Written and directed by Emily Ting
Starring Anna Akana, Richard Ng and Lynn Chen
Running time: 1 hour and 35 minutes

by Emily Maesar

Here’s a bit of full disclosure: I adore Anna Akana. The YouTube star has been hitting my subscription box for the last four years. So I know I’m predisposed to have my brain light up whenever I see her. Hit or miss (her short films hit and her music has missed, at least for me), I enjoy watching her grow and develop as a creative force. Like I said, I’ve always really liked her short films, whether she was writing, directing or acting (sometimes all three), she’s an engaging force that I want to see more of, always and forever. 

Enter Emily Ting. An established filmmaker in her own right, Ting uses bits of her own life to create the story of Sasha Li (Anna Akana), whose father runs a fairly successful toy factory in China. When she’s cut off from her inheritance, she’s forced to move to China and work at her father’s company for a year in order to earn it back. Despite being a fish out of water for a while, she comes to understand her place in the company, becoming friends with some employees and even fighting for improvements in their working conditions. She also ends up using her degree at FIDM to design a Christmas toyline and reconnects with the sister and father she was thousands of miles away from, both in distance and emotion.

This film is beyond charming. It was a real joy to watch Anna Akana step out of her short film and YouTube shell to completely own a leading role. She makes Sasha likeable and emotionally justified. Lynn Chen as her older sister Carol has a nice turn as you (and Sasha) come to realize what life has been like for her with their father in China. It’s sad that the very emotional scene between the two of them falls a bit flat, but it’s actually not so bad that it ruins the build up of the characters all together. Perhaps more time would have done them well, but it plays just fine overall. 

I have no doubt that this film will be compared to Lulu Wang’s 2019 feature The Farewell - which I don’t think is particularly fair. Sure, they both have a similar base plotline: Asian-American girl must go to China to be with her family. But I’d like to point out that that’s the most barebones you can make both summaries before they start to diverge. Everything about the two films couldn’t be more different. From how the filmmakers decided to tell the story of feeling othered in both countries to what the lead characters are going to China for.

Ultimately, Go Back to China is fun. It’s not the greatest thing ever committed to film, few things are, but it’s a nice ride to take with some beautiful cinematography, fine acting and charming characters. It hits nearly all the big swings it tries to make, and it lets Sasha be entirely sympathetic to the people working in her father’s factory without having her be a villain first. It’s an inoffensive film, the likes of which white filmmakers and actors have been allowed to make forever, and it commits to the form perfectly with enjoyable results.

In select theaters and on demand Friday, March 6th.