Just Like Me and You

Like any freshman in college, Joseph Chang navigates an alien world–one that’s not quite hostile, but not exactly safe either. It’s a place of new sensations, of badminton sweat and curious voices radiating through his hearing aid. Most enchanting of all is the odd snark spewed by his study partner Kevin, who has just the right mix of cool, clever, and criminal to capture the imagination of an outsider like Joseph. From text chains to library meet-ups, Joseph and Kevin–and by extension the viewer–slither down a rabbit hole of seductions and misdirection, brain-bending and brain-bashing.

JUST LIKE ME AND YOU may be set on a campus, but it’s disinterested in the usual social dynamics of the college film. Instead, the film plays out like a math problem that becomes increasingly difficult but also formally liberating as it contorts and shape-shifts. Like a David Lynch and Kiyoshi Kurosawa film set in a Southern California university of bible studies and biology classes, JUST LIKE ME & YOU rewires the Asian American film narrative as it rewires the neurons, a riotous and utterly watchable mishmash of inspiration and ambition.

– Brian Hu