Confetti, a film directed by Chinese Academy Award winner Ann Hu, is at first glance about a young girl named Meimei Chen (Harmonie He). Her story begins in a small town in China, where she lives with her father, Chen (Li Yanan), and her mother, Lan Chen (Zhu Zhu). Almost immediately, we learn that Meimei is functionally illiterate, as we witness her struggle to write her name and read sentences on a school chalkboard.
Later in Meimei’s school, an English teacher named Thomas (George Christopher) notices that Meimei sees the letter “W” upside-down after she describes it as a grasshopper. He attends dinner at Meimei’s house, and explains to her family that she has dyslexia–a condition that makes words and letters appear jumbled or backwards. Because no school in China can support Meimei, Lan decides to bring her daughter to America.
This is the point at which we realize that Confetti is not Meimei’s story, but Lan’s. For the remainder of the film, we see Lan’s struggle through the struggle of her daughter, as she travels to the U.S. without her husband, takes up under-the-table jobs and does everything in her power to ensure that Meimei receives the education she deserves.
Confetti is a sweet movie, and one that does an outstanding job at illustrating the hardships that parents–especially immigrant parents–go through to see their children succeed. Lan speaks no English upon her arrival in the U.S.; works around the clock at factories, kitchens and massage parlors; and reaches the point of literal begging before she sees her luck turn around. (These, I am sure, are circumstances that many viewers can relate to.) Additionally, lead actress, Zhu Zhu, gives a wonderful performance. Her body language, facial expressions, and tone all lend themselves to establishing her character, and make her frustration as palpable as her relief.
Visual cues from the actors and the props they interact with are a highlight of this film, and one that could have been further utilized in place of unnecessary exposition. (Confetti has the tendency to lean into narration, paired with moody lighting, for dramatic effect.)
For example, scenes such as ones where Lan–who, like Memei, is also dyslexic–looks at letters only to see them move or disappear, lend themselves to the story much more effectively than scenes where she eats in the dark or has her story told through heavy narration. This stylistic choice not only affects how the viewers learn about the characters, but how the characters learn about each other, resulting in moments that feel slightly forced and unnatural.
Confetti is Hu’s third feature film, and draws from her personal experiences as the parent of a dyslexic child. Being both the writer and director, she stated that she presented what she saw along her own journey. “I can still remember the day I left China for America,” said Hu, “I was humbled by their experiences…and shocked by how big the dyslexic population is (about 10-30%) internationally, and how little the world understands dyslexia, and how amazingly gifted these people are.”
Overall, Confetti was an enjoyable watch, with talented actors, an uplifting message, and much-needed recognition of the difficulties that surround immigration and parenting. I highly recommend it to viewers who may want to get a sense of those difficulties, as well as viewers who have experienced or are experiencing them. Confetti could also open parents up to the emotional, inner lives of their children and vice-versa. If only it trusted people’s comprehension skills a little more, and leaned further into the strengths of visual cues from its actors.
Confetti premiers in theaters on August 20, 2021.
