POST OFFICE | Omeleto
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- Опубликовано: 18 окт 2024
- A woman tries to help an abandoned girl.
POST OFFICE is used with permission from Courtney Loo and David Karp. Learn more at thricecookedme....
Frances is a Chinese American mother running errands one afternoon with her two young children, on their way to her son's soccer game. After a few mishaps, they seem finally on their way.
But then they spot a little Chinese girl alone on the side of the road. Frances pulls over to check on her, but the little girl speaks no English. Frances herself doesn't speak Chinese, so she calls the police to help -- only to bring about a small tragedy for nearly all involved.
Directed by Courtney Loo and David Karp from a script written by Loo, this quietly devastating short drama has a narrative studded with many contemporary issues. But the storytelling weaves these into its chain of events in subtle and uncanny ways, imbuing tension and uneasiness into what emerges as a profound meditation on a deeper identity crisis.
The foundation of the film rests on the sharp intelligence of both its writing and its direction. It is, initially, a narrative of moments and details. With a calm, observational camera and discerning editing, viewers catch several poetic details: the Chinese flag carefully being ironed by Frances in preparation for their school's "Multicultural Day" or the blond hair on the Snapchat filter on her daughter's phone, for instance. The film's language is poetic, attuned to how the small details of our lives and surroundings say so much about how we think and feel about ourselves. We get a picture of a middle-class family in America, integrating their cultural heritage with their modern American lives, and actor Julie Zhan plays Frances as a typical loving but sometimes distracted mother juggling the many demands of raising young children.
But when Frances has to stop and dart inside somewhere to deal with a spilled coffee, she leaves her two children in the car for a moment. When a car with two strange men pulls up next to them, there's a frisson of danger. We fear what the two men may do, but we also wonder if Frances will get in trouble for leaving her children in the car. Luckily for Frances, nothing happens.
But the tension is not easy to shake, even when we segue into a scene of the small family singing together in the car. But that joy comes to a halt when they spot a little girl by a highway. From here, the action plays out with the more compressed rhythms of a more conventional drama, though it is no less compelling in its deft build-up of suspense and stakes. From moment to moment, with each added narrative element and reveal, we see issues of police authority, "Karens" and immigration unfurl in a heart-wrenching way.
Though it weaves in topical issues, POST OFFICE is not "about" these topics. Instead, the great tragedy is that a family can't be understood by someone who looks like them but doesn't speak their language. One mother inadvertently betrays another, Frances watching as the unknown woman pays the price for something she herself has done. Afterward, Frances reflects on her failure, and all the careful, poetic details and strangely tense moments coalesce into a powerful questioning of identity, assimilation and what is gained and lost as one generation to the next becomes rooted in America. It becomes a powerful illumination into the peculiar calculus that is often Asian-American identity, and how the balancing act of fitting in can go awry.
the little child's cry was heart wrenching, such a good short film
I know it makes me wonder what the parents or directors did to make her cry that hard
@@ok-qt5qj she probably got scared and cried. but after all the kid was a damn goood actor
Superb acting all around. The youngest girl, particularly, is utterly talented. A brilliant short film.
its actually just so scary when you only try to help out,be nice but that actually causes harm to someone and you feel like you shouldn't have interfered..being multilingual is an art bcs sometimes language barriers can distance people
Facts
But she did good, by stopping a potentially illegal immigrant.
This was painful to watch...but absolutely well written and shot. So realistic.....Those times when our help goes in the wrong direction...man, those times are hard.
Yes, indeed....
One thing that people often say in the comments is a variation on “Hollywood get millions of dollars for their movies and they are usually crap”. I prefer not to buy into cynical generalizations - usually. But it feels pretty true.
Earlier this week, I wanted to reward myself with a Pay-Per-View movie. I rented one. It was crap. I rented another. It was worse. Much worse.
This film-maker and many others manage to create deft, engrossing short films. Sometimes they are pretty freakin’ memorable. This one will stay with me for a while.
Hollywood shts earn a lot money, luxuries... but cannot produce enough decent art for making better world. They only good at sucking wallets!!!!!!!
I'm glad I found these short films. I've seen a lot of omeleto films and then seen this creator.
