Customer Reviews

Face

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Mothers/Daughters...Daughters/Mothers: no matter what country, what city, what culture there are always issues, disputes and of course the ritual rite of passage of breaking the apron strings.
In "Face" all of these issues are even more convoluted because into the mix we have a Grandmother (the wonderful Kieu Chinh so good in "Joy Luck Club"), the particular restrictions of the Chinese culture, an African-American boyfriend (Treach as Michael) and a daughter Genie (Kristy Wu), who was deserted at a young age by her career obsessed Mother (Bai Ling): who returns from Hong Kong with the hopes to re-connect with her daughter.
Particularly memorable here is the romance between Michael and Genie which flips the usual man/woman relationship on its head by having Michael,a Club DJ, as the more committed, the more willing of the two to declare his emotions and as portrayed by Treach, an unusual and persuasive mix of in your face machismo and hearts and flowers valentine card.
Director and co-writer, Bertha Bay- Sa Pan obviously knows this terrain well and she empowers all of these women, but particularly Genie with a quick wit, horse sense and a fiery, impassioned intelligence.
"Face" is about how we are perceived and limited because of what is on our exterior: imprinted on our face by way of our heritage. Bertha Bay-San Pa spends an hour and a half blasting those stereotypical thoughts and attitudes into the stratosphere once and for all.

I stumbled onto this movie one weekend - I got my copy 10 days later. For me, the clashing/merging of Asian and African-American cultures was an interesting juxtaposition. I recommend the movie - it's a little different...Five stars...

Like Joy Luck Club, this sort of movie misportray a lot of things about Chinese people. As a Chinese-American, I find these films offensive: Asian men are being portrayed as male-chauvinistic and uncaring, whereas American men are portrayed as the women's saviors!! How racist can this movie be!!
Also, Asian women do not wear long-Chinese dresses at home all the times. These dresses are reserved for ceremonies such as marriage.

For people who are really interested in understanding the treatment of gender in Asian culture, I recommend foreign films made in Asia.

I ran across this movie channel surfing and was quickly swept in. It's a little of The Joy Luck Club meets Guess who's coming to dinner!