Saving Face Reviews

Must See! Great for dates or with friends and wine.

Alice Wu, a Chinese-American lesbian, directs the story of Wil, a Chinese-American lesbian surgeon who meets Vivien, a Chinese-American lesbian ballerina. Oh and the surgeon's pregnant Chinese mother moves in (who only speaks in Mandarin).

Wu's film sublimely explores the relationships between the settled Chinese-American community in Flushing Meadows, Queen, NYC, a Chinatown oasis. Wil (a lesbian surgeon) hides her sexuality from her mother, to 'save face', when suddenly her mother (who is widowed) mysteriously falls pregnant and is forced to move out of Flushing and in with her, for fear of shaming the idyllic Chinatown. Mother and daughter begin to explore their relationship, with 'Ma' soon discovering the delights of dating in Manhattan, alongside hardcore pornography.

Though this may seem like the 'nichiest' of niche comedies, the fantastic comedy and inventive satire tampers the strong themes of repression and sexuality, so you don't feel as if you're being preached to.

I don't want to give much away, but it's a shame this film didn't get a UK cinema release, as the ensemble cast work hard to deliver this balanced comedy, which is frequently hilarious. Racism, sexuality, and the idea of portraying an image to impress others are are all themes tackled here; don't let this slip you by. Plus you can't really go wrong with chinese lesbians.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Excellent, offbeat multicultural celebration

A very refreshing example of offbeat multicultural polysexuality. Which sounds totally ghastly, but really the film is worth a look.

It does contain some improbabilities, like a secondary character who's got a place in the Paris Opera Ballet, and possibly the most outstandingly beautiful 48-year-old (pregnant) mother in the history of cinema; but that doesn't really detract from the general quality of this smart and unusual work.

Charming and different

It's refreshing to see a movie about people in New York that actually reflect reality: they don't live in fantastically huge apartments, they don't spit one-liners like Lenny from Law & Order, and they take the subway to places like Flushing to visit their families.

Saving Face is a charming movie which looks Chinese immigrant parents in New York City and their American children. The film combines English and Mandarin dialogue to show how how growing up with two languages (often spoken simultaneously!) is part of this reality, and the young characters in this story embody that by speaking their parents' language out of respect, yet struggling to find words in Mandarin to match their 21st-century American ideals. Director/writer Alice Wu deftly explores the struggle that children have in balancing the traditional beliefs of their parents with their Western surroundings.

Many of the characters are quite humorous, but there's a remarkable effort at giving each one some depth and sympathy. We are given the chance to understand why, for instance, a father would suffer humiliation from his daughter's actions -- even when they don't seem shameful to us.

The only place where this film felt lacking for me was in the romance between the leads. Their relationship doesn't develop enough that we understand the attraction, and in the end, it seems forced in order to advance the story. Despite this flaw though, the movie is still highly enjoyable.

Fresh romantic comedy with a twist

Funny, sweet, touching and very watchable romantic comedy. It's well produced, scripted and acted. I especially love the mix of languages. I would say it's one of the best gay rom-coms I have seen.

Boring

Boring. I did not like it.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Saving Face

Saving Face tells two paralell stories. The first is about Wil (Krusiec) a young, gay, chinese american woman and her burgeoning relationship with dancer Vivian (Lynn Chen). The second has Wil's widowed 48 year old mother (Joan Chen) move back in with her daughter when she is thrown out by her parents when they discover she is pregnant.

Saving Face is a nice film. It bumbles along perfectly well, nicely acted and competently filmed. There's a few gentle laughs, a couple of moments that pull a little at the heartstrings. It never threatens to be anything more than a distraction, but as distractions go it's an agreeable one.

Joan Chen is teriffic as Ma and seems to be having a lot of fun but it's Michelle Krusiec who takes the acting honours, no surprise as her character is easily the best drawn, particularly compared to the sketchy portrait of Lynn Chen's Vivian.

The amiable performances, a sporadically amusing script and an unexpected and pretty hot lesbian sex scene keep interest levels up but this isn't going to change anyones life. If you want a slightly different romcom though you could do far worse

Customer Review

Very funny movie which is set among the Chinese community living in New York. Wil is an up and coming doctor who is a closeted lesbian. She begins to fall for the bosses daughter but picks a bad time to do it as her own (widowed) mother ends up pregnant without husband!

The two end up living together again while trying to find the courage to go against social and cultural 'norms' in order to discover and enjoy being in love.

The dialog changes from english to mandarin (with subtitles) in an easy to follow manner which actually works to enhance the humour. The acting did waver a bit from time to time, hence the 4 stars.

Otherwise, a top notch movie....and certainly one of the better movies that features a lesbian relationship!!

Rom Com with a twist

The film deals with a few seris issues of Chinese people from New York modernising their beliefs and way of life to adapt to modern life. Parts are funny, although subtitled throughout which I know is not everyones cup of tea.

One for the girls!

Loved it in so many ways!

This films worked in a number of dimensions, When it would have been so easy to have trotted out the usual New York City light comedy formula we have the a delightful study of relationships - mother and daughter, daughter and girlfriend, and how that relates to the rest of the Chinese community. A delight to watch with someone you love, or wish to.

Decent gay rom-com

I am often disappointed by how poor gay themed films are. So at last a gay film that is funny, romantic, touching and has decent production values and good performances. This may be the best thing since 'But I'm a cheerleader!'