It’s funny how all of us get to a point in our young lives when we had to grow up. And no one is immune to it. Stories may be very different in a lot of ways, but all in all, it’ the same old story. I saw two films recently that have very similar stories even though the characters in them are so different in so many ways.

Emily Ting wrote and directed ‘Go Back To China,’ and I think it’s a very entertaining film. Surely, the story employs some of the most familiar tropes – spoiled rich girl gets thrown into a situation where she is a fish out of water, and she learns a major lesson – but Ting makes everything interesting. And I was very impressed with Anna Akana, who stars in the film. I learn later that she started as a YouTube personality, and I am glad I did not know that information beforehand, as I might have been a little more prejudiced. The story flows smooth here, and even though you sense where the stories will all go, you are still engaged by them. I like how it gives me a glimpse of what life is like for ordinary citizens in Shenzen China. Certainly, we get a deeper glimpse of the culture than where ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ brought us. This film made me smile.

‘Mickey and the Bear,’ without a doubt is the better film of the two, for sure. It has depth and soul, and is definitely heavier. But I found myself resisting it. Maybe it’s because of what the globe is going through right now with this pandemic but I was just not in the mood to watch a young girl go through so much hardship. Camila Morrone plays the title role as a teenager who is taking care of her father, who has PTSD. And Mickey goes through a lot here. It got to be a bit unbearable after a while, and I found myself wanting to tune it off. I wonder if I would have felt the same way had I seen this a month ago.