Cinema Club

0:15 → 0:19
Hello and welcome to season three of Culture In Between. It's just Brianna and me today.

0:20 → 0:23
And in this first episode of our new season, we will be talking about five of our favorite

0:23 → 0:28
movies that feature stories about growing up between cultures. We'll tell you about the

0:28 → 0:33
plot, but no spoilers, cultural themes, and our favorite moments for each movie. think

0:33 → 0:41
Brianna's gonna kick us off with our first movie, right? Yes, I am. am. So our first movie is

0:41 → 0:48
In the Heights and... Anyone who's maybe  been listening to this podcast might know that I

0:48 → 0:53
really love musicals.  And Lin-Manuel Miranda. Lin-Manuel Miranda in particular.  In the Heights

0:53 → 1:00
was Lin-Manuel Miranda's first musical before Hamilton. Although, you know, obviously he's

1:00 → 1:04
kind of become more well known for Hamilton. In the Heights was his first musical. He literally

1:04 → 1:11
started writing it in college, I believe.  And so the movie version came out... kind of in

1:11 → 1:16
2020, basically, it literally was set to come out like right when the pandemic started and

1:16 → 1:23
it got pushed like until  theaters opened again. So it's, you know, I feel like it didn't quite

1:23 → 1:27
get the premiere it deserved, but  that's another story. I didn't realize they had to push it

1:27 → 1:32
back. Yeah, yeah, it literally was set to release like right when the pandemic, like think March

1:32 → 1:38
2020, like so they had to move it. So it ended up being actually released in  2021, I believe.

1:38 → 1:44
Yeah, but I thought the movie did the musical  quite good justice. But if you are not familiar

1:44 → 1:51
with the  musical or the movie at all,  it was directed by John Chu, who has become quite

1:51 → 1:58
popular for having directed Wicked most recently.  And yeah, so the main actors in the movie

1:58 → 2:04
are Anthony Ramos, Melissa Barrera, Leslie Grace, and Corey Hawkins, among others. And this is

2:04 → 2:09
just such a heartwarming...  I think the music is great. Obviously, if you love Hamilton,

2:09 → 2:14
you will also love the music in In the Heights. There are some similar themes. There's a lot

2:14 → 2:23
of rap, obviously. And as far as just the cultural themes, this movie kind of talks a lot about

2:23 → 2:30
community. So the whole movie is set in Washington Heights, which is a neighborhood in New York

2:30 → 2:35
where Lin-Manuel Miranda grew up, and it's a very kind of known for being a Latino neighborhood.

2:36 → 2:43
Washington. so, yeah, and so  the community really comes together  over the course of the

2:43 → 2:48
movie because of various things that happen. I won't spoil anything, but just there's a

2:48 → 2:54
blackout where the whole song about the blackout. It's going to be like... I'm the hype man.

2:54 → 2:58
Yeah, it's like in Migos when they just kind of randomly say things like, yeah,  that's

2:58 → 3:05
Alyssa right now. anyway, so there's a blackout, you know, there's...  don't want to spoil anything,

3:05 → 3:11
but a lot of things happen  over the course of just a few days in this community and the

3:11 → 3:15
community kind of has to band together and everyone kind of knows each other. And it's really

3:15 → 3:22
nice and heartwarming to see that, especially nowadays with everyone kind of  not being so

3:22 → 3:28
unified. It's kind of nice to see that in this community. And I think a lot of immigrant communities

3:28 → 3:35
are like that. It also explores gentrification, which I think is a really interesting topic

3:35 → 3:40
that maybe doesn't get explored as much in a lot of media in general, because Washington

3:40 → 3:45
Heights  has in real life  become more gentrified. A lot of parts of New York have.  And that

3:45 → 3:52
is something that kind of does get explored in the  movie, especially  with these three

3:52 → 3:58
hairdressers that  are kind of part of the comic relief in the movie.  And they end up having

3:58 → 4:04
to kind of, well,  I don't want to...  I trying to ruin things, I'm sorry. It's hard to give

4:04 → 4:10
a summary, guess. Yeah, so basically, just so you know, there's gentrification. There's a

4:10 → 4:18
lot of talk of that in the movie as well. Also, I think one of the major themes is about dreams.

4:18 → 4:24
The main character, Usnavi, is his name. That's who Anthony Ramos plays in the movie, that's

4:24 → 4:28
who Lin-Manuel Miranda played in the original musical. I think that's something you should

4:28 → 4:34
mention, is that... Although Lin-Manuel Miranda played the lead in the musical of In the Heights,

4:34 → 4:39
he is actually just has like, I think he just has like a cameo in the movie. Yeah, he said

4:39 → 4:44
he's too old to play Snobby now. Because Snobby is kind of supposed to be like maybe like early

4:44 → 4:50
30s. don't know. So yeah, so he said he was too old to play Snobby, so he didn't play Snobby.

4:50 → 4:58
He played the Piragua man, is Piragua is like a ice. It's kind of like a snow cone kind of

4:58 → 5:06
thing.  Yeah.  it's kind  of funny to see him in there and see him in a different role.

