tylersc-19626
CULTURE
First of all, the movie portrays the mother's very differently than the book, this is not inherently bad; however, in the movie the mothers don't act Chinese. Half of the book was about cultural differences of China and the US and how the Chinese mothers dealt with their daughters adopting western culture. In the movie, this is not present at all. The mothers act like any American mother would so that the audience would be able to relate to the characters. But I'm doing this, they have missed half the point of the entire book. This would be fine if it chose to focus on another aspect of the story. But it doesn't. The movie just goes through the motions of each story in a non- creative way.
PACING
And what might that be? Well, all the stories are shown through flashbacks. The present day is a going away party for the character June to see her long lost sisters. Boy oh boy does that tank the pacing. Everytime the movie flashes back to another story, you can almost hear the screeching of tires as the pacing grinds to a complete stop. This is because the people making the movie didn't know how to properly convert a book into a film. Which brings me to my next point: the voice over.
THE VOICE OVER
The movie is over reliant on voice over to explain the story to the audience. This happens a lot on book to film adaptations, either because the writers aren't talented enough to adapt an almost entirely expositional form of entertainment into a visual form, or they are just too lazy. Not 10 minutes goes by in his movie without some voice coming in over top of the action to explain everything that is going on to the audience. It is incredibly easy to tell that this movie was based off of a book because of this, and it is very distracting. Speaking of distracting:
THE SCORE
Lordy. This score made me want to rip my ears out. Soooo overdramatic. It was absolutely ridiculous. Anytime there was a heartfelt or intense moment, the overbearing score immediately ruined it. You don't need loud, sappy music, to convey emotion. It's cheap and it's annoying. Good writing, good acting (the acting in this movie is competent btw), and good cinematography should convey emotion. All of which this movie doesn't have. But the awful overbearing score makes it 2X worse, especially with the ending.
CLICHÉ
The movie ends with close up camera shot that slowly pans up and out into the landscape where there is a massive amount of people bustling about while the loud overdramatic music plays in the background. So original. Never before done in a film.But hey, at least there was some okay acting (Not the actor who played Harold though he was atrocious)
bettytuan0209
As an Asian in the US I really hate this movie. I think it's a very narrow one-sided and stereotypical portray of Asians. All the Asian women have terrible stories of being dominated by jerks (usually the husband). I must say that some of the cultural and historical background is true and I will admit that some of these do reflect reality in China or Asian cultures, but it is overly dramatized and exaggerated. The plot has so much room to play with that I expect to have more breadth and diversity. It just seems unrealistic that all 8 women have such tragic lives. It bothers me so much that this is the way China and Asian cultures are being portrayed in a movie that is popular in the west.In the scene where Waverly brings her white fiancé Rich home, Rich didn't know some Chinese dining etiquette. When Waverly's mother said her fish is not salty, she was being humble and actually wanted everyone to praise it. Rich actually criticized the dish and just poured soy sauce on the fish. It hardly seems like something anyone with decent manner would do. The character of Harold, who is Lena's husband and splits the cost of everything they share, and Lin-Xiao, who is Yingying's ex-husband and abused her and openly brought his mistress home, both seem overly flat, dramatized and unreal. There are also many noticeable flaws in the plot. For example, Ted became bored in his marriage with Rose because Rose has lost herself and let Ted makes all the decisions. Ted was going to divorce her for another women. During the divorce, Rose realized her mistakes and yelled at him "Get out of my house" and the next thing we know they are back together. The film never explained how the 4 women came to the US too.Besides the plot, the acting, filming, editing, etc. are actually good. It's annoying some people in the scenes in China speaks mandarin with an American ascent but I'll give them a break.
