Welcome to the Asian A.V. Club interview podcast HANG! As you all know, we LOVE to HANG with our directors, and this time we’re sitting down with a fresh new voice making her debut with a film that’s bold in its premise and keeps you guessing all the way through. Australian-born director Amy Wang brings us her first feature Slanted, a film that begins in a grounded space before gradually shifting into something far more unexpected. The story follows Joan Huang, played by Shirley Chen, a young Asian teenager navigating school, family, and her own sense of identity. As she struggles with where she fits in, she becomes fixated on the idea that her life might be easier and more successful if she could exist in a white body. What begins as a quiet insecurity slowly builds into something much more extreme. That turning point comes when Joan emerges from her choices as a completely different person, played by Mckenna Grace, pushing the film into body horror territory. From there, Slanted explores that uneasy space between trying to become someone new and losing yourself in the process, as Joan attempts to navigate this new version of herself. The film is also grounded by the presence of her parents, played by Vivian Wu and Fang Du, whose perspectives bring in themes of generational tension, cultural expectations, and the complexities of identity within an immigrant household in a foreign country. While Slanted leans into body horror, it also uses that framework to explore ideas of identity, assimilation, and self-worth. Wang balances these themes with a distinct sense of dark humor, allowing the film to move between discomfort and satire in a way that feels really sharp and effective. The film premiered at SXSW Film Festival, where it received the Narrative Feature Grand Jury Award, marking it as one of the standout titles of the festival. We had the chance to HANG with Amy Wang to talk about the film that first inspired her to become a director, her transition into screenwriting, and how her widened creative background allowed her to shape Slanted into a film that clearly carries her distinct stamp. If you like this HANG, please check out some of our other ones either where you listen to podcasts or watch the visualized version of this chat on our YouTube channel. Please also subscribe to our SUBSTACK where you get to read up on all the things the Asian A.V. Club are getting themselves into! Thanks and join us on our next HANG!
