refrigerator hum by Jade Wong is a stunning hybrid documentary that combines striking visuals with indifferent realism. This film’s dreamy cinematography creates feelings of longing and nostalgia which complement the films’ themes of memory and appreciating living in the moment. refrigerator hum explores and captures the process of the filmmaker, and also offers a look into the more personal parts of her life. This is the element that creates in the so clearly strong-willed realism the film captures.

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Perhaps the most stunning of these scenes are those with the filmmaker’s grandmother (credited in the film only as “grandma”). The filmmaker asks for grandma’s opinion on, presumably, the film we are watching. Grandma, who feels no inhibitions, replies with brutal honesty. This tough love is especially surprising when grandma says “take it more seriously” and that she believes the filmmaker should make the meaning of the film clearer. Grandma recognizes the film’s documentary moments, but wonders why some of the images and moments were worth capturing.

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The topic of conversation in refrigerator hum has clear resonance. In the current political climate, there’s no arguing that immigration (or so-called immigration status) is a sensitive subject, making this film a beautiful demonstration of activism, whether it intends to be or not. To be an immigrant in this country is brave, to be a child of an immigrant is a complex narrative that often alienates oneself from culture, other people, and the idea of identity. A large demographic of second- and third-generation immigrants are so alienated from their culture they cannot speak their home language.

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refrigerator hum comments strongly and evocatively on memory and nostalgia, which is especially clear when we realize that it is capturing a dying art: talking with your grandma.

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-Analise Christina, BFA Acting ’26 Oklahoma City University