WRITTEN BY HILLARY BLOCK

The lives of a recovering addict and her single mother change forever when they move in next door to a widowed father and his adult daughter with autism.

When I got wind Michelle Ang was in a new project that was looking for funding through Indiegogo in 2016, I jumped at the chance. It didn’t hurt that one of the perks was an autograph and as a collector of Tribe Autographs I knew I needed it. What followed was a 3 year journey of wishing I’d contributed more, emails to the director, watching this film go to festival, and a whole lot of waiting. 

This week I finally got my copy! 

I knew I wanted to watch as soon as possible since this was the film I’d been waiting for – mostly because I believed in it. For Izzy has been doing great picking up awards in just about every festival it screens. But did I over hype it in my mind? 

Directed by Alex Chu For Izzy is held together by a small ensemble cast. But don’t let the size of the cast fool you. Each one breathes their characters to life, from Peter (Jim Lau) who wants nothing more then his daughter Laura (Jennifer Soo) to have the best life despite her challenges. To Anna (Elizabeth Sung) who is the strong matriarch, fearful her daughter Dede (Michelle Ang) will make the same mistakes she did.

The story plays out in a complicated web of human connection and at its heart is a love story. Not just between characters in romantic and platonic love, but to a city and a culture. 

There’s also some clever use of animation in the film and some audio and visual components which aid in telling the story. At first some of the cuts were jarring, but it fell into a nice rhythm. The animation flows seamlessly as it’s Laura expressing her thoughts. 

There’s even a slight nod to Michelle’s tribal past, or at least that’s what I thought.

For Izzy
  • Score
4.5

Summary

For Izzy deserves all the awards it’s been getting. It’s simply a beautiful film you don’t want to miss. I give it 4/5 stars.