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It's a rare treat when a movie is a success while tackling plot-lines and characters that have been tried many times before. By "success" I don't refer to a movie that's a box-office high ticket seller, but a film that entertains the way it was intended, and does so simply using great writing, filmmaking and acting. In this regards, "Saving Face" could be this season's "Sideways".
Witer/director Alice Wu paints a vivid world. In it we pleasantly witness the lives of a mother and her daughter, their family, friends and lovers. They all portray believable characters, and you can't help be sympathetic for each one, even as they take turns as protagonists and antagonists. But most of all, this world is one of comedy, using character humor only to extent that the characters remain believably human.
The basic premise of "Saving Face" lives in its title. A Chinese family is having trouble maintaining their grip on their traditional lifestyle in the midst of their unwed, pregnant daughter, Ma (Joan Chen); and her unwed, gay daughter, Wil (Michelle Krusiec). While much of the plot focuses on the relationship between Wil and her lover Vivian (Lynn Chen), and the unknown relationship between Ma and her unborn baby's father, the real story is the dynamic chemistry between mother and daughter, both of whom have a tendency to shame the next higher generation.
The themes in "Saving Face" are universal, even if the situations are not, which is why I think it will reach a wide variety of audiences.
From the onset, the film delivers great comedy. And with an immediate and intimate reveal of its characters, one wants this one to remain funny, and, happily enough, it does. A few darker emotions are thrown in for realism. And in the end, you are left feeling confident that life will go in their world, just as it existed before the audience first got to sneak a peak at a brief moment in their lives. (It took me about thirty minutes into it to decide to buy it when available on DVD).
The film is rated "R", and maybe Alice Wu added the elements that made it so to keep the adult themes for the adults. I would have liked to have seen it more on the PG-13/PG side of things. While the brief nudity doesn't detract, it doesn't add much either.
I will be hard-pressed to find a more endearing comedy this year.
-K. Tanaka
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