The Brothers Sun (M18)

Netflix
4 stars

Two estranged brothers – one a hardened killer and the other, a wannabe actor – must work together after an assassination attempt on their crime-boss dad.

Here are some reasons to stream The Brothers Sun, a fun yet heartfelt Asian-American action-comedy created by Byron Wu and American Horror Story (2011 to present) co-creator Brad Falchuk.

It stars Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh in her first lead role since the hit science-fiction film Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022).

1. Action-packed caper and comedy of contrasts

Raised in Los Angeles by Taiwanese immigrant mother Eileen “Mama” Sun (Yeoh), pre-med student Bruce (Sam Song Li) has lived a fairly unremarkable life.

Then one day, Charles (Justin Chien), the brother he has not seen in 15 years, turns up and reveals that their father, Big Sun (Johnny Kou), is a triad boss in Taipei, and a mystery plot to assassinate him and the rest of the family is under way.

Bruce is soon initiated into a world where murderous attacks and unconventional corpse disposal are par for the course.

But in the blood-stained chaos, there is plenty of comedy and a compelling study in contrasts – Charles, a stone-cold killer with a hidden passion for baking, versus Bruce, the soft-hearted and improv-loving mama’s boy.

And Mama herself turns out to be much more than just a mahjong-playing auntie.

2. Celebration of Chinese food and culture

Ignoring the mishmash of Mandarin accents – some of which sound anything but Taiwanese – you can tell this was written by Asians. And food-obsessed ones at that.

Their stand-in is Charles, who has a Proustian moment when he tastes his first churro, a street snack that Bruce pithily equates to a cinnamon sugar-covered youtiao, or Chinese dough fritter. Other fun details include characters munching on Calbee prawn crackers, a crime boss carefully tucking restaurant leftovers into a styrofoam box, and a Danish butter cookie tin used to stash receipts.

The eight-episode series also pays tribute to Chinese aunties and tiger mums, their penchant for tough love and fat-shaming included.

3. Heartfelt emotion

But The Brothers Sun does more than just crack cultural inside jokes. There is also some creative visual storytelling, including a wonderful dialogue-free montage where Mama goes sleuthing to unmask an assassin.

And it is interleaved with moments of heartfelt emotion – between the brothers as they haltingly reconnect; between Charles and his prickly prosecutor love interest Alexis (Highdee Kuan); and in the brothers’ fraught relationship with their parents.

The show is a little uneven and some scenes and characters fall short, but it manages to steadily raise the stakes and keep viewers invested.