Customer Reviews

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers [Blu-ray]

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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.

I enjoyed this movie very much. It really was heart-felt and expresses a good concept of relationship between a father and a daughter. The father from China and the daughter becoming Americanized. A good film also to improve your Mandarin Chinese Language skills.

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.

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.

A thousand years is a short story which appeared in a book collection under the same name.I recommend reading this collection of short stories. Now it has been turned in to a movie. In this movie, a man, Henry O visits his daughter, played by Faye Yu who has been living in America for a long time. Henry O who plays this man is visiting his daughter after 12 years to help her recover from a divorce. The loneliness, isolation and the bewilderment of arriving in America has been captured well.His interactions with Americans, highlight his faith in humanity, but his daughter chides him and asks him not to rush in to judgments about the nature of Americans. His daughter is aloof and finds his presence stifling. A lot is revealed during the movie and even simple gestures between the father and daughter have meaning. He finds its distressing that his daughter his having an affair and is curious to know what went wrong with her marriage. He tries to make amends with his daughter, presumably because he was away so long from her, but his daughter is indifferent and finds him unwelcome in her new life.It is a good look at the traditional relationship that exist between children and parents in Asian cultures and although fathers are expected to be perfect, they can have feet of clay. I wish that the conversations between the Iranian and Henry O would have been subtitled but they are not, perhaps the director was trying to prove a point that language barriers can be broken. The movie does some justice to the character in the book, but the book focused more on the old man but the movie seems to focus on the daughter alone.However, it is is a good movie and I recommend it.

Wayne Wang also directed The Joy Luck Club (The Joy Luck Club), A Thousand Years of Good Prayers is a beautiful, simple, follow up to that wonderful film. Where The Joy Luck Club is full of people, lots of talking, a lot of movement; A Thousand Years is subtle, quiet and introspective. The film is basically two people, the father and his daughter. There are side characters, but the main thrust is these two wonderful people.

The movie opens with some beautiful cello playing while we people walking out of an airport gate exit. An old Chinese man walks through the exit, and a beautiful young Chinese woman says, "Dad..." They spend some time at luggage claim. Two women walk up and one says to the other, this is the rocket scientist I sat next to on the plane. The father and daughter leave the airport, and stop for gas. Above the car there is a sign, Fresh flowers for weddings.

The remaining hour and 10 minutes of this one hour 30 minute film is the conversations between father and daughter; and the observations her father makes about people he meets every day. It is a simple film, nothing exciting happens, there is little action, but it is one of those quiet little films that just draws you in and gives you enjoyment to spend time with the father and daughter.

These may all seem like minute details in a film, but they illustrate how carefully Wayne Wang built this film. The details foretell truths uncovered later in the film, all beautifully brought together. In a sense this film could have been a play, however, it does not feel like the adaptation of theatre (there are films where this is badly done, you feel the theatre in the movie - not at all the case here).

After an hour and 30 minutes with the father and daughter, I feel wonderful. I feel like I've spent time with two interesting people, gotten to know them much better, and spent a wonderful few days with them.

Technically, it's a very simple film. One and two shots, nothing complex. Nice solid jitter free shots. The pacing is perfection, editing follows the story line, the flow of the film, and has a rhythm that is so peaceful. The sound is lovely, no need for surround effects, just well recorded clear dialog. This film is what independent film is all about, well shot, well recorded, well acted, well paced, and with a compelling story.

The film is not rated in the US, but would likely be PG. There is no strong language, there is no nudity, no violence, and no gore. It is an intelligent conversation between two people, without any pretense. The film is in Chinese with English subtitles - language is actually a charcter in this film, so it is critical to watch it in Chinese with the subtitles.

There is one annoying sequence in the film. The time the father spends with the Iranian woman on the park bench. Neither person speaks English very well. The father speaks in English / Chinese and the woman responds in a mess of Iranian / English. It's a wonder they understand one word between them. It can be a bit painful to watch. But is very much part and parcel of the film, so it can't be edited out.

The DVD contains a bunch of trailers from Magnolia (always an unusual interesting production company), one interview with the author, one interview with Henry O the father, and a still photo gallery. The Yiyun Li interview is somewhat interesting if you want to know the back story to the script / novel. After a few minutes, I was not terribly interested anymore. The Henry O interview was even a bit less interesting to me. He speaks about life in China, the revolution, and persecution (that's as far as I got). My feeling, the film told me what I wanted to know about these things, it delivered these ideas in a subtle interesting way. I'm not sure I'm excited about listening to an actor recount his sad life in China. For some this may be riveting. For me, it was a pass on both interviews, the movie stands beautifully on it's own.

I loved this film. I liked how it moved deliberately, revealing the characters slowly. A beautiful but strained relationship between father and daughter. How truth can come out over time and heal sad feelings. It is a little tiny film that is worth watching.