Quartile rating: 4.5/10 · 1 rating
The Venice Hongwanji Buddhist Temple had an opportunity to take part in an episode of East of Main Street, an HBO documentary series that has been produced for the past three years to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. This year’s episode, Milestones, focuses on how different groups of Asian Americans mark the milestones throughout their lives.
A modest HBO documentary short focusing on Asian Pacific American cultural milestones, including the Venice Hongwanji Buddhist Temple. The subject matter is genuinely interesting and underrepresented, giving it some novelty value, but the episodic, celebratory format of the series keeps it from being truly distinctive. Cinematography is competent for a prestige TV documentary. As a short-form documentary, 'acting' is a loose concept—subjects are naturalistic but uneven in screen presence. The ending lacks a strong conclusive statement, feeling more like a gentle fade than a resonant close.