5:06 → 5:12
But anyway, so Usnavi in the movie has a dream of moving back to  the Dominican Republic where

5:12 → 5:18
his parents are from and his parents have passed away now.  And his dream is just to go live

5:18 → 5:23
out there on a little beach. But as much... And also some of the other characters also

5:23 → 5:31
have  some big dreams of... moving uptown or moving somewhere else in general. But I think

5:31 → 5:38
a great kind of  message of the movie, again, without spoiling too much,  is,  I know, this

5:38 → 5:45
is shaking her head, is this idea of also  being home and  finding home and being happy where

5:45 → 5:52
you are as well. So it's kind of interesting. There's a lot of dream setting,  but there's

5:52 → 5:58
also  kind of a gradual appreciation of of where you come from and where you are. It's just

5:58 → 6:04
a beautiful movie and a beautiful musical.  I highly recommend just listening to the soundtrack.

6:04 → 6:10
you like, you know,  maybe if you're not sure about musical, about watching a movie musical,

6:10 → 6:15
just listen to the soundtrack. It might surprise you. It's not like your normal kind of run

6:15 → 6:24
of the mill musical. It's just  a  great  movie. And I just want to also mention a favorite

6:24 → 6:35
moment.  I think my favorite moment  is  just in general, anytime the abuela is there. So

6:35 → 6:40
abuela is kind of like the mother of the whole community basically.  And she actually doesn't

6:40 → 6:44
have any kids of her own, like basically all the kids in the community are kind of like

6:44 → 6:51
her kids. And pretty much anytime she's around, it's just heartwarming.  And  she has her own

6:51 → 6:55
little solo and... You have one of the best songs, I feel like, in the movie. and actually

6:55 → 7:01
the woman who plays Abuela in the movie  also played it in the original musical. So she was

7:01 → 7:07
very seasoned in that role. So yeah, so  I think that is definitely one of the most heartwarming

7:08 → 7:16
moments. And also,  Usnavi has a little cousin who works for him in his convenience store,

7:16 → 7:21
and he was also great, had a great energy.  So, yeah, so anytime they show up on screen,

7:21 → 7:27
it's definitely great. Although, like I said, the whole movie is wonderful. So that is In

7:27 → 7:34
the Heights.  And I think Alyssa is here to talk about our next movie. I am.  And I will

7:34 → 7:42
be talking about the movie Past Lives, who is directed by Celine Song. And the main actors

7:42 → 7:50
are Greta Lee, K.O.U., and John Magaro. And it was released in 2023. So I will give the

7:50 → 7:55
caveat and say now that Brianna is way better at describing movies than me. So you probably

7:55 → 7:59
aren't going to get as long of a summary from the ones that I'm covering, even though I've

7:59 → 8:04
seen all these movies on the list. So we're going to just roll with it. So anyway, Past

8:04 → 8:10
Lives is a movie we watched, gosh, maybe a month or so ago, Brianna had seen it first and then

8:10 → 8:15
told me to watch it. And at first I was kind of like, I don't really know what to expect.

8:16 → 8:19
I don't think I had even really heard of it. And then when you were kind of describing it

8:19 → 8:23
to me, it wasn't really like, I don't know, just almost like you were trying to discourage

8:23 → 8:30
me, but like  I really, really liked this movie. So the film starts off by, we start in Korea

8:30 → 8:36
and it starts off with these two childhood friends. Her American name  is Nora, but when

8:36 → 8:40
she's in Korea, I can't remember. What's her name? Do you remember? No. Yeah, I can't remember,

8:40 → 8:45
but like I'm kind of  giving some. a little bit here, but she ends up moving to Canada

8:45 → 8:52
with her folks. But it starts off with her and her  kind of sweetheart, Haesung.  And, you

8:52 → 8:56
know, they're kind of just little friends and then  they kind of have like a little crush

8:56 → 9:02
on each other.  And then  they're playing in the park one day  and  they're on like a little

9:02 → 9:08
little date.  And  Nora's mom tells Haesung's mom that they're actually going to be moving,

9:08 → 9:14
leaving Korea and going to Canada. They don't really, I think. describe why, I just to give

9:14 → 9:18
a better opportunity, per se, I think was the reason. Even though they seemed like they were

9:18 → 9:23
pretty happy in Korea, from what I could gather.  And so, you know, them being young and at

9:23 → 9:28
the time, the young version of the protagonist  is there and she's like excited to be moving

9:28 → 9:34
and all this stuff. But his song is sad, but doesn't really know how to express that.  And

9:34 → 9:41
so, anyway, eventually Nora leaves  and they kind of kind of say goodbye to each other,

9:41 → 9:46
not really. And then they come to the States and you kind of have one little  scene where

9:46 → 9:52
like you see...  You have one scene before they move where like  Nora is picking out her American

9:52 → 9:57
name and unfortunately I can't remember what her name, her Korean name was unfortunately.

9:57 → 10:01
It was something with an N. Yeah, I just can't remember anyway. But she picks out the name

10:01 → 10:05
Nora and so, and you have one scene where they're kind of like traveling to the airport and then

10:05 → 10:10
another one where they're like, she's kind of standing by herself. It looks like a middle

10:10 → 10:14
school or something. And then you just kind of flash back to her being in like college.

