk to girls, how to be yourself, how to find yourself, how to love where and who you come from. objectively a coming-of-age movie that doesn't reinvent the genre but it doesn't have to or should even try to — it believes in its authenticity and story and that pulls you in. tropes are tropes because they hold some level of truth after all. vibewise, think of the sadder, more serious episodes of PEN15. for every asian kid who went out of their way to find where they belong and never quite figured it out. sean wang is a badass and a total babe.

@yeehaw

Aug 10, 2024

🛹

Dìdi (2024)

Man I rly wish I had something like this to watch when I was growing up ✌️ It made me laugh, it made me tear up, etc. I need more Asian American media like this plsssssss & big shoutout to Sean Wang 4 creating this fr fr

@mudskppr

Sep 6, 2024

🎥

chan is missing (1982)

two Chinese-American cab drivers in san francisco’s chinatown go on a quest to find their mysterious friend Chan, who has disappeared with $4000 of their money. I watched this last night not knowing much about it and I really enjoyed it. the plot is pretty loose, it’s kind of a hangout movie. like Clerks if it were about China. I thought it was very funny at some points and very profound at others. the main theme I picked up on is duality. the political strife between the communists and the nationalists. the cultural divide between the north of China and the south of China. the ancient and the modern. the synthesis of being both Chinese and American. even the two protagonists; one is old, the other young. one is idealistic, the other pragmatic. in their search for Chan, they interview many people and every single person gives them information that directly contradicts one another. some say Chan is prideful, others say he is full of shame. some say he is bumbling and clueless, others say he is wise and pensive. some say he is sly and untrustworthy, others say he is upright and honest. all of this is brought to a point in the central motif of the film: gazing into a puddle. that all duality is a reflection of the One. I’m not going to spoil the ending but I thought this was a very fun and very interesting movie :))

@bisonspider

Feb 5, 2025

Top Recs from @madhearts

🪩

growing older

“how can a person know everything at eighteen, but nothing at twenty-two” life truly humbles you. as you start growing older, you stop only chasing the big things, and start valuing the little things too. being able to weave stories of experiences and begin applying them—integrating the lessons and learning curves. in the past few hours of being eighteen, ive learnt how limited our time on earth truly is. i was advised (perhaps even lectured) that i shouldn’t try to defy nature’s course with futile attempts to “age gracefully”, but to rather age with mischief, audacity and a good story to tell. beyond grateful for the love that surrounds me, and the love that i am bound to give out.

@madhearts

Dec 22, 2024

🪬

Pain is Inevitable, but misery is optional

An ideal world is one that knows no pain. That, sadly, is not the one we live in. Pain is a part of the human experience—but failure to move on from it makes you miserable. If you dwell too much on what has happened, you will never be fulfilled enough to see all the good you have/ that is to come. Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of a situation. ‘And in fact, it’s time to forsake someone else’s idea of what gives you a spark or no spark. Block the “other” from the picture. No more audience. Just you.’ Whether you choose to take that responsibility (of acceptance), or give it up to the disappointments of life, you return to yourself. The choice is whether to wallow in the misery of that pain, or take it as it comes and look at what it has to offer you.

@madhearts

Jul 18, 2024

📽

Filming every Little thing

"You get a strange feeling when you're about to leave a place. Like you'll not only miss the people you love but you'll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you'll never be this way ever again." - Azar Nafisi, Reading Lolita in Tehran The best decision I’ve made this year was to start a video journal of my senior year and capture every moment—no matter how insignificant—to keep the year frozen in time. No matter how much time goes by; no matter how many characters I change to become, I’ll always have these videos to remind me of my essence—where I come from, and what made me. It doesn’t matter that the cusp of them are 0.5x videos of my friends’ foreheads, clips of me crying in public restrooms, and logs of us stealing grocery store carts to race them down the street—these moments are what I stay alive for.

@madhearts

Jul 22, 2024