PeachHamBeach
Against the backdrop of a raucous yet emotional "going away" party for a Chinese-American woman named June-Mei Woo (Ming-Na Wen), the wonderful and bittersweet stories of 8 women, 4 Chinese-born and 4 American born, are spun in splendor.June is preparing to depart from her home in San Francisco to China to meet 2 older sisters she has never seen before. The twin sisters, in fact, were thought to have been dead for decades, as their mother, Suyuan Woo (Kieu Chinh) was forced to leave them, as infants, by a roadside because she was too sick and weak to carry them and had no automobile or other transport. For years, Suyuan wondered what became of these babies she unwillingly gave up, and it haunted her up until the end of her life. Only now, four months after her death, have the 2 women been located, and June, both with joy and trepidation, is going to meet them and tell them about their mother.Up until today's party, June believed that she really didn't know or understand her late mother. She bristled as a child at her mother's insistence that she learn to play piano and compete in talent shows at school. June believed that Suyuan was disappointed in her daughter's life, her career path, her choices, and felt inferior to the daughter of Suyuan's best friend Lindo Jong (Tsai Chin).But Lindo's daughter Waverly Jong (Tamlyn Tomita), as uppity as she could be towards June both before and after adulthood, did not have the easiest time with her mother either. A chess prodigy at age 7, Waverly felt constantly pressured and painfully embarrassed by Lindo's constant bragging about her daughter's extraordinary talents. The generation gap and cultural differences cause more than a few verbal spats between them, and Lindo feels as though Waverly is ashamed of her for being "Chinese". Lindo's own history with her mother comes into the equation. At age 4, Lindo is betrothed, and at 14, forced to marry a 10 year old who, naturally, is not sexually mature enough to be a husband. Lindo is the one who is blamed by her surly old mother-in-law of course. It is not until young Lindo cleverly schemes her way out of the ridiculous marriage that she finds happiness, though it is not known if she ever saw her mother again.Intertwined into this happy gathering celebrating June's journey to China are the stories of 2 more women, Ying-Ying and her daughter Lena St. Clair. At 16, Ying-Ying (France Nuyen) falls madly in love with the local ladykiller Lin Xiao (a dubbed Russell Wong), only to find out shortly that he is an abusive, hateful cad who brings women into their home at all hours. Ying-Ying's heart is broken, but when she accidentally drowns their infant boy, it is shattered, and for a few years, she lives in a state of mental catatonia. After her mother's recovery later on, Lena, the daughter (Lauren Tom) finds herself in a rather odd marriage to an accountant (Michael Paul Chan), based more on mathematical equality than love and affection. Ying-Ying, knowing her daughter is heading for a life of misery and lovelessness, intervenes.The other friend of Suyuan is An-Mei Hsu (Lisa Lu), and her daughter Rose (Rosalind Chao). Rose's once happy marriage to Ted Jordan (Andrew McCarthy) is ending, and An-Mei sees a disturbing pattern of behavior in her daughter that reminds her of her own mother (Vivian Wu). If a person feels they are of little value compared to someone else, it is easy to take advantage of them and abuse their goodness. An-Mei recalls her mother's terrible life sixty years earlier, first widowed by An-Mei's father and then the victim of one of the most evil conspiracies I've ever seen in film, and finally (and most horribly), disowned by her own parents. And An-Mei desperately explains to Rose that she must stand up and be counted instead of letting people walk all over her. The outcome of this story is on the upbeat, thankfully, otherwise I would have said it was the most bittersweet of all the stories.But it's not. The most haunting story in the film is that of the late Suyuan. War has broken out and she hastily gathers her most important belongings and her precious twin daughters. Without a car, she is forced to carry them in a wheelbarrel for miles and miles. She is weak and feverish, and eventually, the wheels of the wheelbarrel break and she tries in vain to carry the babies in her arms. Her strength gone, she leaves her little girls on the side of a rural road, praying that her note of instructions will be read and that she will see her children again.But she does not. Suyuan dies not knowing if her 2 girls lived beyond their infancy. There are few situations in movies that I've found sadder than this one, but Suyuan's daughter June, taking the place of her mother, goes to China and fulfills her late mother's cherished dream come true.The emotions of this film are almost too rich at times, especially with regards to Ying-Ying's, An-Mei and her mother's, Rose's, and above all, Suyuan's life stories. There will always be those who think of this film as "too corny" or "just another chick flick". Me, I don't mind OD'ing on emotion. If you're like me, you'll love this film for years to come.
timon88
All this mystification expressed over why this flick wasn't considered for an Oscar is, in itself, a bit mystifying. While it wouldn't have been the first time Hollywood recognized what is essentially a tawdry melodrama in that fashion, let's not confuse a bloated, ineptly manipulative movie with great art.It LOOKS great, though. Very high production values with great costumes and beautiful period sets. And the cinematography is gorgeous. All at the service of... ? A convoluted story, put in the hands of people that seem to have no idea how to tell it. Some good actors involved, though, gamely trying to make something of execrable material.
