TORONTO 鈥� In the first episode of the new season of "Little America" director Deepa Mehta guides a story that touches on the pressures some children of immigrant families feel to fit into traditional definitions of success.
It's a topic she's excited to tackle in her return to the eight-part Apple TV Plus series for Season 2, she says, adding that as an Indian-Canadian immigrant herself she can relate to the show's exploration of those 鈥渦niversal questions鈥� she鈥檚 had since becoming a Canadian citizen.
鈥淢y whole search in life I feel has been 鈥� what does it mean to belong? Who sets the rules for what belonging is when you leave one country and you migrate to another?鈥� says the Indian-born Canadian filmmaker.
The story Mehta commanded is loosely based on Detroit fashion designer Luke Song who catapulted into the spotlight after designing a bow hat worn by Aretha Franklin at U.S. President Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009.
The episode stars 鈥淢inari鈥� breakout Alan S. Kim as Luke, a young boy who helps his hat designer mother, played by Lee Jung-Eun, run a business. When radio personality Martha Jean, portrayed by Phylicia Rashad, takes notice of Luke鈥檚 artistic talent, a conflict forms between his longing to become an artist and the expectations of his Korean mother and father for him to study medicine. Ki Hong Lee plays Luke as a young adult.
Much like the first season, the show is focused on the lives of immigrants who find varying paths toward the American dream.
Culture-mixing stories play out in dramatized vignettes 鈥� for instance a Japanese mother creating an all-woman baseball league in Ohio, and a nanny from Belize finds her calling when working for an Orthodox Jewish family in Brooklyn.
In the episode Mehta directs, titled "Mr. Song," the vulnerability of a young man seeking to carve out a life based on his passion spoke to her. 鈥淚 remember when I told my father I wanted to be a filmmaker, there was a sort of dead silence,鈥� says Mehta whose dad was a film distributor at the time. 鈥淢aybe because I wasn鈥檛 really brilliant at school or something, but my father felt the way of tomorrow was science.鈥�
Like Luke, before finding her own calling Mehta admits to moments in university when she would sit in her chemistry and physics classes in a state of dumbfounded longing.
鈥淚鈥檓 just sitting there and saying, 鈥榳hat are they talking about?鈥� It鈥檚 when I realized that this is not what I wanted to do,鈥� says Mehta. 鈥淚t isn鈥檛 that my parents threw a fit, but my father said, remember two things in life 鈥� you will never know when you鈥檙e going to die and you will never know how a film will be received.鈥�
The bet paid off for Mehta, whose internationally recognized films such as the elemental trilogy 鈥淔ire,鈥� 鈥淓arth,鈥� and the best foreign language Oscar nominee, 鈥淲ater鈥� are among the dozens of her works that use immigrant experiences as narrative anchors.
Mehta says she developed an immediate connection with the real-life Luke.
鈥淗e continues to be this dutiful son who鈥檚 celebrated all over the world, because for him, what鈥檚 important is warmth, duty, and responsibility,鈥� says Mehta. 鈥淵ou can have all of that as well as not sacrifice your own art.鈥�
While 鈥淟ittle America,鈥� which is written and executive produced by Lee Eisenberg, Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, continues to knit together multiple immigrant touchpoints through a hopeful lens, Mehta says that notionshouldn't stand on its own.
"We do need positivity, but not positivity that鈥檚 tokenism. It has to be based on reality,鈥� she says.
鈥淲hat I loved is that none of it felt that it was tokenism to different cultures, but a very universal theme. The theme of solidarity, the theme of loving, the theme of carrying and finding what鈥檚 good for you.鈥�
鈥淟ittle America'' Season 2 premieres globally on Dec. 9, on Apple TV Plus.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 9, 2022.
Noel Ransome, The Canadian Press
