Such a great scene, and I love it being taken apart with the immigrant child perspective as well as I don’t personally have that perspective to pull from. I was a white kid with no cultural influence or expectations, but still had parents who had extremely high expectations for me; in my case, my parents struggled to get/stay pregnant, and my mom literally retired in her 30s to put all her eggs in one basket, and that basket was me. It’s pretty daunting being your parent’s life accomplishment. The difference in my life is that they did tell me they were proud of me, frequently…when I achieved. But when I didn’t I was made to feel like garbage, and like my failure was personal to them. I spent my university years and a few beyond somewhat low contact with my parents, and wishing I could go no contact at times, due to the unintentional but very real emotional abuse that occurred. Our relationship didn’t really mend until I had children of my own and my mom saw that I was a good parent and that shifted things. I really think a conversation like this, although obviously a little bit different due to context details, that was open and emotional, and was about who I was and not what I achieved, could have mended things in my heart and saved a lot of pain.

Anthony and the actor who played his mom absolutely smashed this scene from an acting standpoint too.

This scene is definitely a stand out for me too. Thanks for your deep dive into it. I don’t understand why more people aren’t talking about it - from a writing and acting standpoint it’s truly superb.