10:14 → 10:20
And it's like, I don't know, 10, 15 years have passed. then I can't remember. Do you remember

10:20 → 10:25
how they kind of got back in touch? I think, oh, I think Nora finds Haesung on Facebook,

10:25 → 10:30
I believe. And he had written to her. He had actually written to her, but she hadn't seen

10:30 → 10:34
it before. I think it just hadn't gone to her messages or something. And then they kind of

10:34 → 10:39
like kind of start talking again. He's in school. She is also studying, I believe, in New York

10:39 → 10:45
at the time now. to be a writer, just like her dad was like a kind of a writer as well when

10:45 → 10:51
he was in Korea. And so she kind of is following in his footsteps. And so you see them kind

10:51 → 10:55
of keep this long distance relationship. don't know. like, you know, he's he's still in Korea

10:55 → 10:58
and she's in New York. I'm not quite sure what the time difference was, but it was significant

10:58 → 11:02
enough that like, you know, one would have to be up late to talk to one and the other. But

11:02 → 11:06
like they keep this going for seems like at least a year or so. But they don't really,

11:06 → 11:13
I guess, establish like, are we dating or not? And then I think  first there's a ton of excitement

11:13 → 11:21
on both sides  of the table and then eventually I think  Nora gets kind of like  frustrated

11:21 → 11:25
and is like, what are we doing? Like we need a break. But then they don't end up talking

11:25 → 11:30
for like a while. Okay, I think you want to like, you don't want spoil too much. Oh yeah,

11:30 → 11:37
sorry. Brianna's all worried.  I'm  not necessarily trying not to spoil it.  I don't know. Okay,

11:37 → 11:43
okay, I'm sorry. It's so hard to tell. Okay, I'm sorry. I'm, I'm... So that was basically

11:43 → 11:49
like the first half of Okay,  and then you see where they try to get in touch again, like

11:49 → 11:55
however many years later, Nora ends up eventually getting married to a... White American. White

11:55 → 12:02
American, yeah. His son kind of tries to reach back out. And then I'm worried about saying

12:02 → 12:06
too much now. I think you just leave it there. Yeah, like and then it's kind of this tension

12:06 → 12:11
Yeah, that's kind of like the main gist of the movie like if you watch the trailer and stuff

12:11 → 12:16
It's it's this idea of like, okay someone coming back into her life who had been gone and now

12:16 → 12:22
she's Married and just kind of that weird dynamic of yeah coming back. Yeah, and so and there's

12:22 → 12:29
this concept of Inyeon which is like like a Korean phrase that's like like it's kind of

12:29 → 12:36
like what it faded connection through multiple lives kind of thing. And so and also the movie

12:36 → 12:41
covers a lot about Noro's identity as a Korean immigrant and westernized adult.  And there's

12:41 → 12:46
a lot of like silence in the movie, but it's very well placed.  And the movie, probably

12:46 → 12:51
about a third of it is in Korean, actually.  you don't... More than a third. You think

12:51 → 12:55
so?  Yeah. I don't know. But you don't really notice it. Because that was something you pointed

12:55 → 12:58
out to me before I watched it. You're like, oh, I don't know. Some people hate subtitles.

12:58 → 13:03
I don't mind them. So, yeah, if you hate subtitles, might not be the movie for you, but  if you

13:03 → 13:09
don't mind them, like, I highly recommend watching this movie. It's so, so beautiful. Yeah. And

13:09 → 13:15
it's almost like there's like this love triangle between Nora, Nora's husband, and then Heisung

13:15 → 13:21
and kind of how they like the movie actually starts off and they're in.  I guess this will

13:21 → 13:26
kind of like take me maybe into my favorite moment. It's a couple because it's hard to

13:26 → 13:30
kind of pinpoint. And I guess I can't really say what my real favorite part is because that

13:30 → 13:34
would kind of ruin it. So I'm going to kind of leave that part out. But one interesting

13:34 → 13:39
part is like the movie opens up and they're in this bar and it's Nora Heisong, who we don't

13:39 → 13:43
know is Heisong at the time. And then Arthur, which is Nora's husband, who we don't know

13:43 → 13:48
is her husband at the time. And there's this kind of couple you kind of perceive like this

13:48 → 13:53
kind of couple onlooking. And they're kind of like, I wonder what they are to each other.

13:53 → 13:57
Like, how do they fit in? Are those two dating or, you know? Are they just all friends? And

13:57 → 14:01
it's kind of like this, what's going on, what's going on? And then at the end, they take you

14:01 → 14:06
back to kind of the moment and it kind of comes full circle. And then you kind of get to hear

14:06 → 14:11
the actual conversation that the three of them are having, all this kind of stuff. Really

14:11 → 14:16
interesting.  So I guess that's my favorite moment, even though I can't really say what

14:16 → 14:21
my real favorite moment is. But it's a really, really good movie.  It's it was nominated for

14:21 → 14:27
an Oscar. Yeah, a few Oscars. Nominated for a few Oscars.  But like... So  I feel like

14:27 → 14:31
I didn't really hear about it until Brianna mentioned it to me. So it's not like an indie

14:31 → 14:36
film or anything. I think it was very well regarded. But I feel like you don't really see it advertised

14:36 → 14:42
a lot on TV, or at least I didn't. But it's a really, really good movie. lot of space

14:42 → 14:50
and  scenery and just it's just  used very well. Like how the actors like really portray the

14:50 → 14:54
role is like, I don't know, it actually feels like they all really know each other and all

14:54 → 15:00
that. So definitely very good. Very well acted, highly, highly recommend. Yeah, and I just

15:00 → 15:06
wanted to piggyback off, because this is probably my favorite movie in the list, actually.  You

15:06 → 15:10
know, probably shouldn't choose favorites, but yeah, they're all great, but this one is probably

15:10 → 15:15
my favorite.  And I just wanted to say that,  without spoiling it, I think the end is very

15:15 → 15:20
powerful  and it really makes you think and it  really stuck with me  even after I watched

15:20 → 15:24
it. I remember I looked up what other people thought of it. So just look out for that if

15:24 → 15:28
you watch it. I on a rabbit hole of like watching all these things like, what does the end mean?

