WEI-LAI | Omeleto

A young boy offers himself for adoption.
WEI-LAI is used with permission from Robin Wang. Learn more at / wei_lai_film .
Wei-Lai is the son of Chinese parents living in the U.S. But when he receives yet another spanking from his strict father, Wei-Lai decides to take matters into his own hands -- he flees to his best friend Luca's house, where he offers himself up for adoption. He's done with being Chinese and being his father's son.
But a child's whim turns into a more complex power play and identity crisis, as Wei-Lai disavows his Chinese heritage. He longs to be white, believing that white parents love their children more. But he comes to see that things, and love, aren't as simple as they seem.
Directed and written by Robin Wang, this touching short dramedy takes on some serious subject matter: the gap between immigrant parents and their children, and different cultural attitudes to childrearing and parenting. But it handles its themes with a child's lightness and aplomb, though always with an eye on its young protagonist's emotional undercurrents.
There's a touch of Wes Anderson-like whimsy in the droll humor, quirky flourishes and distinctively picture-book rhythms and visuals. Much of that mirrors Wei-Lai, whose response after being punished too harshly is childlike in its simplicity and funny in its execution, especially as he pitches his potential mom about what he can bring to the family.
The first half of the film emphasizes the playfulness of Wei-Lai's plans, and the storytelling has a delicate charm, accompanied by light, luminous cinematography and moments of levity. But as the narrative progresses, a grittier realism seeps in, especially as Wei-Lai's parents come to the fore as characters in their own right. Relentlessly hard-working and harried, the mother is torn between her sensitive son and her stubborn husband, who refuses to bend when she urges him to adapt to American mores. The balance between retaining a link to one's heritage while adapting to the different traditions of a new land is a tricky one to navigate, but excellent, empathetic writing portrays both perspectives with sympathy and compassion.
Young actor Arthur Zhang has a role that would be difficult for even an older actor, navigating both the more comical beats of the story with its emotional demands, but he bridges both with innocence and directness of emotion. He's earnestly palpable in his desire to feel safe and loved in a way that makes sense to him, and that drives both the humor and the sadness of his character. When he follows his desire to its extreme and misguided conclusion, he realizes he's taken it too far -- and feels perhaps he's given up on the possibility of being loved at all.
Of course, the journey in WEI-LAI is realizing he's been loved the entire time -- imperfectly and not without valid concerns, but in the only way that his parents have ever known themselves. But in the end, Wei-Lai has grown in realizing his parents do love him, but express it in very different ways. And his parents, too, have grown in realizing harsh punishment isn't the only way to help and teach Wei-Lai as he makes mistakes. It's a compassionate, wise ending to a film with deep reservoirs of empathy for all its characters -- and a belief that people can always grow and learn with one another.