Its heart is in the right place, but as a documentary, this is simply awful. The research into this important subject by the filmmakers was incredibly shallow, and what's presented is completely unfocused. I think there was more time spent on high school level history summaries and the shameful Japanese-American internment during WWII than a critical examination of Hollywood's treatment of Asians. There are so many films and actors not covered here that it was frankly irritating, and for the ones that are, the analysis provided by Nancy Wang Yuen and Joseph McBride is cursory at best, inaccurate at worst. A broader set of experts was needed, as well as critical thinking from directors Clara and Julia Kuperberg about what to include and what to challenge.
Even the timeline is badly spliced together, e.g. Going back to a Pre-Code picture (The Bitter Tea of General Yen) after talking sloppily about what Production Code enforcement meant, or going back to the 50's for a couple of Sam Fuller pictures after the stock footage of Vietnam war protests in the 60's. It jumps forward and closes with Alan Parker's Come See the Paradise (1990) seemingly because of the interview with Tamlyn Tomita, and the then-unreleased Crazy Rich Asians, in what seemed like excessive attention for both.
The movie footage that we occasionally see appeared to consist entirely from trailers, making me wonder if the filmmakers simply didn't have the rights to more. Regardless, this is as messy as a poorly executed student project, one that was thrown together and incomplete when it was due, as much as it pains me to say that. It's a subject a care deeply about, so this was very disappointing. Anyway, there are far better films and books about this subject, and I would look around instead of spending the time here.