15:28 → 15:36
What does the end mean? It's kind of similar to how if you've watched  Hamilton, how at

15:36 → 15:41
the end when,  I can't remember her name, like kind of does a gasp at the end and you're kind

15:41 → 15:46
of meant to like guess like, what does she mean? know, it's kind of like that where it's almost

15:46 → 15:50
like your interpretation. You don't think so? I think it's more powerful than even that one,

15:50 → 15:54
but okay. But I think it's like a similar kind of thing where you're kind of like, what does

15:54 → 15:59
it mean? How rude. I don't know. I don't know, because  the gasp doesn't really do it. Anyway,

15:59 → 16:04
you just ruined Hamilton also. Well, not really Hamilton, but like, you know.  We only promised

16:04 → 16:09
no spoilers for the movies. Okay, fair enough.  Hamilton's been out for a long time now. This

16:09 → 16:16
is true.  Yeah, so, but  I also just wanted to say as well that this movie is actually

16:16 → 16:21
based  on like something that actually happened to the director. And this is her directorial

16:21 → 16:26
debut, which is amazing. I can't wait to watch more things from her because this was so good.

16:26 → 16:34
And it's just  it's also just like a really interesting look into Korean, just like part

16:34 → 16:39
of Korean culture as well, because I had never heard of Inyeon  before.  But obviously it

16:39 → 16:48
weighs very heavily in this movie.  And  I think it it provides some insight into  kind of how

16:48 → 16:56
Koreans view... I don't know, it's just this kind of idea of like having multiple lives

16:56 → 17:00
and past lives. That's something that we don't think about as much, think, in Western culture.

17:00 → 17:05
So it's kind of an interesting concept to kind of explore. Kind of like what can happen if

17:05 → 17:11
you took one path versus another, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, so anyway, good movie. Okay, and the

17:11 → 17:19
next movie we are discussing is called McFarland USA. It was directed by Nikki Caro and the

17:19 → 17:25
main actors in the movie are Kevin Costner. He's really the main main actor in this. He's

17:25 → 17:32
my old man crush.  Yeah, we love Kevin Costner  of bodyguard fame. Yes, yes.  And  lots of

17:32 → 17:36
other things. Yellowstone, I haven't seen that, but I he's great in that. Anyway, yeah, so

17:36 → 17:41
Kevin Costner is in it. It also stars Maria Bello and Morgan Saylor, among others. And

17:41 → 17:47
then it came out in 2015. Didn't  realize it was that old. Yeah, so we watched this movie

17:47 → 17:54
on Cinco de Mayo. We have a kind of tradition of watching a movie with  sort of Mexican

17:54 → 18:03
themes or at least like  Latin themes. Cinco de Mayo every year.  So this was our Cinco

18:03 → 18:08
de Mayo watch one year  and it was so good. We didn't even really know. I think we thought

18:08 → 18:11
we would like it, but like,  we didn't think we would like it as much as we did. It's actually

18:11 → 18:20
very heartwarming.  It's based on a true story, actually, and  it takes place in a town in

18:20 → 18:28
California that is  a  majority kind of Mexican immigrant. And a lot of the people there work

18:28 → 18:35
in the fields  and, you know, their kids obviously go to school, but a lot of the kids also work

18:35 → 18:40
in the fields with their parents, which was interesting to see portrayed in the film. And

18:40 → 18:45
basically, Kevin Costner's character...  gets into some trouble. He's a football coach and

18:45 → 18:50
he kind of gets into some trouble in his previous position. So he ends up being,  he kind of

18:50 → 18:54
has no choice if he wants to continue coaching. This was one of the only schools that would

18:54 → 19:02
take him on as a coach. So he becomes a PE coach and football coach at this  school in the small

19:02 → 19:09
town that again is predominantly Mexican, Latino. And  it's a bit of a culture shock for him

19:09 → 19:16
and he has to kind of gain everyone's trust and he notices one day during PE  that  a lot

19:16 → 19:25
of the kids can run pretty fast.  so he  decides to start a cross-country team  and he kind

19:25 → 19:31
of,  not force it, yeah, he kind of tries to like force some of them to be in it because

19:31 → 19:36
some of them are like not sure about it. But yeah, so he starts this cross-country team

19:37 → 19:44
and,  you know, eventually it becomes this group of kids.  And  it's just very inspiring because,

19:44 → 19:49
you know, obviously no one really expects much from them  because they aren't really haven't

19:49 → 19:54
been like practicing cross country for  years and years like a lot of other kids from other

19:54 → 19:59
schools have, but they end up, you know, going to competitions and doing well. And, you know,

19:59 → 20:04
again, I won't spoil anything, but they just kind of, you know, defy a lot of odds in that

20:04 → 20:10
way. And so, yeah, this this movie,  it can kind of be seen as a sports movie. But again,

20:10 → 20:17
it has those those cultural themes because  most of the kids in the movie  are  Mexican

20:17 → 20:23
American  and so they were kind of and they have to kind of traverse those those two cultures

20:23 → 20:29
but also like I said the fact that their parents most of their parents kind of  work in the

20:29 → 20:34
fields and they are having to like go to school and work in the field  and now do this cross-country

20:34 → 20:39
team and it's  it's just interesting to see you know what these kids have to go through

20:39 → 20:45
and One of my favorite, I'm going to kind of skip around,  skip to my favorite moment. One

20:45 → 20:50
of my favorite moments in the film, and this isn't spoiling anything,  is actually  Kevin

20:50 → 20:56
Costner as  the coach.  You know, think one of the, two of the kids, they're brothers,

20:56 → 21:00
I think, and they were going to  have to drop out of the cross country team or something

21:00 → 21:04
like that because they were,  they just couldn't handle it. They're working, they need, their

21:04 → 21:09
parents need them to work more in the fields and things. And in order to kind of help, help

21:09 → 21:16
them stay.  or convince them to stay, he decides to go and work in the field with them. I thought

21:16 → 21:21
that was a very interesting moment. And he was having a hard time and his back was hurting.

