Directed by Yinan Wang, this film artfully reconstructs both personal and collective memories of a beloved Chinese restaurant, exploring cultural identity and stereotypes through a unique blend of cutouts, reenactments, and found footage. What is the title of this movie, also known by its Chinese characters 甜腻腻?

"Thick & Sweet 甜腻腻" is indeed the correct title for Yinan Wang's film. This experimental documentary delves into the layers of memory surrounding Yen Ching, a Chinese restaurant in Milwaukee that operated for 40 years before its demolition. Rather than simply documenting the physical dismantling of the building, Wang's film focuses on preserving the personal and collective memories associated with the establishment. It explores how food, culture, and popular media shape perceptions of Asian American identity, often addressing stereotypes in the process.

The film employs a distinctive artistic approach, weaving together various mediums to create its narrative. It incorporates cutouts, reenactments, and found footage, along with fragments from earlier films, to reconstruct these memories. This collage-like technique allows "Thick & Sweet" to delve into the complexities of cultural identity and the immigrant experience, tracing how memory, language, and food contribute to a sense of home and belonging.

Yinan Wang, who was born and raised in Beijing and later relocated to the United States, uses his filmmaking to explore the "in-between" spaces where cultures interact, blend, and sometimes resist one another. His work, including "Thick & Sweet," seeks to move beyond traditional narratives, centering on themes of labor, craft, and materiality. By intertwining these elements with personal history, Wang crafts an emotional ethnography of the immigrant journey, probing the often-flattened portrayals of Asian American representation in media.