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Kelly Loves Tony Essay

533 Words3 Pages

The documentary Kelly Loves Tony (1993) directed by Spencer Nakasako explores the daily life and tribulations of a young Asian-American couple, Kelly Saeteurn and Tony Saelio who live in the urban city of Oakland, California. When I learned I would be viewing this movie, I grew high expectations because this was going to be my first time watching a film that depicts the actual lives of Asian-Americans through one of the most realistic mediums—video blogging or vlogging. Furthermore, I was optimistic that if the young lovers wholeheartedly recorded their lives, there would be little to nothing that can distort its authenticity. Although my high hopes, I also had my doubts that this particular Asian-American couple would only vlog the good or …show more content…

As a result, I could not help but feel a sort of strange attachment and emotional investment into rooting for Kelly’s success both in her relationship/family and her aspirations. Throughout the motion picture, Nakasako exhibited both Kelly and Tony’s daily lives and the joy and struggles that came with it. To exemplify, Kelly was an ambitious student who simultaneously was forced to balance her pursuit of higher education while, also taking on more roles around the house and the family—doing all the laundry, constantly taking care of their child, cooking for the entire family, and cleaning the home—because that is the customary norm of the girlfriend/wife in Asian-American culture. Going off of that norm, it was not surprising that Tony did not take on any significant roles or expectations around the house and was blind to the distress it took on Kelly (Nakasako). The depiction of this impossibly equal pendulum was utterly heartbreaking and noticeably took a toll on Kelly and her relationship with Tony. Kelly’s immense stress was so unbearable and notable that her stress truly emulated onto the audience in a sort of contagious sense of heaviness and

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