21:23 → 21:30
He got to see firsthand how hard they work. I think he appreciated their work from before,

21:30 → 21:35
but he really gains a firsthand appreciation through doing that. And was really interesting

21:35 → 21:42
to see. This is actually backbreaking work. that they were doing. And so, yeah, I thought

21:42 → 21:47
that was an interesting moment. So basically, you know, the main themes of the movie are

21:47 → 21:53
teamwork, you know, the kids all coming together and  working on something  greater than themselves

21:53 → 21:57
and kind of getting the chance to  dream. So a lot of these kids, you know, like I said,

21:57 → 22:02
they've had to kind of grow up fast and work from a young age. And it's nice to see them

22:02 → 22:07
have something that's kind of just their own and that's just for fun. So  that's a really

22:07 → 22:12
great part of the movie. overcoming adversity, of course, because all these kids have different

22:12 → 22:17
things going on in their lives that they've had to kind of overcome.  And  so the movie

22:17 → 22:25
really depicts that as well. And also just about how this Mexican community is living  in the

22:25 → 22:33
US and still holding on to their  culture and traditions.  I think there's a kinsay in the

22:33 → 22:40
movie. Kevin Costner's daughter has like a kinsay and or they host a quince for her  because

22:40 → 22:43
he wasn't going to have one for her because obviously he didn't think he really knew what

22:43 → 22:49
that was. But it's nice that they have this birthday party for her in a traditional Mexican

22:49 → 22:56
style. And  there's just a lot of  kind of cultural crossover that happens  that we see in the

22:56 → 23:04
movie as well.  And yeah, so I think it's just a  nice, heartwarming film  and I highly recommend

23:04 → 23:11
it.  Nice. Alright, so now we're on to movie number four, A Million Miles Away. So Brianna

23:11 → 23:18
will keep me on point for spoiler alert right Well, I actually have not seen this Oh yes,

23:18 → 23:22
that's true, you haven't. So not to worry about you griping at me. This is the only one that

23:22 → 23:27
only Alyssa has seen and I have It's ironic because Brianna actually recommended that we

23:27 → 23:33
watch this movie for this past Cinco de Mayo, but she was traveling in Europe, so having

23:33 → 23:38
a good time with my mom. there, so she was not there to watch it with us.  But yes, A Million

23:38 → 23:45
Miles Away is a movie that was released in 2023. The  director is Alejandra Marquez Abella

23:45 → 23:49
and the main actors are Michael Pena and Rosa Salazar. So I watched this movie last year.

23:49 → 23:54
I'm not so great at remembering movies, but I'm going to try my best to depict it. And

23:54 → 24:01
I don't have Brianna to help me out here, but it is a space movie  or it's about a  Hispanic

24:01 → 24:07
guy trying to go to space. actually, ironically enough, In McFarland, USA, which we just covered,

24:07 → 24:14
we talked about them having to work in the fields. And in this movie, Jose Hernandez is actually

24:14 → 24:21
a Margaret Fine worker as well.  His family  works  in the fields,  think in the California

24:21 → 24:26
area as well. So it's funny that those kind of two similar themes there are doing back

24:26 → 24:33
to back.  And so he, like in McFarland, USA, like he has to  go and work in the fields.

24:34 → 24:39
in the mornings and then go to school right after and they show him sometimes sleeping

24:39 → 24:45
on his book because he's so exhausted and he's like not even in middle school probably. And

24:45 → 24:51
then they also show where he is you know his family has to move him around a lot like  I

24:51 → 24:55
guess sometimes when there's not enough work in one area they sometimes will be at one school

24:55 → 25:00
for part of the year and then they have to go do work  at another location for another part

25:00 → 25:04
of the year and enroll him in a different school. You really see kind of like how  the odds are

25:04 → 25:11
really stacked against him to like  not really succeed because he can barely, he can't even

25:11 → 25:17
stay in the same school. Yet like  the protagonist is like  really bright and does really well

25:17 → 25:22
in school despite all these hardships. And so you can tell that he has kind of a knack for

25:22 → 25:28
school, even though that's not really cultivated. And there was one time where  there was one

25:28 → 25:34
particular  teacher actually  Actually, I'll save that for my favorite part of the movie,

25:34 → 25:42
because it makes a comeback. anyway, so shows him and his childhood and all this stuff, then

25:42 → 25:49
it depicts Jose  and his, you know, he has a friend who kind of,  well, I guess I can't

25:49 → 25:52
say that either, because I didn't really... He a friend who's also in the field, kind of

25:52 → 25:57
falls into some trouble, some things happen. If you watch the movie, you'll find out. But

25:57 → 26:05
you see Jose kind of go and work.  He gets like a tech job. I can't remember the exact  role

26:05 → 26:11
and they kind of just make him like a paper pusher because they kind of see oh Hispanic

26:11 → 26:15
kid, you know, he's probably like early  20s and they don't really give him a chance and

26:15 → 26:21
he's just there even though  he's hired on to be like a technician whatever and so they kind

26:21 → 26:24
of just have him working in the back doing whatever and then eventually there's some formula that

26:24 → 26:31
they can't solve  and Jose happens to be there like listening in and he's like, oh, I think

26:31 → 26:36
if you do,  blah, blah, whatever, like, and then  after that and kind of, he kind of shows

26:36 → 26:40
like, oh, they're like, oh, okay, this guy kind of actually knows something. And then he went

26:40 → 26:45
from being a paper pusher to like, then they're, he's inviting, he's invited in to help them

26:45 → 26:52
solve the formula or whatever. And until then later on, he's teaching  the courses actually.

