Alan Mattli’s review published on Letterboxd:
ZFF 2022 #22
Chou, understandably, plays into a lot of common tropes about westerners feeling alienated in East Asian countries, but I don't think he offers anything all that substantial about the fact that the person this is happening to here was born in the country that is alienating to her. While this doesn't completely sink the film, which does have its standout moments, especially in the first half (also thanks to Guka Han's wonderful supporting turn), it does signal a larger problem: too often, Chou is happy to make a point that feels poignant by implication – see Freddie's ill-fated stay at her biological father's house – but which lacks the dramatic and emotional grounding to really make it stick. It's striking how much the film deflates after the first time jump, because as it turns out, the character at the heart of it all is mostly just a conduit for plot convenience rather than a fully fleshed-out person.