A document that will gather more value with each passing year, Bad Axe captures the tumult of 2020 as experienced by a multiracial family in rural Michigan, whose comfortable place as respected restauranteurs in the community begins to crumble amidst the pandemic, Black Lives Matter protests, and a bitter presidential election. Director David Siev moved back in with his Cambodian-American father, Mexican-American mother, and two sisters during quarantine to help the family business stay afloat, keeping his camera running all the while. Formally straightforward and heavily reliant on the perspective of the oldest sister, Jaclyn, Bad Axe (whose title comes from the name of the town) nevertheless serves as a reminder of how ugly things got during that crucial year—and how the American dream is an unjustly contingent one.
(12/22/2022)