26:52 → 26:56
So you see him kind of rise up the ranks and how, you know, some prejudices against him.

26:57 → 27:04
So he's  there doing his thing,  moving  up. He eventually gets married, has some kids,

27:04 → 27:12
and he kind of has this goal to work for NASA. Because he's always had this goal of being

27:12 → 27:19
an astronaut.  That's what he's always wanted to do. And so he applies to  NASA year after

27:19 → 27:24
year after year.  And he actually doesn't tell his wife initially that he's been doing this.

27:24 → 27:30
He's just been throwing away the rejection letters. And she finds it and kind of scolds him like,

27:30 → 27:32
well, why haven't you been telling me this is something you wanted? And he's like, oh, I

27:32 → 27:37
didn't know blah, blah, And then she starts like really supporting him. It's like, OK,

27:37 → 27:42
well, let's take a look and see what we can you know, they've turned you down however many

27:42 → 27:46
times. Let's see what you need to do to meet their standards. And then they start to do

27:46 → 27:51
research and he starts to enroll in things and like, I think scuba diving and like extracurricular

27:51 → 27:55
stuff just to kind of I think he goes back and gets his master's in like electrical engineering

27:55 → 27:59
or some type of engineering field. Because he's  what his what his wife kind of comes on board

27:59 → 28:04
is it kind of learns like, OK, these are kind of these are the this is the pedigree that

28:04 → 28:11
like previous astronauts have had. And so they start to kind of  work with the system and

28:11 → 28:14
be like, OK, what do need to do? And he still continues to get rejected and rejected and

28:14 → 28:23
rejected. Until eventually, maybe or maybe not,  he gets picked to actually go on a space expedition

28:23 → 28:27
expedition.  Um, and I don't want to ruin it too much there, but yeah, it's just basically

28:27 → 28:33
a migrant farm worker all the way to, you know, want to be astronaut and kind of his journey

28:33 → 28:40
there and how he defies the odds to achieve that. And so I think some cultural parts are

28:40 → 28:47
like Jose, it took him a little bit before his parents, I felt like supported him in his education.

28:47 → 28:50
You know, they're like, this is all we've ever done. So he kind of had to prove himself and

28:50 → 28:56
his, and his  parents, once they did realize kind of his knack for this, they eventually

28:56 → 29:00
did start supporting him. But at one point, him and his dad are like having an argument

29:00 → 29:05
and his dad's like, do you know how much we  gave up for you to be able to achieve this?

29:05 → 29:08
And he's like, yes, I do. But you don't need to shove it down my throat every time. And

29:08 → 29:13
know, kind of that's kind of a trope that we saw to an extreme extent, a trope that we see

29:13 → 29:19
about, you know,  immigrant parents willing and able to  support you, but sometimes hitting

29:19 → 29:24
you over the head with that like support. And that can be kind of frustrating. So. And also

29:24 → 29:27
just the Al's being stacked against him and just, you know, just rising up. So that I felt

29:27 → 29:33
like that was,  it's a really  powerful movie about grit family and kind of the immigrant

29:33 → 29:39
pursuit of the American dream and how the sacrifices that, you know, his  immigrant parents made

29:39 → 29:43
it so that he could, you know, go on and do great things. I don't know if he was the first,

29:44 → 29:48
was he the first Mexican American in space? I don't remember. I can't remember if that's

29:48 → 29:53
what it is, but I it was like a very monumental thing. So yeah, very. Good movie, especially

29:53 → 29:58
if you're into space and all that kind of stuff. You can kind of see that whole process. And

29:58 → 30:03
so, yeah, very interesting. Yeah. And sorry, did you say what your favorite moment? Oh,

30:03 → 30:08
oh, that's right. I'm sorry. Yeah. Well, it's kind of ties in. I guess this is my favorite

30:08 → 30:16
moment. So, yeah, so Jose kind of has like, I think in class when they they had like an

30:16 → 30:19
assignment of like, what do they want to be when they grow up? And he drew like a spaceship

30:19 → 30:26
and said, I want to be an astronaut. And his a teacher  kept that paper. And then think

30:26 → 30:30
he ended up like switching schools because his parents had to go work somewhere else. And

30:30 → 30:33
she kept that piece paper. And she's one of the teachers that really vouched for him, too.

30:34 → 30:38
She kept that drawing in that paper. And then later on,  when he was about to go to spate,

30:38 → 30:42
like, I think she had some opportunity where she was able to, like, speak with him.  And

30:42 → 30:49
she, like, slid him the paper and was like, like, had kept it for like 30 plus years and

30:49 → 30:53
like sent it to him, like gave it to him and.  but it was a very heartwarming thing where

30:53 → 30:56
he was like, wow, this is something like I've really wanted since I was a little kid.  I

30:56 → 31:01
don't know how true that really is. I think that was a little bit of movie stuff potentially.

