Directed by Michael Toshiyuki Uno • 1988 • United States
Starring Mako, Nobu McCarthy, Sab Shimono
Adapted from a play by Philip Kan Gotanda, this keenly perceptive drama focuses on the upheavals that rock a Japanese American family when the sixty-something Masi (Nobu McCarthy) announces she is leaving her conservative, emotionally neglectful husband, Nobu (Mako), after forty years together. As she finds rejuvenation in a new relationship, he struggles to move forward. Touching on issues of assimilation, generational conflict, and the legacy of the Japanese internment, THE WASH is a moving and beautifully performed look at the intricacies of love in old age.
Up Next in Asian American ’80s
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Community Plot
Directed by J. T. Takagi • 1984 • United States
Four neighbors form an uneasy alliance after a case worker from family court is accidentally killed in their building. With a gutsy sense of humor, this satiric comedy captures the chaos and cultural diversity of New York’s Lower East Side.
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Pak Bueng on Fire
Directed by Supachai Surongsain • 1987 • United States
Two young Thai men struggle to survive in Los Angeles.
