When the Oscars were announced, one movie stood above all others on the snub list. The underlying essence of increasing the number of Best Picture nominees north of five was that there were not enough 'mainstream' movies represented to 'mainstream' audiences, hurting viewership. And granted, Jon M. Chu's vision of Kevin Kwan's novel is by no means a tour de force (we are talking a rom-com here), Crazy Rich Asians provides a diverse, mainstream look of what Kwan was trying to achieve: contemporary Asia.
So what originally returned me to writing reviews was one performance that stood out among them all: Michelle Yeoh. How could Penelope Cruz win an Oscar representing her culture and yet the presence and power displayed by Yeoh's Eleanor, carrying literally everyone on the screen with her (especially Constance Wu), come up short? The presence commanded from Yeoh's role really held court and is essentially the glue that keeps Crazy Rish Asians from dissolving into the fluff most accuse it of.
Crazy Rich Asians may be a romantic comedy, and those who know, know well how history treats them, but the movie succeeds in showing Kwan's vision. The level of effort, despite heavy limitations, shows that everyone knows what was at stake here, and I laud the movie for that. Enough to say that Crazy Rich Asians was contemporary enough, was diverse enough, to stand with others at the biggest show.
So what originally returned me to writing reviews was one performance that stood out among them all: Michelle Yeoh. How could Penelope Cruz win an Oscar representing her culture and yet the presence and power displayed by Yeoh's Eleanor, carrying literally everyone on the screen with her (especially Constance Wu), come up short? The presence commanded from Yeoh's role really held court and is essentially the glue that keeps Crazy Rish Asians from dissolving into the fluff most accuse it of.
Crazy Rich Asians may be a romantic comedy, and those who know, know well how history treats them, but the movie succeeds in showing Kwan's vision. The level of effort, despite heavy limitations, shows that everyone knows what was at stake here, and I laud the movie for that. Enough to say that Crazy Rich Asians was contemporary enough, was diverse enough, to stand with others at the biggest show.