Product Details

• Actors: Henry O
• Number of discs: 1
• Studio: Magnolia
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001FB55TE
• For more information about "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers [Blu-ray]" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ozu's sensibility applied to a fragmented Chinese-American family, June 22, 2009

By 

Glenn E. Stambaugh (Carlisle, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (DVD)

A widowed Chinese father visits America to see his daughter for the first time in years. For reasons we gradually discover in the course of the film, they are not close, and the daughter, having installed him in her apartment, spends more time away each day, politely avoiding discussing her life with him at all, keeping her emotional distance. We see the father, despite his broken English, take walks, strike up casual conversations with a few Americans, like an unemployed girl lounging by a pool in her bikini, who explains she wants to be a "forensic scientist," to which he replies he was a rocket scientist back in China, a claim we will find out a great deal more about later in the film. The father begins meeting an Iranian woman of his own age in a nearby park each day, discussing their respective family situations, which parallel each other in some unfortunate ways. Beginning to snoop on his daughter a bit, the father finds some surprising things about her life, but angers her in the process, which finally forces them to confront each other and attempt to right some misunderstandings. Sadly, they still cannot reconcile, and the daughter packs the father off on a tour for his remaining time in America, the movie ending as he asks her not to see him off, neither of them liking good-byes.

This movie shares some qualities with Ozu's best films from the early fifties, especially TOKYO STORY, not the visual style, but the intensely observed family dynamics. But here, in modern America, lacking extended families, Wang uses chance encounters with characters like the Iranian woman to achieve a less-profound but still emotionally moving effect.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Language of the hearts, May 26, 2011

By 

Zoe Ghahremani, author of Sky of Red Poppies.... - See all my reviews

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This review is from: A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (DVD)

This film is one of the best on humanity, exile and loneliness. The story of two American immigrants who came from the farthest corners of the globe and speak two entirely different languages ties humanity in the strongest way. As Rumi said in his poem, the language of the hearts is far more expressive than what the tongue utters.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Father and Daughter: Wayne Wang Back in Form, January 30, 2010

By 

Tsuyoshi (Kyoto, Japan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (DVD)

Mr. Shi (Henry O), a retired Chinese rocket engineer, travels from Beijing to meet his daughter Yilan (Fiehong Yu) living alone in America for the first time in 12 years. Mild-mannered Mr. Shi is a pretty outgoing person, ready to learn and happy to chat with other residents, including "Madame" (Vida Ghahremani), an elderly Iranian lady he met in the nearby park.

Still there is some tension between Mr. Shi and Yilan, who suggests he go on a tour around the country before winter comes. Or maybe she just doesn't want him here. The father is genuinely worried about his daughter, recently divorced. Mr. Shi really wishes her happiness - which means remarriage, perhaps - but his eagerness only makes the situation difficult.

"A Thousand Years of Good Prayers" is based on the novel by Yiyun Li (which I haven't read), but the cinematic adaptation and its low-key approach would remind us of a classic film "Tokyo Story." Like Yasujiro Ozu's touching drama, Wayne Wang ("Smoke") takes time to show the personality and the history of Mr. Shi through a series of dialogues with every slight facial expression, so that we can gradually understand the deep-seated issues between the father and the daughter.

"A Thousand Years of Good Prayers" was shot in Spokane, Washington, and for the making of the film Wayne Wang hired non-professionals for the supporting roles such as the girl at the poolside or the ex-CIA condominium guard. Some part of the dialogues exchanged between them and Mr. Shi is based on their real-life experiences.

Nothing "big" happens in "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers." The 83-minute film resolves with a slightly melodramatic touch, but thanks to the excellent acting from the two leads, the film remains engaging throughout. It's good to see Wayne Wang back in form. A bit too slow and talky sometimes, and maybe not as great as his masterpiece "Smoke," but this character-driven drama is still worth watching.