Turning Red (2022)
In 2002 Toronto, 13-year-old Meilin “Mei” Lee, who lives with her parents, Ming and Jin, helps take care of the family’s temple dedicated to their ancestor Sun Yee, and works to make her mother proud. She hides her personal interests from Ming, such as the fact that she and her friends Miriam, Priya, and Abby are fans of the boy band 4*Town. One night when Ming, who is strict and overprotective, discovers Mei’s crush on Devon, the local convenience store clerk, she inadvertently humiliates Mei in public. That night, Mei has a vivid nightmare involving red pandas. When she wakes up the next morning, she has transformed into a large red panda. She hides from her parents and discovers that she transforms only when she is in a state of high emotion. When she reverts to human form her hair remains red, and so she goes to school in a touque. Ming initially believes Mei is experiencing her first period, but learns the truth when she humiliates her at school, causing Mei to transform and run home in panic and tears.
Ming and Jin explain that Sun Yee was granted this transformation to protect her daughters and her village during wartime, and that all her female descendants have also had this ability. This has become inconvenient and dangerous in modern times, so the red panda spirit must be sealed in a talisman by a ritual on the night of a lunar eclipse, which will take place in a month’s time. Mei’s friends discover her transformation, but take a liking to it; Mei finds that concentrating on them enables her to control her transformations. Ming allows Mei to resume her normal life, but refuses to let Mei attend 4*Town’s upcoming concert. Instead, the girls secretly raise money for the tickets at school by exploiting the popularity of Mei’s red panda form while lying to Ming about how Mei is spending her time. To raise the last $100, Mei agrees to attend school bully Tyler’s birthday party as the red panda. At the party, Mei is upset to discover that the concert will be on the night she is to undergo the ritual. In her rage, she attacks Tyler when he insults her family, frightening the other kids.
Date of download: 2015-11-11T17:22:34+00:00
Cast: |
In 2002 Toronto, 13-year-old Meilin “Mei” Lee, who lives with her parents, Ming and Jin, helps take care of the family’s temple dedicated to their ancestor Sun Yee, and works to make her mother proud. She hides her personal interests from Ming, such as the fact that she and her friends Miriam, Priya, and Abby are fans of the boy band 4*Town. One night when Ming, who is strict and overprotective, discovers Mei’s crush on Devon, the local convenience store clerk, she inadvertently humiliates Mei in public. That night, Mei has a vivid nightmare involving red pandas. When she wakes up the next morning, she has transformed into a large red panda. She hides from her parents and discovers that she transforms only when she is in a state of high emotion. When she reverts to human form her hair remains red, and so she goes to school in a touque. Ming initially believes Mei is experiencing her first period, but learns the truth when she humiliates her at school, causing Mei to transform and run home in panic and tears.
Ming and Jin explain that Sun Yee was granted this transformation to protect her daughters and her village during wartime, and that all her female descendants have also had this ability. This has become inconvenient and dangerous in modern times, so the red panda spirit must be sealed in a talisman by a ritual on the night of a lunar eclipse, which will take place in a month’s time. Mei’s friends discover her transformation, but take a liking to it; Mei finds that concentrating on them enables her to control her transformations. Ming allows Mei to resume her normal life, but refuses to let Mei attend 4*Town’s upcoming concert. Instead, the girls secretly raise money for the tickets at school by exploiting the popularity of Mei’s red panda form while lying to Ming about how Mei is spending her time. To raise the last $100, Mei agrees to attend school bully Tyler’s birthday party as the red panda. At the party, Mei is upset to discover that the concert will be on the night she is to undergo the ritual. In her rage, she attacks Tyler when he insults her family, frightening the other kids.