Customer Reviews

Dim Sum Funeral

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3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Three daughters and one son, from a family with strained relations, return home for their mother's funeral. You can guess what happens by the end. This took from "Kingdom Come," "The Joy Luck Club," and "Soul Food." There may be some "Tortilla Soup" in here as well. Still, I love seeing actors of color getting jobs and making that money. I do think many will relate to the family tensions here.

For decades, I've thought Russell Wong was a major hottie. Lately, his films have been very poor, so I was very happy to see him in a decent film. Bai Ling is in this too, and I just love that Asian Angelina Jolie. Unfortunately, I couldn't suspend my disbelief for one character. The eldest daughter was supposed to have two Chinese parents, yet she had green eyes and light skin. Why not wear color contacts or get an actress who looks like she could be a part of this family?

In many a film, interracial love is treated only or gay love is treated only. This film showed lesbian love and interracial love in the same house. In many a house of color, there may be more than one child who doesn't have a same-race-opposite-sex partner. Many adults of color have lots of romantic options and this film illustrates that.

While I'm fully willing to give a movie a decent amount of "suspension of disbelief", there's just too much in this movie that made me raise an eyebrow at it. The film has a certain amount of charm, but it is quickly bogged down by weak storytelling & unbelievable plot points.

Dim Sum Funeral surrounds a group of siblings who must return home after the death of their mother- someone that they all detested. Their mother had requested a traditional Chinese funeral, which is supposed to take place over several days. As the days pass the siblings discover that there was more to their mother than they'd previously believed & they also find their own personal affairs beginning to surface as well.

The idea of the movie was good, I'll give them that. Funeral traditions from different countries have always intrigued me, so I would have thought that I'd like this more. About 20-40 minutes into the movie, I knew that this was just disappointing. From the beginning we're shown how incredibly different all of the siblings are, however it just felt like the writers tried to hard to give each person a tragic and/or unique personality. There's just too much going on from each sibling & it wasn't handled very well. You have a lesbian trying to get herself (or her girlfriend) pregnant, a philandering doctor, an older sibling dealing with the death of her child, as well as a younger sibling who is in for a startling surprise about herself. Better films have dealt with similar situations & managed to juggle all of the multiple plot lines, but in this film they dropped the ball & made for a cluttered plot line.

Then there's the unrealistic parts of the film. I apologize if this comes across a little spoilerish, but I found it incredibly unrealistic that all of the siblings dealt with their issues during the 4-5 day period as well as managing to forgive their mother for any past actions. As one person put it- really? Death solves all of the emotional problems? I also found it unbelievable that with all of the emphasis on sibling rivalries, that everyone put their issues aside so quickly. Then there's the ending... I won't elaborate on what happens, but needless to say- both my mother & I audibly groaned at the twist.

This is a mostly harmless movie & there are one or two interesting things, but this isn't something I'd really recommend spending money on. *Maybe* a rental, but if you can catch this on TV for free then that's what I'd recommend.

Seeing this on the heels of "Okuribito" (Departures) was a study in contrasts. Both involved coping with death, but the similarities ended there. While "Okuribito" was well-written, acted, and filmed with an involving story and likable characters, "Dim Sum Funeral" was a complete turn-off.

A controlling first-generation Chinese-American woman died and requested that her dysfunctional, self-absorbed children give her a traditional Chinese funeral. They were so Americanized it took the help of their Jewish nanny/ mother's-assistant to fill them in on protocol. The story contained so many twists and complications in the characters' lives that it appeared to be a formulaic exercise in seeing how many problems and how much diversity could be crammed into a 1 1/2 hour film. Ordinary Asian Americans didn't bring enough to the table, so how about making one sibling an illegitimate dope-smoking surly lesbian who wanted a baby, another an over-eating single mother, another the model daughter who recently lost her son, and another a philandering, self-loathing, rich cosmetic surgeon married to a beauty queen?

At least Chang Tseng's character provided some relief by being pleasantly funny in a sea of mean-spiritedness. Perhaps because his character wasn't part of the family, he did not contract their self-centered angst.

Apparently the writers thought selfishness was a virtue. A Buddhist monk experienced a spiritual "epiphany" from his conversations with the rebellious lesbian couple. And what was his enlightenment? He learned that it is better to live for oneself instead of to please other people. Yes, folks, narcissism lies within the veil of Nirvana.

"Okuribito" showed how a film can do a lot with a little. "Dim Sum Funeral" showed that a film can do little with far too much.

This was an enjoyable film that examined the dynamics of a varied group of family members dealing with the death of a loved one. Sadly though, I was hoping for something more along the lines of "Like Water for Chocolate" or "Chocolate" or "Eat Drink Man Woman". I wanted to see Chinese culture as experienced around the dining table. Still, all in all, I'm not sorry about this purchase.

I rented this thinking it would be an interesting subject on American-Chinese tradition here in the U.S. But I was wrong, it was a total disappointment. The story and its sub-plots are too contrived. The script is very formulaic; even adding a twist at the ending was typical and intentional - just so for audiences who likes a twist in their movies. Any viewer wouldn't get involved watching this film. Basically this is about a group Chinese-American siblings who has hang-ups with themselves and among each others. Set in the affluent neighborhood of San Francisco, it portrays an embarrassingly rich family by showing the amenities of the matriarch's sprawling extravagant house. Tennis, a dip in the pool, jacuzzi anyone? Jeez! I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone.

This is the worst film I have ever seen made by and about Chinese Americans. It may be of interest to people of mixed Asian ancestry since most of the cast is of mixed race. The premise may have been taken from an episode of ... Little House on the Prairie(!) wherein Charles helps a woman fake her own funeral to bring her "distant" kids home to see her.