SXSW: ‘Slanted’ Hones In On The Pressure To Assimilate

Have you ever wondered how your life would be if you could just change who you are on the outside? Slanted (2025), directed and written by Amy Wang, gives its protagonist Joan Huang (Shirley Chen) the chance to find out. With a bit of low sci-fi, a family drama set up, and a horror slant that is sure to see comparisons to The Substance, this coming-of-age story is a vital one. The film stars Shirley Chen, Mckenna Grace, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Fang Du, Vivian Wu, Amelie Zilber, and Katy Wilson.

As a senior in high school, Joan Huang dreams of winning Prom Queen and becoming the embodiment of popularity and all-American beauty. If Joan can claim the ultimate form of acceptance into American life, she will finally stop feeling like an outsider, or at least she hopes. She’s funny, she knows the trends, and she’s pretty, but she isn’t white.

In her relentless pursuit of the crown, she undergoes an experimental racial transformation to become white and win Prom Queen. However, Joan’s new white identity isn’t the dream come true that she thought it would be. Instead, it reveals itself to be an emotional and physical nightmare. With Slanted, first-time filmmaker Amy Wang approaches race unapologetically and with a satirical view on the uncomfortable journey of learning to love yourself and your culture.

I am 33 years old, and even now, I see how certain beauty standards don’t welcome my skin, features, and existence. Add in the fact that I am almost always the lone brown woman in a room in entertainment spaces. Even all of these years later, when I am proud of my nose and skin, I can’t help but ask rhetorically, “Would this have happened if I was white?” when something bad happens.

Slanted (2025) is undeniably and uncomfortably relatable. 

Slanted may focus on a teen girl, offering a coming-of-age story that doesn’t smooth over the messiness of thinking assimilation is the only way to succeed, but it’s for all of us. Joan goes through a growth arc that pushes her toward understanding the rashness of her decision to swap ethnicities. However, the filmmaker is careful never to blame anything other than the systems that reward whiteness.

This could have easily been a story about how becoming white won’t fix your problems, but the reality of institutional racism and beauty standards is that that just isn’t true. In fact, director Wang shows how much Ethnos, the company that provides the race-swapping, picks up in popularity, with people packing the lobby and begging to become white. It’s an interesting take that highlights how many people push assimilation and the default narrative of who gets to call themselves American. And to do that, they throw away their histories, their families, and what makes them who they are.

Listening to Joan’s parents react to her change was heartbreaking. In one specific scene, Joan’s father says that her grandmother used to live in her eyes, but now, they’re gone. When I was embarrassed by my features, it was my mom who calmed me, telling me what parts of my face belonged to my grandma, my grandfather, and even my mom’s grandparents.

It was always clear that my smile lines, the slightly curved bridge on my nose, my brown skin, and my black hair and eyes were parts of my family. At the same time, though, one of my first memories of being “different” was being told by my mom that because I’m brown, she didn’t want me to have an accent from speaking Spanish. Still, even in celebrating our family’s beauty, it still took something away.

All of that is to say, that I deeply understand Joan and director Amy Wang’s approach to highlighting the racism in school, in beauty industries, and in Instagram filters, and how easy it is for people who aren’t white to choose assimilation as their path, cutting away their past and connections at the same time.

Sure, the town and the high school itself are satirical situations, but the satire doesn’t detract from the important and thoughtful look at adolescence. It’s important because of how Joan comes to realize the mistake she made as she opens up to her parents and realizes that winning prom queen doesn’t mean anything if she doesn’t have her family. Now, Joan is Jo Hunt (played by Mckenna Grace), and the only thing that connects her to her family is that she speaks Mandarin. That’s it. The last piece of who she is.

Amy Wang doesn’t shy away from showing what we throw away when we choose to assimilate.

But what matters is the conversation Joan has with her mother beforehand. When they moved to America when Joan was young, they underestimated the way the otherness would pile high until she buckled. For her parents, they have always known they are Chinese and American.

But for Joan, the middle space of being a hyphenate in the United States was crushing. She doesn’t know China like her parents do; she doesn’t relate to it like they do either. But despite having an American life and experience, the people in her high school are sure to make her know that she isn’t their vision of America either.

In the final act, Amy Wang brings all the frustration of losing your identity to the surface. What started as a young adult science fiction drama turns into a body horror film that makes the inward violence of self-hate outward. While some moments in this final scene feel too restrained, it works exceptionally well, ending on a still that isolates what Slanted tells audiences and ensures they can’t miss the point.

If I have any critique of Slanted, it’s that there are moments where Wang’s restraint comes off as forced instead of intentional. At times, Wang’s dialogue can feel like it’s pulling punches. This stands out because often, Wang’s dialogue and comedy has teeth, which highlights the moments where she curves the punch right before she connects.

Still, Slanted (2025) uses genre storytelling to capture a lived experience that resonates deeply. Amy Wang’s directorial debut is a strong stance on identity and, more importantly, a film that embraces the messiness of it. We can be proud of who we are, and still, with so much inequality, you can’t help but have that one question rattling in the back of your mind.

Slanted (2025) was screened as a part of the 2025 SXSW Film Festival.