I want to find more great creators and I guess I'm in the right place.
The thing that is so upsetting about this story was that it was so believable. Not only did it look like a real incident, but it was upsetting that we have seen so many other, similar things, that it rang true.
I was kinda waiting that when she's gonna use Google translator or something.
I also thought about Google Translate when she took out her phone
:) Maybe they should've set it in the '90s. Nowadays all film makers need to remember what tech is available since it solves most of the traditional problems that protagonists come across.
First thing that came to my mind lol
But ... what does it mean? Post office? So, why would she say that?
@@rachelsclassESLEnglishvideos heyy! She's saying that 'cause her mum was in post office,she wasn't an abandoned child.
English speaking Chinese mom left two kids in the car to do some errand while there could have been some danger. Non-English speaking mom left her daughter in the field going to a post office but there seemed no danger involved, probably. But something happened unexpectedly for the latter mom. Good comparison made here.
Exactly!
This felt more like a documentary, it felt real to the core. I enjoyed it even though it was a bit sad.
Feels like a true story
@@glennparker5516 that's true
Yeah, there's millions all over the world living this same story..
Loved it. The actress who played the mother was awesome 🌟
they should have added subtitles for when the chinese mom was speaking. other than that the film was brilliantly done, so very sad and moving.
The story may work better without subtitles. If the English-speaking audience doesn't also understand Chinese the tension and frustration is far more palpable. A shared experience with the primary character. How terrifying!
Oh wow so if she had just spoken the language of the country she's supposed to be representing in multi cultural day she would have known the little girls mom was right there at the post office and she could have brought her back. I kind of thought she was going to sneak her ID to the mom and hope the cops would have not looked close enough to realize it wasn't her and let everybody go.
Ohhhhhhh. That's what I thought too!
Maybe if the lady knew English she would be able to not get arrested.
That would make for a heartwarming ending!
Then they could both have ended up in jail with their kids taken away
wow the nasty xenophobic comments.
So distressfull seeing the little girl cry.... ripped me to shreds. My jawline so tense, my fist tightly closed, my watery eyes can't allow me to go on. Sometimes the right goes so wrong. I seem to have been endlessly cought in it
thank you for sharing our film!!! :)
Great movie david!
David. You're one of a kind.
they should pin ur comment!
Awesome film
Y'all went too hard. I don't even know I had this many different emotions
They're on a dirt path and the cop stops because her door was open?? Must have been a SLOWWWWW crime day, smdh
Too sad. Heart rending all 'round. - Perfect filming, directing and acting.
YOO JULIE ZHAN IM SO HAPPY SHES STILL ACTIVE.
Same! I was so happy to see her acting in this.
Why are there no links to the filmmaker’s social or websites anywhere in the video description or in the article on your website?
101 reasons to keep Google Translate on your phone.
Fun fact: I tried to translate the chinese "post office" into english a few times and result was DUNE...
This is honestly so good, and something I probably wouldn't have come across if it wasn't for this channel, that's why I love it! (Also, does anyone know mandarin and can say what the other characters were saying? I'm so curious rn.)
The immigrant Mum was chastising her little girl for wandering off when she was busy at the post office.
Also she berated the ABC mom for calling the police, but got frustrated coz she wasn’t getting thru to her due to the language barrier (ironic 😂).
@@AW_7_7_7 supporting this summary!
- why you called the police? Do you are hearing what I am saying? Are you from china?
American - Do you have one of this ( id ) Chinese - I dont have
5:27 "mama is at the post office"
5:42 "post office."
5:46 "post office"
6:12 "post office"
6:17: "mama is at the post office"
10:02: where did you run off to? i was trying to find you everywhere. you're okay, right? why did you run off? you know you can't run off, okay? say you understand
little girl: okay
the mom: "i couldn't find you"
the mom to frances: is it you who alerted the authorities/police? why did you call the authorities/police?
11:01: the mom "you don't know what i'm talking about. are you a chinese person? *frances show her the id*
the mom: no. oh, god.
If you're an Apple Mac user (prior to the update) she should look very familiar. She's the girl from the photo booth app.
oh really? damn I need to go check now
Whats her name?
