Why I fell in love with Crazy Rich Asians
Sep 9, 2018 · 3 min read
A spoiler-free emotional decompress
I just saw Crazy Rich Asians at Lido Cinema in Hawthorn — which, by the way Melbournites, is a fantastic independent cinema with a snack menu the length of a short novel (something I deeply respect) — and ugly, happy cried for most of it. Here’s why:
- It reminded me of home.
I was born in Melbourne, Australia but I was raised in Kuching, Sarawak.
I had a confusing/conflicting upbringing in terms of feeling a sense of belonging — being queer, mixed race and ignorant can have that effect — but at this point in my life I’ve been lucky to rediscover the things I love about where I grew up.
The co-mingle of international and local accents, the food, the aunties and uncles, the mannerisms, personalities, slang and multiple dialects; CRA may have been set in Singapore, but it was still so incredibly reminiscent of the sounds, sights and types of people I grew up around (though, of course, not all). A landscape shot of Rawa Beach? Reminds me of Bako National Park. The scene where Rachel and Peik Lin are having lunch out on the street? Brings me back to Carpenter Street. Hearing Nick Young order food at a hawker stall reminds me of my dad ordering food for our family at Foody Goody, or Eastmoore Cafe, or Lao Ya Keng. - That cast.
I loved every single character (yes, even that one), because having an all-Asian cast means, out of the very many other things it means, having room to create multiple multi-dimensional characters. Instead of having a couple of token Asian characters fettered by the pressure of encompassing the entire Asian experience — something this movie doesn’t even attempt to do (the exclusivity is literally in the title y’all) — CRA has multiple characters decked out with their own suite of strengths, weaknesses, character arcs and story lines. - It touches on some pretty complex themes for a romcom.
Among other themes, CRA dips it’s toes into the double standards surrounding close familial ties in Southeast Asian culture, classism and the culture conflict of the Asian-American experience (we’ve all heard the banana analogy by now, very creative). CRA doesn’t ignore these themes nor does it aim to be an expert of them, it simply provides a stage on which it’s characters experience and process them, leaving the rest up to us to unpack, relate to or gloss over. - It does what all good chick flicks do best: make you fall in love.
CRA is just a great film. The soundtrack (largely Chinese songs, or Chinese renditions of English songs) is gorgeous; the settings and costume designs equally so. The characters are charming, warm and ludicrous. There’s drama, humour, tension and relief. And it makes you fall in love.
I didn’t expect CRA to capture my heart as much as it did, but it’s for this reason that it has. In the last five years that I’ve lived in Melbourne I’ve been called Asian swine, heard countless jokes about yellow fever/the emasculation of Asian men (usually accompanied by a poor attempt at a Chinese accent) and just last month, as I was hopping out to grab an afternoon coffee, heard a middle-aged white man yell at a passing Chinese person to “go back to your fucking country”. But for two hours, and one minute, everyone in the cinema hall rooted for, laughed with and fell in love with these incredibly beautiful, imperfect Southeast Asian characters. This carefully curated magic, captured in a few hours worth of equally joyful and heart-wrenching moments, is why the romcom genre is one of my absolute favourites; and what gives CRA a special place in my head and heart.
CRA isn’t a perfect film by any means, and it doesn’t get anywhere near representing a ‘complete’ Southeast Asian experience — but it doesn’t have to nor does it aim to. And while romantic comedies are unlikely to change the world, Australia included, when they’re done well they make you fall in love. And it’s been a long-time coming for Hollywood to realise there’s so much to love (and respect) not just about Asia, but the people that comprise it.