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About The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 7, 2020)
OPINION Page 6 n THE ASIAN REPORTER December 7, 2020 Volume 30 Number 13 December 7, 2020 ISSN: 1094-9453 The Asian Reporter is published on the first Monday each month. Please send all correspondence to: The Asian Reporter 922 N Killingsworth Street, Suite 2D, Portland, OR 97217 Phone: (503) 283-4440, Fax: (503) 283-4445 News Department e-mail: news@asianreporter.com Advertising Department e-mail: ads@asianreporter.com Website: www.asianreporter.com Please send reader feedback, Asian-related press releases, and community interest ideas/stories to the addresses listed above. Please include a contact phone number. Advertising information available upon request. Publisher Jaime Lim Contributing Editors Ronault L.S. Catalani (Polo), Jeff Wenger Correspondents Ian Blazina, Josephine Bridges, Pamela Ellgen, Maileen Hamto, Edward J. Han, A.P. Kryza, Marie Lo, Simeon Mamaril, Julie Stegeman, Toni Tabora-Roberts, Allison Voigts Illustrator Jonathan Hill News Service Associated Press/Newsfinder Copyright 2020. Opinions expressed in this newspaper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of this publication. Member Associated Press/Newsfinder Asian American Journalists Association Better Business Bureau Pacific Northwest Minority Publishers (PNMP) Philippine American Chamber of Commerce of Oregon MY TURN n Dmae Roberts Family viewing Correspondence: The Asian Reporter welcomes reader response and participation. 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Back issues of The Asian Reporter may be ordered by mail at the following rates: First copy: $1.50 Additional copies ordered at the same time: $1.00 each Send orders to: Asian Reporter Back Issues, 922 N. Killingsworth St., Portland, OR 97217-2220 The Asian Reporter welcomes reader response and participation. If you have a comment on a story we have printed, or have an Asian-related personal or community focus idea, please contact us. Please include a contact name, address, and phone number on all correspondence. Thank you. y favorite part of the holidays is watching centered on a Chinese family and mythology about a holiday fare. There are so many options moon fable. The animation is beautiful at the available on broadcast networks and beginning and end of the film, but a little like an streaming services right now and I have some animated video game in the middle. I think it would recommendations. Let’s get started. be appropriate for those age eight and older, as it Every year I watch the Hallmark Channel’s deals with adult themes of losing a parent and the Christmas movies. They’re difficulties of a blended family. It generally sappy and formulaic but has a great cast with John Cho, always with romantic Jane Sandra Oh, Margaret Cho, and Austen-type endings in which a Ken Jeong (who has a sweet girl and guy kiss. They typically singing voice). Phillipa Soo, who star white characters except for was acclaimed in Hamilton, also best friends, bosses, or a mayor or stars and sings brilliantly. sheriff of a small town. While Over the Moon is an animated musical Jingle Jangle: A Christmas watching them, I imagine subtext feature centered on a Chinese family Journey, based on a children’s like “I didn’t know we had a Black and mythology about a moon fable. book, stands as the most mayor” or “I love my Asian best (Image courtesy of Netflix) imaginative of the new Netflix friend because she never has a problem of her own.” family movies. Mixing live action with stop-motion Not this year. animation and set in a steam-punk, almost The Hallmark Channel finally awakened to the Victorian, town of Cobbleton, the story focuses on a fact that people of color actually watch these corny toy inventor named Jeronicus, played by Forest movies, and advertisers pay money to show Whitaker. When Jeronicus falls on bad times and commercials to them. Though they are still on the becomes disconnected from his daughter, his cookie-cutter side of filmmaking, there are two that granddaughter rescues him from eviction and bubbled above the sap, and they star Asian- failure. The songs are fun and gorgeously sung by American women. Anika Noni Rose, Keegan-Michael Key, Phylicia Holly & Ivy stars Janel Parrish, a biracial Rashad, and Whitaker himself. Because it’s such a Asian-American woman who plays Melody, a recent visually stunning fantasy, I believe the movie is graduate who buys a home and tries to renovate it appropriate for kids as young as five years old. The while looking for a job. She builds a friendship with acting is quite good, so adults will love it, too. her neighbor, Nina, the mother of two young girls, Though it’s not holiday-centric, I also recommend played by Latinx actress Marisol Nichols. As the the teen fantasy series “Julie and the Phantoms.” It women become closer, Nina confides that she’s ill stars a young talent, Madison Reyes, as a and worries about who will take care of her kids. middle-school girl whose mom died years before. Melody, a former foster child, volunteers to adopt When the girl is visited by the ghosts of a teen boy them if something should happen. In the movie, band, she forms her own band with them to sing romance takes a backseat; it was reminiscent of songs about her mom. The story feels authentic, the specials Hallmark used to create for network TV. music is contemporary pop, and the film deals with Another Hallmark movie, The Christmas Bow, real-world issues of life and death. I think it would stars Lucia Micarelli as a concert violinist. Micarelli be an ideal show to watch with teens. actually is a gifted classical violinist as well as an There are other offerings for those in high school actress who was incredible in the New Orleans- and college featuring Asian-American cast based HBO series “Treme.” The film is a romance, members, such as “Kim’s Convenience” (which is a but hearing Lucia play several holiday songs made delightful series about a Korean-Canadian family it all worthwhile. Personally, I loved that another that runs a convenience store) and “Atypical” (about biracial Asian American was starring in one of these a high school teen with autism who relies on his best Hallmark movies. Another treat is that they showed friend and his therapist, both of whom are Asian an interracial mom and dad and her grandfather, American). On NBC, a less well-known gem, played by James Saito, who originally taught his “Superstore,” features two Asian Americans in a granddaughter to play the violin. sitcom about a large box store and its workers. Of all the streaming services, I feel like Netflix There’s so much to view as we gather in small has the most to offer people of color. For me, there groups of family or friends this year. Make some hot are two top choices for family films this year. chocolate and break out a puzzle to work on while Over the Moon is an animated musical feature watching. Have a safe and healthy holiday season. M Opinions expressed in this newspaper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of this publication.