From Boston Asian American Film Festival: Lulu Wang’s Bold New Project

Lulu Wang is telling an intimate story of perpetrators, victims, and those who blur the lines between the two.

On Oct. 22, the Boston Asian American Film Festival screened an episode of the upcoming television series “Expats,” alongside a live panel with director Lulu Wang. Best known for writing and directing the critically-acclaimed film “The Farewell,” Wang spoke about her experience creating “Expats,” which will be released on Amazon Prime Video in Jan.

“Expats” is a six-episode limited series based on the best-selling novel "The Expatriates" by Janice Y. K. Lee. The show follows three women living in Hong Kong as they are brought together by tragedy. Together they tackle themes of loss, friendship, and forgiveness, all while navigating a complex political and cultural landscape.

Rather than sharing the first episode of the series at film festivals, Wang opted to instead screen the 96-minute penultimate episode “Central,” which follows domestic workers in Hong Kong over the course of a day as the city is hit by a typhoon amidst the ongoing political turmoil of the 2014 Umbrella Movement.

“Anyone who’s been to Hong Kong knows that there’s hundreds of thousands of women on the streets on Sundays,” Wang said in the BAAFF talkback panel, explaining that these domestic workers have nowhere to go on their day off since they live in the houses of their employers.

“It's both tragic that they have no place to go,” she said; “But also really beautiful, because how often do we see so many women together in a community? There's so much laughter and joy.”

Wang was so struck by this phenomenon and by the vast social stratification in Hong Kong that she decided to use “Central” to shift focus away from the wealthy expats and onto their two Filipina domestic workers. Essie, played by Ruby Ruiz, and Puri, played by Amelyn Pardenilla, are also expats, but their lives reveal an entirely different world than that of their employers. The result of this stand-alone episode is an insightful interrogation of the intersection between race, gender, class, and other identities.

“For me, the topic of this episode was really important because it asks this question of who deserves to be on the big screen,” Wang said. “Whose story is worth representing? Through whose lens are we seeing a tragedy, or the world?”

The episode itself is a triumph, featuring Wang’s stunning visual storytelling, profound writing style, and sensitive blend of the eastern and western gazes as she portrays individuals from around the world searching for their place in Hong Kong. By limiting the time span of the episode to only one day, the viewer is not merely a voyeur but an intimate companion of these domestic workers, experiencing the highs and lows of a challenging day in their lives alongside them. Most notably, Wang somehow successfully depicts her characters at the darkest moments of their lives as they make some horrific mistakes, while still evoking profound sympathy from the rapt audience.

“One of the major themes is this idea of perpetrators and if they also deserve forgiveness, versus the victim,” Wang said, reflecting on her series as a whole. “Who is a perpetrator? Who is a victim? And how can perpetrators also be victims and victims also be perpetrators in different situations?” These questions are prominent throughout “Central,” and though they are left unanswered, Wang depicts them with grace and nuance in the unique character study of this episode.

Wang opened up about her approach to this nuanced style of storytelling, admitting that she feels that she doesn’t “have the privilege of ever being just right.” Even in her own household, her mother often questions her perspective on family matters and Chinese culture. She believes that this constant scrutiny is what gave her thick skin and an eye for nuance in her portrayals. “Because I’m never gonna be Chinese enough for all the Chinese people to feel like I’m satisfying their needs. And I’m never gonna be American enough for the studio execs that want to see that particular perspective.”

The scrutiny Wang has faced is not limited to her own family; in the panel, she also discussed the overwhelming production process, which she lovingly referred to as the “500 Days of Expats,” spanning from Aug. 2021 to Dec. 2022. Given that this project followed her breakout hit “The Farewell,” she felt pressure to select it carefully. For that reason, when executive producer and star Nicole Kidman first pitched her the project, she turned it down.

“Me and Nicole Kidman, what do we have in common?” Wang said, laughing as she recalled the exchange. “I was like, ‘I don’t think I can do this. And she said, ‘please, whatever you need, you're the only person I thought of for this, you're the first person I’ve come to.’” After that response, Wang thought about it and said “sort of as a joke” that she’d need total freedom to do what she wanted with the project, including deviating significantly from the book. Kidman agreed and the partnership was born.

Despite her successes, Wang still holds a healthy skepticism of the television and film industries.

“You’re only as good as your last project in this town,” Wang said, in a warning to the prospective filmmakers in the audience. If that is the case, though, then Lulu Wang is as exemplary as ever, producing yet another sensitive examination of privilege and tragedy, perpetrator and victimhood, and flawed humanity.

—Staff writer Stella A. Gilbert can be reached at stella.gilbert@thecrimson.com.