I appreciate that my one semester of Chinese in college came through for me on this one!
what did the chinese mom say to the other mom?
@@alisha_D 'Is it you who called the police? Why did you call the police? Don't you understand what I am saying? Are you Chinese?'
@@iloveunicorns987 thank you!
Bambi she jhus wanted to help...this is so heart breaking
the police cant just rob the mom like that, its so cruel 😭
Rips my heart out.
Woah this was heavy on the heart.
@2:15 NEVER LEAVE KIDS ALONE IN A CAR LIKE THAT!
Yep
This was so real in so many ways 😭.
I am neither Asian nor American but still I felt the gut punch.
Powerful story... and great actors!
I wanted her to say ... that's my cousin and her child, let's go.
Wow, this film is outstanding - even for Omeleto's curated selection. Among the best of the best.
Um... Does anyone who doesn't have an ID on themselves get handcuffed in the US?
she ran from the police. if she had been black or brown they would have shot her in the back!
Ironically enough, Frances left her kids alone and left the house without an id, feel like this is a parallel to the other mom, i just don't know what it means....
@@guilhermeshiba3135 One mom was "rich", the other one was "poor". Two different realities.
No. ID is not required in the USA.
@@guilhermeshiba3135 she showed her Id to the illegal mother. Also she can’t drive without carrying a drivers license on her or she’s be going to jail for that. Is everyone sleeping?
The detriments of language barrier. I really wish I knew what the other mother was saying. Is it part of the experience of this short to not know what the other mother is saying?
Oh man theres so much to unpack here😢
If only there can be a interpreter , I'm sure we all can see an alternate ending
Communication was not the problem these ladies couldn't get around. Pigs were the problem. How come the good guys don't show up when you call the police?
@@rmdlgarcia what are they supposed to do? Just let her run away? If you run away when you see police then you are a suspect and police has a right to arrest you. If you lose your child then you should be checked by police to confirm your identity.
There doesn't need to be an interpreter. What she says is exactly what you see on screen. Hence the visual cue of the first mom's ID.
Google translator.
@@CindyDongcindy__dong ok
Well-acted and involving. I don't know if the filmmaker is trying to "shame" the main character for not speaking Mandarin or for intervening when she saw the little girl wandering in the desert.... my own perspective is that did the right thing by intervening.
I think the lesson here is to keep an eye on your kids: I'm not saying make them paranoid, but keep them close.
I didn’t get the impression that the filmmaker was trying to do that. I sure hope not. She definitely did the right thing.
She did the American thing. She called the police.
@@melaniekeeling7462 So, other than that, what should she have done in this situation?
@@deezyfbabay6107 She could have asked around about the child. It would have been the more human thing to do.
@@melaniekeeling7462 …… Asked who? Lmao. There was no one around. Calling the cops was the best option, but too bad cops generally suck.
That really made me sad.... those were actors? For real?
I know right. Sad stuff
I understand it would not be good to show a dirty child in a film. But this child is incredibly clean to be abandoned. So sad the film 😭
😂 ... She wasn't abandoned she had just wandered off while her mum (mom) was at the post office.
@@martinwebb1681 ....good point, and fortunately we know the police wouldn’t act like that. Great film though.
😆 those kids are adorable!🤣
Oh, and I couldn’t read who the cast was because your video recommendation boxes covered the words. Please show some respect for the actors and don’t hide their names
I know right!! That pissed me off, i totally wanted to see those credits, smh
Its so annoying ... you'd think they'd at least wait for black screen before putting those recommendation boxes up.
Remember when YT had a button to hide that crap?
@@mr.nobody9086 i kno right!
No good deed goes unpunished
My takeaway is that the police means different things for different people, even people within the same racial demographic.
Actually, brown and black people are the exception to every rule.
Well yes, especially if one of them is a criminal.
@@billybobkumar9231 No. Has nothing to do with black or brown. Many illegal immigrants are white. I met a girl from Belarus who was looking to get into a relationship because she was out of school and overstaying her student visa but wanted to stay in the US. It's about illegal or not illegal. The US is the only crazy country where illegal immigrants are considered legitimate by a large percentage of the population.
How utterly heartbreaking...
