If you’re familiar with the upscale Chinese restaurant chain owner, or that Chinese boy in old 60s British films, or with his paintings, Aka Mr. Chow might surprise you because they’re one and the same. Born with two names, Zhou Yinghua and Michael Chow, Mr. Chow is just so cool that telling his life story is already interesting. From the tough immigrant experience, living alone as a boy, to his current worldwide success in film, food, and painting, it’s interesting to know that it’s possible. But the documentary dives into it, using the film medium to mirror his own creative style and artistic sensibilities. The film is able to link each of his opinions, not just with his life, but also with the historic changes in his home country. It’s an intriguing approach, if a bit superficial in certain areas, but it’s very entertaining.

Aka Mr. Chow starts with Chow remembering opening scenes to classic films, enacting the sequence complete with sound effects, camera perspectives, and complete description of actions from Lawrence of Arabia to his father’s Beijing Opera entrance. As someone who loves film, it’s an enviable trait to be able to recall all that detail, and it honestly made him seem so darn cool. However, this introduction makes sense, because it matches the way Chow tells his story. While explaining what happened in real life, he would sometimes describe hypothetical scenes, manually placing sound effects with his voice. It also reveals the way his life has influenced his own art style, as the first sequence, where he describes opening scenes, explains why he finds it so important to a film.