US 2021, 82 min Director JAMES REDFORD
In this rich portrait of celebrated Bay Area writer Amy Tan, the author of The Joy Luck Club, now in her 60s, reflects upon both the intimate histories of her family and her own, which alone could fill the pages of several memoirs. With clear eyes and robust detail, Tan recounts the ways her own life growing up in Oakland to immigrant Chinese parents influenced her novels, turning the very specific and unique aspects of her life into universally relatable stories. Fellow authors Isabel Allende (The House of the Spirits) and Kevin Kwan (Crazy Rich Asians), as well as cast members from the 1993 film adaptation of The Joy Luck Club including Rosalind Chao and Tamlyn Tomita, flesh out the otherwise autobiographical tale, offering loving outside perspectives of Tan and her work in this enlightening doc, which marks the final film by fellow Bay Area artist, director James Redford (Happening: A Clean Energy Revolution).