Love the stereotypical weed smoker, did my parents make this😂
Great existential flick. No more needed to be said!
It was irresponsible of the mom to leave the girl alone in the desert like that. And the other mom should not have left her kids in the open car like that. She should have taken them with her.
The little girl ran away! Agree with the other kids.
For Christ's sake. Put your catty judgement in park for two minutes.
@@RobMacKendrick nice
You ever been a mom? Are you perfect?
Lost City... there was so much left unstated, like what circumstances led to the little girl being separated from her mom, so I find is sad you attempt to impose your own spin and uninformed judgements conclusions on this short here?
Police arresting a woman for no obvious reason...
Terrible!
I think I get it. Which mother abandoned her kid(s)? Which mother had missing identification?
She didn't have any ID because she was illegal.
woahhh!?
@@Dayvit78 "She didn't have any ID because she was illegal." Yes, but that's just the surface. The American mom who steam irons and hangs the Chinese flag for Multicultural Day (12:20) but can't understand Mandarin, what identity does she (pretend to) have?
It's so lovely, and so very sad.
this broke my heart. i would foster her kid til her situation changed man like
Can anyone translate what mom said to other mom?? That baby crying was too real. 😭 edit: found in other comment replay - thanks
My favorite part was when the little girl looked at the pot smoking hipster with disdain. I can't believe I ever considered shitheads like that to be "cool" and "creative."
This one put a lump in my throat 🙁
Why did I watch this again? Why? WHY?
tldr: don't call the police if there isn't a crime
There was a crime. The people there are undocumented. I dont give a crap. Arrest them.
Bruh there was an abandoned child at first, that’s a perfectly logical reason to call the police. Moron
@@madhatten00 Frances also did not have an id on her tho?
@@guilhermeshiba3135 did too, she literally showed the id to the lady and the lady went nuts and ran away
@@madhatten00 oh yeah
No Chinese American ever: *has Chinese flag on wall*
Thats because its beautiful politics
Said in the description that it was for her child school multicultural event.
They didn’t have a warrant or a reason so they could get their badges taken
🤔
There’s an abandoned child and a woman walking away with it while offering no attempt to explain or communicate in any way. She just decided to friggin walk away. Uhhh no. They had a right to detain her.
Correction: RUNNING away from the cops
Sometimes you endeavour to do a good deed, only to make things worse.
I think a part of my soul just died
Oh My!!! It makes me cry 😭
I was wondering, is the "post office" in the state near the "highway" or in the middle of the desert???!!!
pardon my ignorance...
It was the building on the hill.
@@jonesba2004 in the middle of the desert?
@@bryanlee8475 Alot of America (particularly the southwest) looks like that. It doesn't mean it's unpopulated.
I’m curious to know the name of that song, as well as that songwriter and recording group
artist that the mother and her children were bouncing to inside their car until they came across
that missing child.
It's called "Coconut Oil" by Kirby -- on all platforms currently!
We Don’t Funk by
Kirby
Ran and looked it up right away myself.
Great video and great acting! Very sad. :(
This is really sad
wonder what they did to get that poor little girl 2 cry so hard while filming. that's cry wasn't acting.
Because she was really scared, because everything everyone looked so real, especially the policemen 👮♂️👮♂️
Yeah, really convinced me! So pitiful and heartfelt!
This wrecked me.
Chinese American here. Frances did nothing wrong calling the cops. The other woman deserved it for being an illegal immigrant
Okay, among respected film critics, my opinion is probably about as important as insect urine is to astronauts, but I didn't need to spend any time at all figuring out whether or not this little movie gets saved among my favourites. Nothing to consider. Just awesome.
Me too!
Translation app - simple fix.
My thoughts exactly. Lol
Not everyone needs help.
Sad
I wish she could've adopted the girl...
Well, least the stoner dude was multilingual?
He said hello, not exactly multilingual.
@@melaniekeeling7462 ... More so than the Chinese American mum 😂
@@martinwebb1681 funny
Times change. Before immigrants were more or less obliged to forget their native culture in order to better assimilate. Now, with technology, language acquisition and retention is much easier.
