Saving Face (2004)

A rather slow story following a Chinese surgeon and her mother as they both find nontraditional partners. The end may just make the movie worth watching.

⋆⋆⋆ // 3 STARS

Director: Alice Wu (also wrote the movie)

Where to Watch: Alright, so it is on myflixer, but the quality is so, so bad. I decided to suck it up and rent it for 3 bucks on Amazon... do I regret it? Unfortunately, a little bit.

Google User Rating: 91% liked this movie!

"Kiss me. Right here, in front of all these people." (Vivian)

By the way, this movie is maybe... 75% in Mandarin? Makes sense since they're in America, so some of the younger people speak English to each other and Mandarin to their family, and the older people only speak Mandarin, fun cultural aspect! Ok whatever, anyways... subtitles!

Quick Summary

This plot is pretty simple, except for the end... but I'm not spoiling anything!! So hopefully this will be pretty short. Wilhelmina (Wil) is a surgeon, and a secret lesbian! Nice! Turns out, her divorced mother is pregnant, but she won't tell anyone who the baby is! Her father

basically disowns her, so she moves in with Wil. Meanwhile, Wil makes eye contact with a hot lady at a Chinese party, but then they part. Then at the hospital working, Wil is approached by that lady in the stairway! Slightly creepy, but turns out her name is Vivian and she's interested in Wil! She ends up getting her number and they hang out, and then fuck, and then Wil leaves. Pretty much right after that, they start dating. Right after their hookup. That we don't even get to see!! Just kidding, that's weird. Anyways, they keep hooking up and having pretty much no other interaction other than eating some hotdogs at the park. Wil's mom, on the other hand, has been pretty depressed, but starts dating. Then we find out Vivian's moving to Paris for her career! Oh no! Vivian! Will their relationship survive? Will Wil's mother have the baby or be reclaimed by her family? And whoooo's the father?

Official Review

Look, my summary was lackluster because the movie was lackluster. The relationship was pretty trash... Wil was so unenthusiastic about Vivian the entire time, she was so, shy? Shy

isn't the right word, really just unenthusiastic and maybe shocked the entire time? Vivian took initiative and was very passionate about their relationship, but Wil seemed like she didn't give a fuck the whole time. Like she was just there for some pussy. But apparently they were in love?? Girl no. I absolutely loved Wil's mother though, she's relatable, a good character, very likable, and funny. I would much rather watch the movie without Wil and Vivian's romance, and that's probably why I kept watching the movie. But really, the only reason this movie got 3 stars was because of the end, which was great. If they made the entire movie like the end, then perfect. Great. It had a very funny plot twist that I highly doubt you'll predict. Honestly, how can I provide a lengthy review for such a empty movie. So little happened until the very end. I guess one thing I did appreciate of course was the cultural representation... the movie took place in an entirely Chinese community so it featured a lot of aspects you would expect. Considering the director/writer is Chinese, I'm going to assume it's quite accurate. So that's interesting to see. But besides that, and the end, and the mother, it was a pretty disappointing movie.

Cast/Heartthrobs

Like I mentioned, Wil's mother (Joan Chen) is talented. 10/10 character, makes me want to focus all my attention on her. Lynn Chen as Vivian was pretty good, dare I say above average... but that's only because she was almost always alone with her emotionless girlfriend, Wil (Michelle Krusiec). Also, love her hair, and face. Very pretty! But the looks aren't enough! Because any character with common sense would ditch the surgeon who showed a very small amount of interest in the relationship, and go for the mother. I would have watched a movie with Vivian and the mother. Age gap lesbian relationships? Why the hell not... would have been better than what we got!