31:01 → 31:05
I don't know, but  that would be pretty, pretty heartwarming and cool if that was an actual

31:05 → 31:08
thing that happened in real life. So I guess that that's probably my favorite part, because

31:08 → 31:12
it kind of something that you see happened early on, know, OK, it drew a picture about this,

31:12 → 31:16
whatever. And then kind of comes full circle at the end. And she kind of shows that to him.

31:16 → 31:21
And he's kind of,  guess, kind of has that realization of like, yeah, I really am meant to be here

31:21 → 31:27
is something that I really wanted and I achieved my dream. Nice.  Beautiful. Yeah, I have to

31:27 → 31:38
watch that. Yeah.  All right. So on to our final  movie  of Cinema Club. So  this  last movie

31:38 → 31:44
is called What's Love Got to Do With It? And no, it is not the Tina Turner. Yeah, is not

31:44 → 31:49
the Tina Turner movie.  And when you look this up in Google, that is the first thing that'll

31:49 → 31:54
pop up. just try Probably not the most original name, I guess. Yeah, it's not the most... I'm

31:54 → 31:59
not gonna shade their name, but it's not the most original name. And I wouldn't put a name

31:59 → 32:04
with another really popular movie. So I don't know, but that's the name of the movie. And

32:04 → 32:10
so... Just know it is a movie that came out in 2023, not the Tina Turner movie that came

32:10 → 32:17
out many years ago. It was directed by Shikhar Kapoor and the main actors in the movie are

32:17 → 32:27
Lily James, Shehzad Latif, Shabana Azmi and Emma Thompson. And it is set in the UK and

32:27 → 32:35
it kind of explores these two... lifelong friends. So they actually were neighbors. They grew

32:35 → 32:41
up together living right next to each other. One is a white British girl and  the other

32:41 → 32:50
is a British Pakistani boy.  And so they kind of just come back  to their  family homes

32:50 → 32:58
and she sees him and talks to him and finds out that he  is planning on  getting an assisted

32:58 → 33:03
marriage. He calls it an assisted marriage, not an arranged marriage. And in the movie,

33:03 → 33:08
they claim that that's the new name for it. don't know if that's what other people call

33:08 → 33:14
it now too. yeah, so he tells her that he is going to be exploring getting an assisted marriage.

33:14 → 33:20
And she is very taken aback by that because she is very skeptical. Her name is Zoe. She's

33:20 → 33:27
very skeptical of arranged marriages. And she didn't think that he would do that. She sees

33:27 → 33:34
it as very old fashioned. And so she's just surprised.  And this  this girl Zoe  is  a

33:34 → 33:40
filmmaker, actually, she's she's a documentary filmmaker. And she is trying to look for something

33:40 → 33:45
to make a documentary about. And she ends up remembering, you know, that her friend is going

33:45 → 33:49
on this journey. And she's like, Oh, I could make a documentary about this, actually.  And

33:49 → 33:54
so she kind of basically kind of gets approval to do it before she's even asked him. But eventually

33:54 → 34:02
he does give in and lets her kind of follow him along and on this journey with her camera.

34:02 → 34:09
And so she basically, it's kind of like a film within a film. So she's making this documentary

34:09 → 34:16
about his assisted marriage journey. And there's some little funny parts along the way where

34:16 → 34:23
he's kind of, he goes to a matchmaker who's kind of quite silly. And then... Eventually,

34:23 → 34:32
he does find a girl who's a fair amount younger than him who is living in Pakistan. eventually

34:32 → 34:39
he decides that she is the one who he will marry, even though he hasn't met her in person. He

34:39 → 34:44
will not have met her in person until he goes there to Pakistan for the wedding. And I don't

34:44 → 34:53
want to spoil too much more, but basically this is a movie about  Definitely Pakistani culture

34:53 → 35:03
and  arranged marriage  as  a practice in certain cultures  and what that means,  you you see

35:03 → 35:09
a lot of differing views on it, obviously, because like I said, Zoe is skeptical,  but her friend

35:09 → 35:14
whose name is Kaz, he, I think, wasn't sure about it at first. And then obviously now he's

35:14 → 35:19
agreed to do it and his family is, of course, is supportive of it.  And it's not just about

35:19 → 35:25
arranged marriage, it's also actually just about  relationships within Pakistani families as

35:25 → 35:29
well, and who you're allowed to marry and who you're not allowed to marry and how strict

35:29 → 35:37
they are kind of about about who they view as acceptable to marry. sister, they... Yes, I

35:37 → 35:42
was going to get to that. So not to to spoil anything, but... You need to account for how

35:42 → 35:48
many times Brianna says that. know. know. Well, I'm just... You're not spoiling. So, yeah.

35:48 → 35:57
So basically cause the... the main British Pakistani character, has a sister who decided to marry

35:57 → 36:05
a white British man.  And that was seen as not acceptable to his family. So they are estranged.

36:05 → 36:10
And that is an important topic that comes up  throughout  a different point in the movie.

36:11 → 36:17
And so  that was very interesting to  see that just how much they were tied, that they were

36:17 → 36:23
willing to kind of ostracize a member of their family. for just marrying someone that wasn't

36:24 → 36:28
Pakistani or that wasn't in their culture. That was really interesting to see. I know it's

36:28 → 36:33
something that's been explored in other movies and shows and things, but I think this movie

36:33 → 36:38
does a great job of kind of showing just how important that can be to a family that has

36:38 → 36:44
these  beliefs and these traditions. So that is something that's explored. I think there

36:44 → 36:51
is a lot of kind of  culture clash as well in terms of like British versus Pakistani or

36:51 → 36:59
South Asian because  there are  different times in the movie when  Zoe and Kaz kind of have

36:59 → 37:04
these conversations and Kaz is basically kind of telling her like, well, you know, we didn't

37:04 → 37:07
grow up the same. Like  he says at one time something along the lines of like, you know,

37:07 → 37:13
our,  even though we're neighbors, like our houses are we're technically like so far apart,

37:13 → 37:16
you know, because you kind of grew up in like almost two different worlds, because since

37:16 → 37:19
he grew up in this Pakistani culture and she grew up in a traditional like British culture.

