If you were planning to go see a new movie today, take off your slippers and prepare yourself to be blown away. This is the new feature-length film from Wayne Wang, which he is releasing as an original debut on YouTube, rather than the art-house theater circuit, where it normally would've been a smash hit run.
Wayne is a genius, and when the NYTimes mentions that this new effort is "beautifully shot," that's the understatement of the year.
You could watch this film, frame by frame, with the sound off, and be spellbound. Seeing Wang's work for the first time is what it must have been like for cinema-philes when they laid eyes on Godard's Breathless in 1960. You're amazed you can feel this state of being from a moving picture.
The Princess of Nebraska is the story of a Chinese teenager who calls herself Sasha, arriving in San Francisco from Omaha, where she's been an exchange student for a few months.
She's in the City for an midterm abortion— she got pregnant over the summer by a singer named Yang at the Beijing Opera Academy who specializes in playing women's roles. It was a one night stand. Now Yang is turning tricks, and has been kicked out of his prestigious school.
The only person Sasha knows in San Francisco is a gay man named Bashen, who ALSO was Yang's lover, and is similarly besotted and heartbroken over this mysterious young man.
Each character breaks every stereotype you've ever witnessed in a Hollywood film. It reminds you how most lives in America are completely invisible to the passing parade of media storytelling.
I won't spoil the rest of the story for you. It's an hour and a half, and you can toggle the YouTube buttons to watch it on your full screen, high quality. Yes, go get your chocolate, coffee, popcorn, and Kleenex.
I'm allowing myself the luxury of embedding the film on my blog so I can watch it again and again, whenever I want! It's so inspiring to see something this original and beautiful distributed in an entirely unique way, that the whole world— especially young people in China, Nebraska, and San Francisco!— can see and comment upon.
UPDATE: I'm getting reports from readers outside the U.S. that the video is not available in all countries... New Zealand, for example. How frustrating! I'm attempting to contact the filmmakers and get some helpful answers/information. If you know an easy way to conquer YouTube's country-restrictions, please do email me or comment below.
