Jon M. Chu is the Director of CRAZY RIGH ASIANS and Wicked. Viewfinder is Chu’s story of growing up in Silicon Valley and working in his parents restaurant. Chu’s childhood was full of wonder as his mother took him, his brothers and sisters, to movies and plays and musical events. All of that culture motivated Chu to want to make movies. And, Chu started early in high school where his teachers allowed students to turn in assignments and projects in written form…or in video form.

Chu encounters problems while working on his degree at USC and more trouble when he graduates. “But the collapse of Hollywood is one of the dislocations that have upset my world–and everybody else’s. The 2020s have seen the rise of forces that a lot of us never thought possible: the pandemic, broad social undress, threats directed tat Asian Americans. The more dangerous the country gets for us, the more I quest the belief in the place that I inherited from my parents. Is this still where we belong?” (p. 6-7)

Fortunately, Chu has some powerful connections to help him succeed. I was blown away at Chu’s encounter with Steven Spielberg. Chu not only gets a boost from his favorite Director, he learns important lessons by spending a day on set with Spielberg. “Just as he’d made me fall in love with movies when I was five years old, just as he’d reveal al that they could do–move people, bring them together, harness a power much bigger than any of us–he’d now show me the right way to make them. My teachers could lecture me, but they could really make me understand what it was like to direct a movie. Neither could my peers. Only another. director could do that. And in Spielberg, I had the best of all possible guides. He proved, in that instant, that you could make giant-scale movies with kindness, patience, joy. ” (p. 112-113)

Later, Chu meets one of his heroes, Steve Jobs, and comes away inspired at a time when he was struggling. Life is about struggle. But Chu’s story shows how one nerdy kid overcame his obstacles to become a successful movie maker. Inspiring story! GRADE: A