In I Am Another You, Chinese émigré filmmaker Nanfu Wang breathes new life into the human-interest/observational documentary genre. Wang’s film begins on a whim in Miami after she meets a charismatic drifter named Dylan, a well-spoken twentysomething transient whose adventures Wang feels compelled to follow, even if it means eating out of trash cans and sleeping rough in solidarity. Wang begins to get frustrated with Dylan, however, when she witnesses certain troubling aspects in her subject that suggest a kind of privilege only available to someone intentionally homeless. She begins doubting Dylan’s sincerity about the high-minded antisocial life he is leading, wondering whether he is a principled noble tramp, or just a drunken bum who can’t handle real-world responsibilities. Wang eventually abandons Dylan but her obsession lingers, so she travels to Dylan’s home state of Utah to seek out his conservative Mormon family. What’s most fascinating about this film is Wang’s changing perceptions of Dylan throughout. Wang’s portrait of Dylan’s family—his dad is a Dudley-Do-Right cop and his brother an icy classical pianist—gives viewers an overwhelming sense of the stiflingly prohibitive and restrictive atmosphere that shaped Dylan’s desire to take a different path in life. But it is during this latter stage of events that Wang uncovers another, more disturbing, possibility for Dylan’s choices in life. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (M. Sandlin).
I Am Another You
(2017) 81 min. DVD: $19.95, Blu-ray: $24.95. FilmRise (avail. from most distributors). Volume 33, Issue 5
I Am Another You
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