Live Action: Saving Face

May 24th, 2005

Last night 7 intrepid friends and staff of Yuricon went to the NYC premier of Saving Face, a “romantic comedy” about Chinese-Americans, lesbians, and mothers and daughters, written and directed by Alice Wu.

It was excellent.

For one thing – it was actually funny. That makes it the only romantic comedy I’ve ever watched that I laughed at.

The plot is simple: Wilhemina is a successful almost 30 years old Chinese-American surgeon in New York City. Her mother lives in hope that she will marry a nice Chinese boy one day. One day, Wil comes home to find her mother on her doorstep, pregnant at 48. As her mother moves in, Wil has to deal with a burgeoning relationship with a nice Chinese girl, Vivian, who is a professional dancer.

Wil desperately searches for a husband for her mother, while balancing Vivian’s increasing desire for their relationship to be publicly acknowledged.

It was very well acted. I genuinely think Joan Chen as Mom and Michelle Kusiec as Wil are way better looking in real life than on the screen, and Joan, particularly looked radiant on screen. (But Michelle was absolutely adorable at the party. I would have liked to had a chance to actually talk to her, but you know how it is – she’s moving around thanking everyone…) But Joan Chen in real life – wow. I want
to look that good when I grow up. Most of the cast was at the premier.

The writer/director, Alice Wu, was so cute! LOL She spent the night importuning people to tell their friends and get them to go to the first weekend openings, because this weekend’s box office takes will influence how heavily Sony markets the movie. So, here I am, telling all the folks in the NYC and LA areas to go see this movie! It’s funny, it’s well done, the girl gets the girl and…did I mention it’s
funny? :-)

Once again, May 27th, this Friday, opening places:

NEW YORK: the ANGELIKA (in Soho) and the AMC 25 (on 42nd Street)

LOS ANGELES: the SUNSET LAEMMLE 5, the WESTSIDE PAVILION, PLAYHOUSE (Pasadena), TOWN CENTER (Encino), and the SOUTH COAST VILLAGE (Costa Mesa)

And

SF BAY AREA: opens the weekend of JUNE 3 at the Landmark EMBARCADERO, the UA STONESTOWN Twin, the Landmark SHATTUCK (Berkeley), PALO ALTO SQUARE, CENTURY 5 (Pleasant Hill), SANTANA ROW (San Jose) and MARIN/ SAUSALITO.

For a glimpse of the trailer visit the Saving Face website.

Ratings:
Cinematography – 7
Characters – 8
Story – 8
Yuri – 10

Overall – 8

A fun night out for any fan of lesbian stories.

7 Responses

  1. Mags says:

    Thanks so much for posting this, actually. I missed it when it premiered in Toronto. I’m a big fan of Asian film as well, so this is doubly awesome :D

  2. Ive says:

    Dang it, I so much need to see this movie … -_- It’s never coming to Japan. How ironic.

  3. Anonymous says:

    Just saw the movie today. Loved it! Never would have known about it if it wasn’t for this blog. Thanks!

  4. Brinstar says:

    I’m keeping an eye out for a DC-area release.

  5. Cyndi says:

    If you’re interested, I’ve posted links to videoCasts from the 2005 Sundance Film festival with Alice Wu and her cast … you can find them at …
    http://www.cinemaminima.com/2005/06/03/alice-wu-saving-face/
    or
    http://www.cyndigreening.com/2005/06/03.html

  6. Meg says:

    I’m from Australia and I’ve finally seen it. It was so funny and very very well done!

Leave a Reply to Ive