I fail to see why so many comments here are upset about the incident. So what would people here suggest? Let every stranger everywhere on earth run around and do there thing and give a f... who they are and what they do? The police only asked her for an ID, she should not have ran away. And who knows if that was the mother, maybe she kidnapped the girl and the girl was just told to call her mother or has Stockholm syndrome. Nobody did anything wrong in that movie except the "possible mother" who first left her daughter alone, put in danger that way (she could have been killed in traffic, get kidnapped, get hurt by the syringe) and then tried to run away from officials. And if you argue "well, she ran away, as she's illegally in that country", that doesn't make it any better as you are not supposed to be illegally anywhere to begin with. How did she even get there? It's not that there is a way to sneak from China into the USA over some border. So by ship with the help of people smugglers? That alone would be a good reason for the police to interrogate them, because these smugglers are terrible criminals.
What is the take away here?
Great acting
This if you finished watching and was effected by this were friends
Come again!? Nobody understood!
No happy ending
Beautiful kids lovely little actor kids and the mother too great young actress ❤
The ending should have continue because it wasn’t finished.
It just gets ugly from there > The American Mom is carrying guilt > for Helping? TRAGIC
Was finished. An undocumented family was deported. That's perfectly fine.
@@madhatten00 😐
Dang this was beautiful and sad
Wtf did she leave her LITTLE GIRL out in the desert for? It makes no effing sense! And if the little girl just ran away, why wasn't the "mother" watching her? Of course she needs to be deported... there are too many monsters out there harming children. I don't feel sorrow for the mother at all!
😂 😃 😄 😅
Oh yeah, like even I didn't see THAT accident coming.....sarcasm....
I feel like, I know the area where this film was done 🌸
Just wow!😭 💔
Once they sort everything out at the police station with help of an interpreter, the young girl will be reunited with her mom.
It's not a big deal.
Much more serious things with dire consequences happen all around the world.
Wow !! Awesome .. love this film ❤️🔥
why, why you make me cry
I think the message was hold on to one's hermitage. Becoming too Americanized isn't necessarily going to help
Heritage
No the problem was pigs. The ladies would have been fine.
Hermitage doesn't feel like the word we should be using here
@@rmdlgarcia you people call cops pigs until you really need them. They need to make sure the child is actually the mothers because sometimes kids latch on to anyone and she could’ve been a kidnapper for all we know.
@@cottoncandyjellybean8539 so many @ssholes on social media. doesn't even deserve a comment, though you're right.
So incase you didn't get the gist of the story cause of not understanding the mandarin. I am pretty sure the Mum was at the post office and the kid was told to wait there.
Why the child couldn't go into the Post Office with the mother . . .uh, that all couldda been avoided. I mean, she was picking up used needles. That part spooked me, even though this is just a short film. People run into stores leaving children in hot cars and stuff all the time. It's not like she was toting a tribe of children. Just 1 little girl. I loved this, but hope it's not based on any true event considering how common leaving children is here, to go into a place of business :(
The child could have gotten bored and wandered off.
@@melaniekeeling7462 That IS EXACTLY what the child did and why mom scolded her
@@cricketmonday1469 That's what kids do.
Where is Andy Taylor and Barney Fife when you need them? Instead we can make a dystopian thriller from the fabric of ordinary everyday American life.
12:00 imagine being so bad at Call of duty
You shouldn't feel bad tho she let her child wander off
This was so wrong
So is the conclusion to just let a little girl sit alone in the desert while he mother is looking for a post office there?
I don’t think it was supposed to be blaming the mom in the white. I think it was just objectively showing how things can go.
"The immigrant Mum was chastising her little girl for wandering off when she was busy at the post office.
Also she berated the ABC mom for calling the police, but got frustrated coz she wasn’t getting thru to her due to the language barrier"
Reply by AW
@@atulkrishna3467 No, I saw that but I still feel the same. I think that’s just an angry reaction a person might have, not that we as the audience or the filmmaker should be blaming the woman helping.
@@deezyfbabay6107 I would say how a good deed can turn sour.
Lesson of the films: ignore the child being near the highway 💀Mind your business. Less trouble.
Tbh that is how I got from this film too.
this is amazing
Would of been great for the next scene was her calling an immigration lawyer.