Go Back to China

This film start with a girl "Sasha" having a job interview session, she receive her father(Teddy) phone call, she accidentally bump into a woman, and the woman tell her to go back to China scene! As turnout, this film is about Sasha need to work for her father toy factory one year, to get back her remaining trust fund! Entire film quite slow, and barely laughable! Bored to death! Barely watchable scene is, the noble act of Sasha donate her trust fund to setup a child support center for her father toy factory worker! At the end, Sasha eventually have a job after back to America! She bargain with her father to work as a freelancer to help her father to design the toy! That's it! Another disappointed film!

Man, be professional, go visiting Shenzhen in person please. Stop spreading the lies and bias. Help make the world a better place by letting people understand the facts, and stop lying about China.

Honestly its a great grounding story. Everyone might not connect to it but its an eye opener for some. Seems a little propaganda like but it was a great family show. Seemed to teach a story.

Greetings again from the darkness. Seeing Chinese films reach mainstream status is a nice development in a cinematic industry that too often segments by nationality. Jon M Chu's CRAZY RICH ASIANS was a huge hit in 2018, and then last year Lulu Wang's brilliant THE FAREWELL was a favorite. Now comes a semi-autobiographical tale from writer-director-producer Emily Ting. All three films revolve around Americanized young adults revisiting their Chinese roots, though each for different reasons. Anna Akana stars as Sasha Li, a twenty-something one year removed from fashion school. We first see her on her birthday botching a job interview and running up a monster bar tab with her posse of friends at the club that night. Having ignored calls from her father in China, she is shocked and humiliated when she discovers her dad has cut her off from the trust fund she has been blowing through living the high life in Los Angeles. As viewers, we are immediately turned off by Sasha's immaturity and spoiled self. When her dad offers her a deal ... come back to China and work in his toy factory for a year in order to get her trust fund back, we (and her friends) see it as a no-brainer. But it's not until she gets an eviction notice and discovers her mother (Kelly Hu) is also being cut off, that she makes the decision to head back to the homeland. Once Sasha is back in China, all of the pieces to the puzzle are present. It's a dysfunctional family headed by the father Teddy (Richard Ng) who seems dedicated to being a successful businessman, while proclaiming he's doing it all for the family ... a family that consists of multiple offspring from multiple women. His oldest daughter Carol (Lynn Chen) is Sasha's half-sister, though they barely know each other. Carol has been a dutiful loyal soldier to dad's toy company, and a bit envious of Sasha's free-wheeling lifestyle. Carol believes she has paid her dues, and it's now time for Sasha to pay hers. Sasha also meets two younger half-siblings, as well as a particularly young Lulu (Kendy Cheung), whose role Teddy describes as "she takes care of me." Yuck. What happens next is relatively predictable. Sasha's fashion design skills prove valuable to dad's stale line of toys, so her ideas bring new life to the company and the employees. The latter are impacted by Sasha's insistence on better working conditions. Of course, Sasha being Sasha, her lack of business savvy leads to problems and a fallout. The film's wrap up is a bit too clean for the real world, but Ms. Akana has managed to win us over by this point, so we are apt to overlook the script and story issues. Richard Ng seems a bit too old for his role as Teddy, but he excels in the business scenes where frustrations boil over. Teddy fails miserably as a father or relationship partner, but his instincts with Sasha seem sincere. Filmmaker Ting includes some commentary on social and cultural issues in China, including the 'One Child Policy', and the labor practices and family pressures. The film is part 'coming of age', part 'coming home', and part 'coming to grips'. The life lessons for Sasha are quite clear as she transitions from spoiled princess to reality-based citizen. Her family may still be packed with dysfunction, but then, whose isn't? Part of maturity is learning to deal with it, and understand that family does matter.

The materialism of the spoiled Chinese young generation who took everything for granted with the money their parents earned so hard by their own endeavors and sacrifices. This movie is pretty good, sometimes, even felt better than "The Crazy Rich Asians", a movie focused on the Chinese overseas who live in Singapore. This movie is typical in Chinese style, except all the actors speaking in English. The shallow materialism is still very strong, but not overly done as in "The Crazy Rich Asians". The leading actress did a pretty good job. Her transformation and development in her characteristic personality was subtle and convincing. This is a pretty decent movie. Highly recommended.

Yes it would have been believable if it hadnt been china! giving workers decent food and gasp affordable childcare ? nope it would not happen. that is like saying china dont have any human rights abuses. i did think the acting was very good from most of the people, but to think that this would actually happen to a spoilt princess. way too unrealistic. a propaganda movie it defo is.

This film is quite a surprise family drama that is very relatable for many children of parents working overseas. I liked how they did not shy away from showing the cultural fact that many successful Asian business men do take on many wives and mistresses yet unlike the west it is culturally acceptable to do so. Having Sasha the lead having to deal with all these dynamics was interesting to see. I liked how she was not black and white and while being kind she could also be selfish - that natural character progression is harder to find these days. The lack of romantic connections was quite a surprise in the film and I must say this was a good thing. Sometimes life does not need to be filled with romance- I think this is what others might have expected. I much preferred this movie over a Crazy Rich Asians where most of the cast was filled with one dimensional characters! Dispite the lead being good in her role I was quite surprised they choose a Japanese-American woman to play the part of a Chinese-American? Is that not like throwing Asians of all ethnicities into one basket?! Overall a good Sunday Afternoon watch on some downtime.

Really touching, heartwarming, family-oriented film. The performances were fantastic and the story about a complicated family dynamic felt real and was easy to relate to. Thoroughly enjoyable and I'd absolutely recommend seeing this wonderful family movie!