2024 Show
Lulu Wang · United States of America · Cantonese, English
Lulu Wang returns to screen in this Hong Kong-set intersection of personal loss and American privilege
With immigration being a vastly different experience across race, gender, and origin country, it can be easy to dismiss Amazon Prime’s Expats as just another melodrama about the rich, especially with the controversies surrounding its production. There’s some truth to this– two of the three leads live in glamorous, high-rise apartments bigger and more expensive than the standard Hong Kong shoe-box– but the show is much more than that. It grapples with the identity that must be remade for the move. It empathizes with the unresolved loss that haunts the day-to-day life of both mother and caretaker. And on top of that, Lulu Wang portrays how this grief-stained lens can still be short-sighted, when directed to those in the margins. Expats is a revelation with its slow and steady multi-sided portraiture.
Set against the complex tapestry of Hong Kong residents, a multifaceted group of women sets off a chain of life-altering events that leaves everyone navigating the intricate balance between blame and accountability.
"Total isolation in a vibrant city whose gaslights shimmer off every surface. A captivating image straight out of a Wong Kar-wai film."
— Siddhant Adlakha
"Expats expertly breaks life down into parts, before bringing it all together again in a moving, unshakable portrait."
— Ben Travers
A tragic loss causes the lives of three American expatriates to intersect in Hong Kong.
The cast. Character studies are stories that live and die by its performances– Expats is no exception. Nicole Kidman and Sarayu Blue do excellently as relatable, but clearly privileged Americans, but it’s Ji-young Yoo as Mercy dealing with her guilt over her carelessness that’s the most striking.
Lulu Wang, you’ve done it again.
Isabella Endrinal is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. She's now free from the corporate night shift. Previous articles have been published in outlets such as NANG Magazine. She's currently catching up on some classic films… if she isn't coping with the fact that the Haikyu anime will end soon.
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