By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: David Siev
Country: united_states
Year: 2022
Running time: 100
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12915238/reference/
Michael says: “Is this documentary a love letter to the small Michigan town of Bad Axe? Or is it a love letter to director David Siev’s family? And in response to the couple of critics I read taking Siev to task on this question I say, does it matter? While a fairly straightforward document of a family and a community’s struggle through the last few years, I was amazed at the way Siev wove together a microcosm of our communal experience through the harsh COVID years, and how the pandemic, and the coinciding political climate impacted small businesses, racial issues, and family relations in profound ways.
“The Siev family, led by a Cambodian father, and a Mexican-American mother, are deeply impacted when COVID shuts down the country. Their lives are supported by Rachel’s a successfully operating family restaurant in the small town of Bad Axe, Michigan. Their three children (oldest daughter, a college graduate living in Ann Arbor), middle son (an aspiring filmmaker living in New York City), and youngest daughter (college senior still living at home) all come back to Bad Axe, to their family home to help run the restaurant during this challenging time in an effort to allow their parents to stay at home and avoid health complications — despite their unwillingness to do so. When the Black Lives Matter movement erupts in mid 2020, the family and their assorted partners finds themselves struggling with their desire to speak out and support the movement, with the complexity of running a restaurant that serves a community that is largely populated by Trump supporters. All of this overlaid by the experiences the family patriarch endured escaping the killing fields of Cambodia which shaped his live and outlook.
“First-time feature documentarian Siev found himself in the middle of an incredible and incredibly relevant story, and had the good sense to document it. His straightforward style and with able editing assistance by Peter Wagner and Rosie Walunas has created a powerful portrait of a time that is compelling viewing and resonated strongly with me. 4 cats“
Vicki says: “Don’t be put off by the title which takes its name from the rural town in which the filmmaker’s family live. They are an Asian American family who struggle to keep their restaurant open in the pandemic – and it’s not easy. They live in the conservative west and they are forced to confront the political climate that surrounds them. It is certainly not easy to watch at times, but it will hold your attention. David Siev, the director, certainly used his quarantining with his family to produce a most insightful documentary. 4 cats“