37:19 → 37:27
So yeah, so I think that that weighs very heavily in the movie as well as this idea of kind of

37:27 → 37:34
never  feeling fully British when you're a British South Asian person  because of your

37:34 → 37:42
other culture that's so strong.  So  yeah, and also he kind of alludes to kind of some  racism

37:42 → 37:52
and prejudice as well.  it's an interesting  kind of cross-cultural look  at  how British

37:52 → 37:58
culture clashes with  South Asian culture or Pakistani culture specifically. But I think

37:58 → 38:03
it does it in a nice lighthearted  way for the most part. There are definitely some serious

38:04 → 38:09
parts in the movie as well, but it tries to keep things pretty light and funny.  Emma Thompson's

38:09 → 38:14
character who plays Zoe's mom. She was funny. She was very funny.  She's definitely like

38:14 → 38:19
the comic relief in the movie. She's kind of like a drunk. She's like a drunk aunt, basically.

38:19 → 38:25
Like, I don't know. She's just she's just kind of like tipsy and done with men. Yeah. like,

38:25 → 38:31
you know, yeah, it has really taken to  her neighbor's culture as well. But supportive

38:31 → 38:36
of her daughter, I feel like. Yeah. But yeah, basically like very supportive and open.  to

38:36 → 38:41
her neighbors who obviously are so different from her,  and also supportive of her daughter

38:41 → 38:47
as well, who's also just generationally different. They have some just generational clash, I think.

38:47 → 38:54
So there's that. Also, one of my favorite parts of the movie just is whenever the, again, the

38:54 → 39:02
grandma's taking the  cake in these movies. Yeah, the grandmother in the Pakistani family,

39:02 → 39:07
She doesn't speak any English. She only speaks,  I believe it's Punjabi. I'm not sure exactly

39:07 → 39:13
what Urdu, sorry, Urdu is the name of the  language that think they mostly speak in Pakistan. I'm

39:13 → 39:20
not sure. I believe it was Urdu. So she only speaks  their language.  But it's just funny

39:20 → 39:25
because she just makes little comments.  Call people like whores and stuff. Well, at one

39:25 → 39:29
point in the movie she says London is like a brothel. It's just like a mix of a bunch of

39:29 → 39:34
different people and it's just funny. Very funny. She just comes in at the best times and makes

39:34 → 39:41
little comments. So that was one of my favorite parts of the film probably is just her coming

39:41 → 39:49
in randomly. But yeah, think it's a nice movie, especially if you like little British films

39:49 → 39:54
as I do. I'm a bit of an Anglophile. It's kind of  nice in that regard as well. get  lots

39:54 → 40:00
of views and you also get to see Lahore in Pakistan. The movie does actually go there for the marriage.

40:00 → 40:06
And  you get to see like a traditional wedding, what a traditional wedding looks like, as well

40:06 → 40:12
as, of course, what South Asian movie would be worth its weight if there's not a dance

40:12 → 40:18
part in there. So there's a dance  part in there as well. That's fun. So, yeah, so this is kind

40:18 → 40:23
of, I think, one of the more obscure movies on this list. But I do recommend it. think

40:23 → 40:29
it's good and it's a good kind of cultural deep dive if you're into that. So that is what's

40:29 → 40:33
Love got to do with it. And that's the last movie on our list. Yeah, that rounds out our

40:33 → 40:38
list.  We just wanted to figure, we gave you some books.  Now here's some movies to watch

40:38 → 40:44
if you're not much of a reader or you are and you just want to expand.  Yeah, we've got a

40:44 → 40:51
great season planned for y'all. Like, just some really interesting guests, some...  countries

40:51 → 40:58
we haven't covered before. I'm really excited. It's been great doing the interviews  and we

40:58 → 41:03
hope you'll join us.  And if you do really like what you're listening to, we really appreciate

41:03 → 41:07
it if you share it with others that you think would also be interested and just subscribe

41:07 → 41:13
and  follow us on whatever podcatcher that you like to listen to podcasts on. got anything

41:13 → 41:19
else to add,  Did you say pod? That's what I've heard other people call them. Really? I've

41:19 → 41:24
never heard that either myself. never heard that. OK. Maybe. OK, so I guess that's what

41:24 → 41:29
I've heard other people say when they say these little n things. So maybe not whatever platform

41:29 → 41:33
that you like to listen to podcasts on. There we go. How about that? Is that a little better?

41:34 → 41:37
Yeah, I just had never heard that term. I've never heard it either. But I've heard multiple

41:37 → 41:42
people say it now. So was like, oh, maybe that's just a thing. And I don't know. this. Ending

41:42 → 41:47
has gone on too long now, so... You got anything else to add, before we... No, I don't, I don't.

41:47 → 41:52
I hope you enjoy these movies.  And yeah, I hope you enjoy the rest of this season. As

41:52 → 41:56
Alyssa said, it is going to be really, really great. We're really proud of this season, so

41:56 → 42:00
please stick with us. Yep. Welcome to season three.