Angie X

My wife and I started watching this at home on DVD from our public library. After 11 minutes she said "I'm not really enjoying this" so we switched to a lightweight rom-com.

The next day I finished watching it myself. Many of the "reviews" here are unfair, the movie actually has a lot of positive things to offer. The problem is, the movie is about mostly despicable people exhibiting despicable behavior in 1984. Lots of drugs, sex, and booze. Instead of focusing on college studies. But apparently it is a fairly faithful telling of the writer/director's own experiences.

The movie has no value if there is no redemption and it appears there is. Angie is a Chinese American who grew up in a bad neighborhood, apparently experienced some sex abuse growing up, had been raped by local young men, and her father didn't have the ability to tell her he loved her. As a result of all those factors she was a hardened young lady who found it difficult to form relationships. When her college money ran dry she hit upon the idea to sneak into the chemistry lab and synthesize MDMA, the drug ecstasy.

Is the movie worth viewing? Not for those who like a rather clean, sanitary story. While this will not be a favorite of mine, and I would never want to rewatch it, I am glad I was able to see it once. It shows a slice of life that I am otherwise unfamiliar with.

Well scripted and well acted, MDMA is worth watching, and Angie Wang deserves kudos for writing, directing, and producing this autobiopic. Annie Q emoted more than most actors ever will and had great chemistry (pun intended) with Francesca Eastwood. (I'm glad I didn't know "Neen" was Clint-the-Gunslinger's kid until after the movie's end, or I would've pre-judged her). The story arc worked, and I enjoyed the inclusion of Adam Ant's music (though I could have stood for more 80s tunes throughout the film). Epilogues would have given the audience some needed satisfaction.

This movie confronts head-on a difficult problems within a tangled and male-dominated sub-genre. Meeting all of the criteria that the genre demands and more this movie confronts challenges, such as underrepresented minorities in cinematography. One major issue that I found with the movie, which is very loosely based around true-ish events was the movie covers in entirety the lifestyles of young party-goers and the consequence of their choices. Simply dismissing this film as an attempt to appeal to a younger audience is wrong in my opinion because as far as I can tell, no other film to date gives such a comprehensive view of the 1980's club culture aside from anti-drug PSAs, clearly what this movie is not, and historical films. This film plays like a biographical narrative while being a fun and light-drug movie that brings a strong theme of the destructive effects of criminality, warning the viewer away from the dangers associated. While the movie doesn't condescend to the viewer the story takes on too many subjects, drawing the viewer away from the entertaining aspect of watching these young people at their worst. I believe this movie is underrated. The actors play their parts with gusto, guiding you in the chaos that the subject entails. The movie moves quickly from topic to topic, but in a easy to follow format that many clubbing movies simply lack. The reviews for this movie are of course critical, and the poor rating shows that the movie was received under the same criticisms that movies in the genre, following scarface and other classic clubbing movies, are subjected. Many movies that are ascribed to the niche 'party movie' genre were underfunded and suffered from poor casting. A movie like this one would have received praises had it been release 20 years sooner, when the genre was thirsty for innovators.

Angie Wang is a warrior in life and made a daring artistic contribution sharing parts of her college year life trying to cope with family and money issues and achieve academic, romantic, economic and human success.

Angie X, played perfectly by Annie Q, is a romanticized version of an angry, conflicted but smart, sexy and resourceful youth that comes to a college where her first generation immigration and social class makes her adaptation more adventurous.

The casting choices, camera work, wardrobe and sets to match the 80s feel all seem right and we are able to do what director Wang, asked us the the start of her Montreal World Film Festival first screening: immerse ourselves in the movie and be transported.

After an hour and a half in the theatre, that felt much longer in terms of content, but also timeless and not wanting the movie to end and leave these likable characters and their quirky lives.

The only personal choices I felt could have been better are the over-expression of anger which I later learned are Angie's character traits and constant reaction based on her past and way to deal with pressure, as well as some occasional superfluous flashbacks that did not always work to enhance the scenes and character development. Everything else about this independent film written, directed and produced by Angie Wang with a great deal of passion and perseverance is pristine and palpable.

Angie is contrasted by her two best friends, a Chinese American boy classmate and an "All American" rich girl roommate and their respective families. They have different views and values but lots of love, attention and affection for Angie. She also has her own distant parents and brother, especially her father figure. We see her dysfunctional family through flashbacks and she also decides to be a big sister to an even more dysfunctional crack addict family.

Angie becomes a drug-dealer of a then legal party drug for rich kids "White" kids (MDNA/Ecstasy) - and becomes a master chemist like Walter White - which affects lives around here in different ways. In parallel, and paradoxically, she also tries to rescue a "Black" little sister affected by lower class street drugs, both legal (alcohol and cigarettes) and illegal (crack).

Angies tries to find respect and pleasure in school and social settings with her grades, her drugs and romantic interests. A particular sex scene is quite alluring and seems natural, beautiful, beneficial.

The ending which follows a particular dramatic denouement is sad and hopeful, open and soft-spoken. It lets the viewer know that life is not perfect, but life goes on. The best advice, story and point of view comes from her father Michael, played with gusto by Ron Yuan.

This film is a well worth addictive addition to the drug dealer movie for the low, middle and upper class, college student and parents alike.

Bravo Angie! Looking forward to a following project from this fine first time filmmaker.

USA - 2017 - 94 mins - MONTREAL WORLD FILM FESTIVAL - English

This movie is very very bad. And not bad like the "so bad it's good", it's beyond that point. It is laughably simplistic and absurdly boring. A mash up of what someone obviously thinks being a drug dealer is like from watching the discovery channel. This is not due to the main character being an Asian woman. That's actually why I watched it. I would love to watch a good movie breaking stereotypes with an Asian female lead. But this is NOT that movie. From the start, stuff just.... happens. Dramatic subplots pop up now and then, and they seem inserted just to fill in plot holes and backstory. It takes a certain lack of talent to put so many things in a blender and end up with something so painfully boring. There's no rhythm, and the community-access-TV-grade direction helps nothing. It also doesn't help that what passes for acting here seems more like reading. I can't believe someone would fund this project after reading the screen play. It is a work completely devoid of wit, style, intelligence or even basic entertainment. I found it my civic duty to create an IMDB account just to warn any potential viewers.