An Asian-American teenager undergoes a radical medical procedure to become White in Amy Wang’s dramatic-horror-satire Slanted.
I had the pleasure of seeing Slanted, written and directed by Amy Wang, at the Seattle International Film Festival’s 51st iteration, in May of 2025. So it’s been nearly a year since I saw it. It was under embargo then, so I couldn’t tell you all how much, but I think of Slanted often. I hoped it would gain a release. And now it has, entering theatres on March 13th of 2026!
I’ll get this right out, as it’s often the connection point for many, the first thing anyone says: The Substance. Yes, there are similarities to that wonderful body horror satire. Someone is unhappy with her life and how she looks, pushed away from her society (mmm society, now there’s some body horror), takes on an experimental treatment to change her appearance. It goes both gloriously right and wonderfully wrong at the same time, with division of person, questions of identity, and some goopiness (not to the Substane levels for the squeamish)
But it’s more than The Substance: Teen Edition. Slanted satirizes the social structure of Mean Girls (for another cultural touchstone, what it is to be an “American”, fitting in, the immigrant experience, and parental expectations, and more, all with an outsider view on modern America. They share a similar base, but two very different focuses and statements to be made.
Joan Huang, played perfectly by Shirley Chen of Didi, and her parents moved from China when she was seven. She was immediately entranced by the sheer blonde and blue-eyed Prom queens and the rest of her new world. Ten years later, despite her desire to fully assimilate, she’s ostracised and unpopular for being different. Her only friend is Brinda, played by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, who led a Netflix show that also dealt with generations of identity that I highly recommend, albeit with less horror: Never Have I Ever. They are two of the few non-White students in their school, and in a nice turn, Brinda is obsessed with Joan’s Chineseness. In their Anytown, USA, they are surrounded by America stereotypes: Guns, blondes, football stars, and big America. When every Prom queen is Blonde and Blue-eyed “All-American” along with all the celebrities on Joan’s walls, it’s hard not to feel out of place. After trying other methods, such as over-done make up and bleaching hair, and a tease of popularity, she finds a radical method. A local business in a ratty strip mall. This group has an app that can change race in photos, but about more? Yes. They can change race outright, be a new person overnight. This location and everything about it really bring out the best satire. So, she becomes what she’s told by society to be: White.
In becoming White, now played by MacKenna Grace, a Ghostbuster and Ghostface facer, and changing her name to “Jo Hunt”, she finds everything different. Now popular with the Mean Girls, it seems better. But of course, the grass isn’t greener, leaning into how to work through the new world. Not to mention the trouble it causes with the old. There’s a sadness in separation from the parents, their culture, and their ideals. Where do you find yourself in a new world, whether it be popularity or just not the country one immigrated from? What is the cost of fitting in? How can you stay you, even with a new face? Do you even want to be?
Chen and Grace work in perfect tandem, playing both sides of the same character in a lockstep that is so uncanny, one might think half the pair is replaced via mocap. Grace steps into the life Chen set up so brilliantly with ease. Grace is one of this generation’s great actors (I’d say up-and-coming, but she’s been around for a long time, although she’s still a teenager). In the Q&A, Wang stated she was continually impressed by Grace’s brilliance in becoming Chen, and it shows. 
For everything I found incredible, and when it works, it works, but Slanted does the work to create the setup, but doesn’t go much further with it. Getting deeper or darker. Despite the wild of it, and the little gooey it goes, it mostly plays it safe and, for a film about new levels of skin, surface level. Moments seemed like we were going to get more insight into the other people in the world: her parents, the popular girls, and Brinda’s experience. Brinda vanishes from the narrative after a little while, leaving a hole in the narrative.
Even with my handful of snags, I highly recommend Slanted. It did win the SXSW Grand Jury Award for Narrative Feature. Slanted is a fantastic first feature for Amy Wang. She has a great voice, and I can’t wait for what comes next, as this clearly shows a massive promise. With two great leads sharing a part, a fine sense of satire (even if it doesn’t get too deep in writing, it has a great visual flair), and messaging, Slanted is a wonderful film. And gotta like when things get gooey, but that’s me.