Americanized [Video]

By Omeleto

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Eng has grown up in Oakland, immersed in its hip-hop culture and mix of languages and cultures. But she still struggles with her Chinese American identity. She’s the girl who sits on the bench on the basketball team, but she’s also the “Americanized” girl to the other Asian kids, who stick together at school.

As Eng’s sophomore year winds down to an end in 2002, she tries to find a sense of belonging. But never quite fitting in with her two different worlds, acceptance is hard to find.

Written and directed by Erica Eng, this short film has the propulsive energy of its sports drama genre, with games and practices captured with dynamic camerawork and editing. But it also has a naturalistic specificity in the milieu and character that give the storytelling grit and authenticity, rooting its young protagonist in the rangy energy of an Oakland high school, where students of all races and cultures commingle. Within this scrappy setting, Eng tries to find her place in the world, an exploration constructed with emotionally intelligent, keenly observed writing and direction.

Sports narratives often have a built-in forward drive, structured around games, matches and tournaments. But the story here is less interested in the march to victory. Instead, it’s more attentive to Eng’s emotional journey, captured in a charismatic performance by actor Terry Hu, who possesses both youth, swagger and insecurity as the young basketball player trying to find her place in the world. She has the bravado of a warrior taking the field — or an actor in costume taking the stage — but also the flickers of vulnerability and hurt that come through when she is teased and bullied on both sides. She soldiers on, almost darting from one group to another, until she achieves a personal win — one that is more fragile and fleeting than she realizes.

Having a sense of belonging is a primal need, one that asserts itself more acutely when we hit adolescence and begin to explore who we are. For Eng, and the film in general, belonging isn’t just about making friends or finding your crew. It’s about navigating complicated social spaces while often falling through the cracks of them — a tricky balancing act for anyone at any time, much less for a teenager pulled between two cultures where she will never quite belong. Beyond showing the diversity of the Asian-American experience, “Americanized” takes these complexities of being a descendant of immigrants in the U.S. and grafts them onto a classic coming-of-age arc, making for a fascinating, engrossing and universally relatable tale.

Transcript provided by YouTube:

0:04
foreign
0:09
[Music]
0:24
[Music]
0:41
I thought you knew
0:47
I yeah
0:50
I can’t understand you Nini you are late
0:57
what happened
0:59
I fell yesterday
1:02
it’s okay
1:04
can I get you something to eat
1:07
uh no thanks I gotta go that’s not
1:10
breakfast let me wrap something up for
1:13
you fine I’m not hungry keep changing
1:15
your looks
1:17
I hardly recognize you I got a game
1:20
tonight so I’ll be home late all right
1:21
okay don’t wait awful
1:42
[Music]
1:52
[Music]
1:57
I’m saying is coach better not have her
2:00
anywhere near the starting five her wack
2:01
ass almost cost this last game yeah she
2:04
gonna keep [ __ ] up y’all King Rhino
2:06
like that yes I’m just off because last
2:08
year she was Bench riding too
2:14
it can barely handle a ball
2:29
let’s go let’s go ladies hey let’s go
2:38
hey you know she’s just playing with you
2:40
right
2:41
like she was like that with me last year
2:42
we just gotta like get at her she’ll
2:44
keep [ __ ] with you yeah well I can’t
2:46
say [ __ ] if coach guard keeps benching
2:47
me look
2:48
it’s your first season with us
2:51
get out of your head it’s gonna be
2:52
straight
2:56
all right ladies on my whistle
2:58
come on
3:00
come on step good one Davis let’s go
3:02
push push push push
3:05
all right
3:12
she can’t do that again
3:17
let’s go
3:20
go break break
3:27
s great practice great practice
3:29
all right
3:31
Now ladies the only thing keeping us on
3:33
the playoffs is tonight’s game you know
3:34
this so stay focused and hydrate
3:38
okay
3:39
start at five
3:43
Davis
3:44
Fallon Maisha Wilkes
3:50
Steph
3:53
you’re covered number five she’s fast
3:55
but you’re faster all right
3:58
hands in bring it in
4:01
teamwork on three one two three
4:08
[Music]
4:18
thank you
4:20
[Music]
4:24
come on stupid or not embarrass me on
4:26
that court now oh so you finally come
4:28
into one of my games should I be
4:29
flattered you’ve been best the last two
4:31
games as much
4:35
yo aren’t you coming around
4:37
nah I got ASU
4:39
I would say you should come but I’m
4:41
captain off
4:48
foreign
5:25
oh it’s just
5:28
my mom made it for dinner last night
5:32
oh no it looks
5:34
um I didn’t mean it like and it’s
5:36
do you know it’s rude to talk about
5:37
other people’s food like that
5:40
I didn’t mean it does your family even
5:42
know how to cook Chinese food
5:46
yeah kind of my Grandma makes
6:00
what’d she say
6:02
all right
6:05
I’m second mark
6:07
ER
6:11
do it for me
6:20
it’s nothing don’t worry about it
6:27
hi um I’m just going to catch you at the
6:29
game later okay
6:31
good looking
6:35
foreign
6:37
[Music]
6:47
[Applause]
6:56
[Music]
7:04
[Music]
7:11
[Music]
7:17
foreign
7:19
[Music]
7:32
[Applause]
7:40
oh
7:41
yes
7:49
[Applause]
8:00
you missed it get rid of trouble come on
8:03
wins
8:05
[Applause]
8:13
let’s go
8:19
[Applause]
8:24
[Music]
8:26
[Applause]
8:30
[Music]
8:34
[Applause]
8:39
upstairs
8:40
[Music]
8:43
oh
8:44
my God
8:45
[Applause]
8:56
what’s up
8:59
beautiful step
9:01
come on let’s go
9:03
let’s go
9:03
[Applause]
9:05
let’s go
9:07
[Music]
9:08
[Applause]
9:14
come on look at the clock let’s go
9:21
hey I’m popping up
9:33
[Applause]
9:43
here
9:48
let’s go let’s go come on get down here
9:52
let’s go
9:53
[Applause]
10:00
now
10:06
shoot it come on
10:09
let’s go
10:15
[Applause]
10:27
[Music]
10:32
all right
10:35
[Applause]
10:38
[Music]
10:44
my name is ladies
10:48
great game great game from all of you
10:50
listen way to step up I want to see that
10:53
kind of hustle from you in the playoffs
10:55
all right
10:56
hands in the middle all right
10:58
all right good game Ohio three one two
11:00
three
11:02
[Applause]
11:13
[Applause]
11:17
[Music]
11:25
[Music]
11:34
hey good job big see you’re talking
11:36
hella [ __ ] kind of nice if you were to
11:38
give me a chance
11:39
don’t get ahead of yourself now
11:43
so what are you doing later we should
11:44
celebrate or something
11:48
I’m uh
11:49
I’m actually rolling with Denise
11:53
Yay good game but I’ll catch you later
11:55
though
11:57
yeah for sure
11:59
[Music]
12:05
I’m trying to Wild out before coach car
12:07
makes us do those two a days get away
12:11
you coming
12:14
yeah for sure
12:18
and she let ogro come with us
12:21
right
12:22
I’ll be taking you all right
12:24
nah nah that’s the only gas made it from
12:27
the last time he dropping out broke
12:28
asses
12:30
all right so we broke right like how you
12:33
nut number five break your ankles
12:36
[Laughter]
12:40
no I wasn’t number five right Steph it
12:43
was a ghost that must have pushed you
12:44
out the way like
12:47
Casper must be out there huh
12:50
[Laughter]
12:52
for a strong ass Breeze
12:59
close those doors
13:07
what’d you say
13:09
yeah you know no
13:13
no I don’t
13:16
look I’m just playing you busting your
13:18
ass tonight for real right y’all
13:24
hey I better come get your girl she has
13:26
to acting too familiar you’re talking
13:27
hell of [ __ ] hey
13:30
come on Steph you know how to do you
13:32
like that I’m just getting back at them
13:34
remember
13:35
like you said
13:37
yo stop chill we was just playing
13:40
we
13:41
also now it’s we
13:44
see I’m gonna let this fake ass [ __ ]
13:45
with her fake ass phrase come here I’m
13:46
talking about weed
13:49
all right
13:52
no to ask I’m lucky tonight I bet you
13:55
won’t do that [ __ ] again
13:56
[Applause]
14:02
[Applause]
14:03
matter of fact see how you do with
14:06
someone a female group
14:12
[Applause]
14:28
[Music]
14:36
it’s like it hurts I’m gonna be good
14:55
[Applause]
15:13
laughs
15:48
foreign
15:59
[Music]
16:11
[Music]
16:15
foreign
16:19
[Music]
16:25
[Music]
16:44
[Music]
16:51
foreign
16:53
[Music]

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This post was previously published on YouTube.

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Photo credit: iStock