What to watch on Netflix this week: Alan Yang’s directorial debut, Tigertail

Want something to watch on Netflix? Check out the Alan Yang film, Tigertail, inspired by his father’s journey to the U.S. and what he left behind in Taiwan.

Happy April, Netflix watchers! April Fool’s Day has long passed, and while the coast is clear when it comes to terrible jokes, we still haven’t been given the all clear to go out and socialize again. As such, keeping ourselves occupied is a must in these weeks we spend keeping our communities safe by staying home.

We have a full list of what’s dropping on Netflix this month, but if you’re looking for something to check out this week, might we suggest Alan Yang’s film, Tigertail?

Check out the trailer for Tigertail below:

Written and directed by Alan Yang (co-creator of Master of None), Tigertail is the story of what is lost and left behind when one immigrates to another country. Pin-Jui loves Taiwan, but he dreams of making a life in the United States. When presented with the opportunity to achieve his dream, Pin-Jui leaves behind love for an arranged marriage to Zhenzhen, whose father promises to move them to New York if they get married.

Finally on American soil and working toward capturing the American dream, Pin-Jui begins to realize that the romantic picture he had of the country is not its reality. He and Zhenzhen have nothing in common, they are not connected to this foreign nation, and the dream Pin-Jui had gradually dies on the vine, leaving him broken and distant.

While Tigertail  is very much Pin-Jui’s story it is also his daughter’s. Due to his distance, they are estranged, and she struggles with connecting to him and the world around her as a daughter of immigrants and a first-generation American. It’s through their growing relationship that Pin-Jui begins to come alive again and strives toward achieving the dream he once had.

Tigertail is an immigrant story, one loosely based off of Alan Yang’s father, but as he describes it:

"“…the movie is kind of my dream of my father’s dream of his past. It’s emphatically not his story in some ways. It’s idealized, right?…I’ll be totally honest, I don’t have a word-for-word history of either my dad’s or my mom’s experience. I’m sure if I were to tell it to you right now, it would be wildly different from their own versions.”"

It’s a story that will resonate for many immigrants and their children because, sometimes, something is gained when one immigrates, but there is always something lost. How that loss is mitigated depends on the person, perhaps it even depends on their culture, but it’s a universal experience even if Tigertail is specifically Asian and Taiwanese in its storytelling.

Tigertail drops on Netflix on April 10. What else should we be watching on Netflix this week? Serve up your selections in the comments below!