‘New Wave’ Review – Music Cracks In Generational Trauma [Tribeca 2024]

They say generational trauma is a braid, one that all the descendants hold on to until it finally snaps. But what about generational memory? In Elizabeth Ai’s intimate portrayal of her extended family and the culture that shaped her upbringing, music is her tool of remembrance.

New Wave is a documentary about Vietnamese families and refugees, existing on the fringes of society but also an integral part of it. Through her film, Ai captures teen youth, rebellion, and the frustration of being a stranger in a strange land. Scenes and interview clippings are set to the upbeat, robotic rhythms and structures of this era-defining music genre; Eurodance, or as Vietnamese teens at the time called it New Wave.

In remembering the counterculture and what it represented to Vietnamese American teens at the time, Ai also breaks down the whole experience of a generation at a time. Through her narration, interviews with her family members, other new wave artists, and home videos, Ai opens up a Pandora’s box of secrets, traumas, and successes.

Ai doesn’t choose the easy way for herself. Her interviewees recall their experiences in refugee camps. It’s a brave artistic decision on her part, in her quest for understanding, we are let in on a world beyond our familiarity. Music is the escape for young Vitanemese youth trying to adapt to a world beyond their parents’ cultures, and defying their belonging. 

In doing so, Ai has brought to the table a long history of dissatisfied teens with identity crises, and how music plays a role in their sense of fitting in. For ‘80s teens, heavy synthesizer music sounded futuristic, calling out to them from the depths of an underwhelming present. These Vietnamese Americans are lost in a foreign land, far from the home they have murky memories of. And to them, the music is a raft in the heart of a stormy sea.

The documentary shifts pace when the European singers are replaced by authentic, Vietnamese voices singing the songs that capture the hearts and minds of those youths at the time but in a familiar voice they love. When Lynda Trang Đài is on screen, she commands attention. Clips of her covering new wave songs in her sultry, earthy voice immediately draw viewers to understanding the power of taking a Westernized concept and giving it a local touch.

Ai does an excellent job of creating a sensually immersive film. Music, dance sequences, and camerawork take viewers into the heart of nightclubs, late-night shows, and the underground new-wave scene of ‘80s Vietnamese youths. Then it cuts to heartfelt confessionals from adult Vietnamese Americans who at the time were trying to make sense of their parents’ undiagnosed PTSD, their alienation, the older people yearning for a country they know nothing about, and trying to prove themselves while evading racism at the same time.

After finishing New Wave, I compiled a playlist of all those wonderful Vitanemse New Wave artists and started dancing to the beat of music crossing borders, generations, and cultures.

New Wave held its World Premiere as a part of the Documentary Competition section of the 2024 Tribeca Festival.

Director: Elizabeth Ai

Rated: NR

Runtime: 88m