Whatcha Want

From her winsome TIFF ’94 feature debut Double Happiness onward, writer-director Mina Shum has been chronicling myriad aspects of the Asian-Canadian experience with humour, grace, and a heartfelt universality. With Whatcha Want, Shum tells the story of a young woman whose marriage to an affluent businessman is beginning to resemble a gilded cage.

Yin (Isabella Wei) hasn’t seen BT (Hugh Tran) in five months. While he claims to be under great professional stress back in their native Hong Kong, she spends her days in their new hometown of Vancouver, where she is chauffeured by the charming Ming (Tzi Ma, TIFF ’16’s Arrival) and kept company by her older and wiser friend (Ming-Na Wen, Joy Luck Club, TIFF ’93), who advises Yin to stop worrying about her less than ideal marriage and enjoy her life of privilege.

But Yin longs for more than designer shopping and spas, and when she spots a high-energy dance class happening across the street from her apartment, her love of dance as a child comes flooding back. Yin joins the dance group and rediscovers what’s been lost.

Shum exudes a confident light touch while exploring themes of gender and class in a cross-cultural landscape. With nods to Crazy Rich Asians and Flashdance, it’s a classic tale with a Canadian twist.

ANITA LEE

Content advisory: coarse language, mature themes