Go Back to China | SXSW 2019 Film Review

In writer-director Emily Ting’s loosely biographical Go Back to China, YouTube celebrity Anna Akana stars as Sasha Li, a wannabe fashionista living the high-life off of her rich daddy’s trust fund in Los Angeles. A more intelligent take on Clueless’ Cher, Sasha is actively seeking employment, though her lack of work history or basic understanding of vocation fundamentals renders these pursuits moot.

The film begins on Sasha’s birthday, as she finds herself cut off from her father’s purse strings after a late night celebrating at a posh club with friends. She is understandably humiliated, and also desolate. With zero financial opportunities of her own, Sasha is forced to agree to her father’s terms of trust fund reinstatement: fly to China, where she has not lived since she was a toddler, and work at his toy manufacturing plant for one year.

Ting’s screenplay functions almost exclusively as a fish-out-of-water tale, as Sasha navigates the unknown waters of China. Even the most rudimentary tasks she finds near impossible – Google and social media are banned! – and yet, eventually, Sasha begins to find her footing by working with her father (Richard Ng) and half-sister Carol (Lynn Chen) to place her stamp on the family business. Of course, mistakes and life lessons will be had along the way.

Sasha is initially difficult to warm up to; here is a grown adult who has never had to work a day in her life, bitching and moaning about being forced to take a high-level position in an established company…these are rich people problems. Thankfully, Anna Akana carries the film with relative ease. Learning about her own culture while also taking the time to listen to the issues of their factory employees opens Sasha up to a bold new world of maturity. It is also a great help that Akana is such an engaging presence who livens up even the most mundane dialogue with her wry charm. Which unfortunately there is a bit too much of.

Emily Ting has a wonderful eye as a director – numerous shots stand out as beautiful in an otherwise low-budget affair – and she successfully manages to maneuver Anna’s father, Teddy Li, into a position of relatability (which can be fairly difficult once you learn of Teddy’s seemingly non-stop transgressions). Her screenplay, on the other hand, tends to waddle a bit too often into the exposition valley, where characters are explaining each and every turn of events excessively, and the formulaic nature of the story finds itself far too predictable.

That is not to say the film is not entertaining, as Anna Akana and Richard Ng establish their characters as a relationship worth investing in, and the backdrop of learning Chinese culture and work ethic is fascinating to behold. If Ting had relied a tinge more on trusting her audience to piece events together and possibly taken a few chances, Go Back to China could have proven to be trip worth taking again.