It can be easy to forget, in a time when Hollywood has perhaps entered a post- “woke” era, that representation is, at its core, about reflecting actual lives and experiences. What identity politics in media got us or what its weaponization sowed can be up for debate, but in “The A List: 15 Stories from the Asian and Pacific Diasporas,” the discourse is refreshingly beside the point.
Directed by Eugene Yi, the documentary (one part of Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ larger series focusing on different minority groups) provides a straightforward lens on 15 figures from all walks of life — artists, activists, scientists — connected by their inclusion in a wide-net definition of the diaspora. Shorn of any larger narratives or showy touches, the film spotlights each subject telling, in brief, the individual histories and struggles of their lives.
That is often enough. The most interesting turns are not those of its most recognizable names — actors such as Sandra Oh and Kumail Nanjiani — but instead ones like a trans athlete or a New York City D.J., who renew and animate ideas that have, at times, been parroted into platitudes: that we are not a monolith, that the personal is political.
In their tellings, of American lives that can be at once deeply moving and totally common, they are a frequently poignant reminder not only of the nearness of the great pain and dislocation that dots the diaspora, but also of the resilience shared among those who have forged a place in the United States.
The A List: 15 Stories from Asian and Pacific Diasporas Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 25 minutes. Watch on HBO.
The post ‘The A List’ Review: The Diaspora, Described appeared first on New York Times.
