Reviews
CinemaSerf

CinemaSerf

November 23, 2023
7.0
This is quite a telling story of optimism and realism that tangentially ties up three short stories of Taiwanese people who live in New York and discover that the grass isn't always greenest. The first sees a young bi-lingual woman who gets agency work helping local authorities deal with clients with little or no English. A range of brief scenarios ensue that make her realise, especially the final encounter with a young homeless man, that day to day life can be tough. Meantime, a young, aspiring and naive hip-hop dancer gets pretty much robbed on the street before he meets a likeminded girl and together, through their love of bopping about, gradually fall in love before she must return home. On a tube journey they find a small green notebook that belonged to our first storyteller and that introduces us to our final family who are struggling to come to terms with their young, violent, son who clearly has mental health issues that the father, especially, is having difficulty coming to terms with. Might the solution lie with a kite? Well that's how we start, a kite that flies over the park in which all of our visitors are sitting. As a non-American, I also felt that I, too, could be one of those visitors and the style of direction from Sen-I Yu offers us a fly-on-the-wall glimpse at how people arrive and settle into to a different society - sometimes craving that which they have left behind, sometimes just as equally desperate to avoid those very cravings. The first episode also identifies just how hard integration can be when language is not common, too. The acting is all fine, it's a bit over-written at times but the sentiment and variety on offer here is measured, occasionally quite poignant and worth a watch.

Recommendation Movies

6.1
Action
View
6.1
Ned Kelly
Ned Kelly2003
6.8
Science Fiction
View
6.8
2048: Nowhere to Run
2048: Nowhere to Run2017
7.1
Comedy
View
7.1
5 to 7
5 to 72014
4.6
Thriller
View
4.6
Sharknado 2: The Second One
Sharknado 2: The Second One2014
6.2
Crime
View
6.2
The Yards
The Yards2000
7.2
Drama
View
7.2
A Touch of Sin
A Touch of Sin2013
7.1
Crime
View
7.1
Pusher II
Pusher II2004
6.6
Comedy
View
6.6
The Little Bather
The Little Bather1968
4.5
Documentary
View
4.5
Hannibal Hopkins & Sir Anthony
Hannibal Hopkins & Sir Anthony2021
8.2
Adventure
View
8.2
Star Wars
Star Wars1977
5.8
Horror
View
5.8
Chopping Mall
Chopping Mall1986
6.9
Drama
View
6.9
Christine
Christine2016
6.9
Adventure
View
6.9
Rescue Dawn
Rescue Dawn2007
6.2
Comedy
View
6.2
Hannibal Buress: Comedy Camisado
Hannibal Buress: Comedy Camisado2016
6.1
Horror
View
6.1
Text
Text2008
6.3
Romance
View
6.3
Shortbus
Shortbus2006
6.7
Drama
View
6.7
The Tribe
The Tribe2014
6.6
Drama
View
6.6
Behind the Candelabra
Behind the Candelabra2013
6
Comedy
View
6
Twins
Twins1988
6.5
Comedy
View
6.5
The Idiots
The Idiots1998
© 2025 MoovieTime. All rights reserved.Made with Nuxt