Filmmakers got down to inform every kind of various tales. Some discover friendship. Others go for office relationships. A number of have a look at grandparents. Author, director, and producer Michael Yu, nonetheless, goes for all of it. 

Yu grew up in Hong Kong with a digicam in a single hand and a soccer ball within the different. With a British, American, and Chinese language household, he speaks a number of languages and spends summers visiting household from Chicago to Glasgow. Given his background, it’s no marvel that he strives for range in his work. 

Michael Yu on the forty eighth Asian American Worldwide Movie Competition (Junaid Arif, Asian CineVision)

“I need them to really feel multifaceted and deep,” Yu shared, in discussing the characters he writes. “I’ve had nice relationships… I’ve had horrible ones, I’ve had wonderful pals, I’ve had horrible ones… I’d like my work to deal with the complexity of that moderately than lowering us to nubs.”

He started grappling with this in one among his first drama quick movies, Out of Gasoline (2019). Set in Hong Kong, the piece was a two-hander following a bored banker and a truck driver going about their days at work. “One was white and made a lot of cash, the opposite was Asian and doing a labor-intensive job. To the surface world, they couldn’t be extra completely different,” Yu stated, noting that, because the story builds, the digicam begins to border the 2 topics in more and more related methods. 

When the 2 males lastly meet one another on the movie’s climax, they magically change locations. A montage with a hopeful rating washes over us because the once-banker operates a truck and the once-driver slots into an workplace cubicle. “I wished to indicate that individuals shouldn’t be outlined by these exterior issues—they’re who they’re on the within. We’re all human on the finish of the day.” Out of Gasoline (2019) was screened on the Berkeley Artwork Museum and Pacific Movie Archive.

Tong Lai in Out of Gasoline (2019)

Discovering a connection between two seemingly completely different people grew to become the centre of one among Yu’s newest items, En Garde (2024), as effectively. This time: a fantasy motion drama that opens with an keen younger man convincing his uptight roommate to play video video games collectively. 

Whereas Out of Gasoline targeted on social class, En Garde used one other theme to tie its male characters collectively. “Play is a extremely robust means of connecting folks. It evokes one thing deeper, nearly extra pure, as a result of that’s how we discovered rising up—by taking part in.”

After being rejected by his roommate, the En Garde’s protagonist is magically transported to a fantasy realm by the contact of a sword. As soon as his roommate is introduced into the realm with him, they battle with blades, smiles beaming, into the credit—ending on a young notice of friendship. Created as a part of the 48 Hour Movie Mission within the San Francisco Bay Space, En Garde gained a number of awards and later screened at Filmapalooza 2025 in Seattle.

Fernando Sebastian Monjaraz in En Garde (2024)

Out of Gasoline, which Yu wrote, was impressed by the lives of his household and pals who had been bankers and supply drivers. En Garde, in the meantime, was penned by a staff of writers to fulfill its strict manufacturing timeline. Whereas each movies are treasured items for Yu, his priorities have since shifted. “I believe what’s necessary to me now could be making [my work] really come from my lived experiences.”

Together with his newest drama Taichi-ing (TBR), Yu returns to Hong Kong. Going down throughout the pandemic, he explores the stress between a younger American man and his conventional Chinese language grandfather as they isolate collectively. “He’s actually enjoyable and down-to-earth. And he cares so deeply about Chinese language tradition,” Yu stated about his grandfather, Alfred Yu, who performs a model of himself on display. 

Like En Garde, Taichi-ing additionally entails a blade. After failing to attach along with his grandson, the grandfather is lastly in a position to squeeze out a giggle between the 2 by waving round his beloved taichi sword. “I believe the notice that Taichi-ing ends on is a hopeful one. That perhaps Chinese language males on the market can watch this and be like, ah… yeah. I hope, too, that my heritage will keep.” Quickly to enter post-production, Yu goals to have Taichi-ing on the pageant circuit subsequent 12 months.

Alfred Yu and Jonathan Cheung in Taichi-ing (TBR)

Having written and directed over ten quick movies, Yu has set his eyes on larger tasks. Final 12 months, he launched into writing his first feature-length screenplay, Mr. Cool. This coming-of-age dramedy follows Vinny, a directionless Hong Konger navigating the unusual worlds of a Californian liberal arts faculty. 

The longer format and genuine core of the story gave Yu a newfound artistic freedom. “Vinny was extra fleshed out [as a character] as a result of he got here from a function, but additionally as a result of he’s me. There’s little or no distinction between who I used to be in faculty and Vinny at sure levels.” Yu is a graduate of Claremont McKenna Faculty and had a stint on the College of California, Berkeley.  

Even nonetheless, Yu acknowledged that no single function movie can deal with the complexity he hopes to in his work. “Perhaps that’s simply the type of movie. You’ve solely acquired two hours or so to inform a narrative. And somebody has to undergo progress… you must set them up actually strongly. You must put tons of obstacles of their means for them to beat and thus change.” 

He burdened, then, the significance of constructing a physique of labor. With writing and directing credit throughout thriller, drama, motion, and comedy, Yu seems to be to keep up his multi-disciplinary method going ahead. “By way of the physique of labor that I create, I’d like to indicate many various sides of myself… and hopefully others will relate to that.”

Regardless of the current turmoil within the trade, Yu is staying agency—filmmaking is every little thing for him. “It’s onerous for me to grasp what I’m going by means of, and hopefully the work will proceed to permit me to grasp myself higher, and hopefully assist different folks have a look at themselves… as a result of nice fiction will assist you to see how different folks see the world, and perhaps present you one thing about your self. That’s actually highly effective for me.”

Michael Yu might be creating a handful of feature-length tasks throughout the thriller and comedy areas. Earlier this 12 months, Yu directed a collection of music movies for singer-songwriter archie, and served as a Juror on the forty eighth Asian American Worldwide Movie Competition.