Movie Recommendation

[morgan_dhu]

Well, it didn't get any Academy Award nominations, but the other night I saw a really good movie: Saving Face. I understand it made somewhat of a name for itself at the Sundance and Toronto International Film Festivals, and deservedly so.

The focal characters are Wil, a single, Chinese-American woman who is a doctor and a closeted lesbian and her mother, a widow who has lived her life exclusively within the Chinese community. The film revolves around their relationships with each other, and with the members of their family and community - including an aspiring dancer, Vivien, who seems determined to get Wil out of the closet and into her life.

Delightful story with several quite unexpected plot developments, well acted, with several relative newcomers and the divine Joan Chen playing the part of Wil's mother, with powerful but subtle direction from Alice Wu, who also wrote the script. And lots of fun.

Comments

[lovessong.livejournal.com]

I'll second that -- I saw it about a month ago and loved it. I thought it was hilarious and moving, without being cliched. I think a big part of that is the dialogue, which is snappy and also very realistic.

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

Yes, great script, very realistic and very smart at the same time. Who cares if half of it is in Mandarin, the performances were so expressive...

[daharyn.livejournal.com]

I quite liked that film! Joan Chen rocked it. :)

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

I haven't heard of that one. I hope it makes it to DC--I'd like to see it.

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

It had a limited release and now it's out on video - take it home for the evening - I recommend a double header with Chutney Popcorn

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

Will do--I haven't seen Chutney Popcorn yet.

Have you seen Fire? That's a gorgeous film.

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

Oh, I adore Deepa Mehta's work. Actually, we're seen Earth and Fire, and the Water DVD is sitting in our living room right now waiting to be watched.

It is astonishing the effort and agony she has gone through to get these three films made - the effects of society, religion, and social/political/class/caste/religious conflict on women in India are so central to all three of them. If there were any justice in the world, she would be acknowledged worldwide as an important director.

I cannot gush enough about Metha's work.

[wolfinthewood.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recommendation; I'll look out for it.

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

It's out on DVD here; with luck, it will also be available there. If you find it, let me know what you think of it.

Whihc makes me think of something - I'm always on the look-out for good movies that focus on strong and realistic lesbians or bisexual women as characters - I know of a goodly number of US and Canadian films in this category, but off-hand, not very many British or European films at all. I imagine this is because most such films are indies, and indies don't always travel well over the ocean, at least heading West. :-(

I've seen Oranges are not the only fruit, Fingersmith, Tipping the Velvet, and the Swedish film Show Me Love, but that's about all I can think of right now.

Do you have any recommendations?

[wolfinthewood.livejournal.com]

I'm not much of a film buff, but I'll ask around and have a think. Meanwhile:

Many years ago I saw a delightful short film on television called 'Domestic Bliss'. I've never forgotten it. A gentle and truthful comedy about two lesbians in love moving in together, when one of them has a child. It's still one of the few movies that has ever seemed to reflect my own life in any way. There's some info about it here (http://www.buddybuddy.com/mr-video.html). But I think it may be hard to get hold of. It doesn't seem to be in the catalogue of the site behind the link, anyway. I see, checking on the web, that the director, Joy Chamberlain, also directed a film called 'Nocturne' in 1990; I should think that would probably be worth watching, too.

The television movie 'Portrait of a Marriage', supposedly about Vita Sackville-West, is very bad, I think. (But then, I hated 'Tipping the Velvet'.)

Then there is the famous period piece 'The Killing of Sister George' (1968). I remember, as a half-comprehending schoolkid, seeing the suggestive posters for that plastered all over the Underground. But I didn't get to see it until some years later, of course.

[(Anonymous)]

Apparently, nothing by Joy Chamberlain is available on video over here - that's often the way it is with shorter films, alas.

I thought 'Tipping the Velvet' was alright, but not sensational - and there was a great deal about 'Fingersmith' that bothered me. Although there's something that just lifts my heart a little bit at seeing two women survive a piece of film art in order to live, possibly together, possibly happily, possibly forever after.

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

How odd. This was me. LJ plays games with our minds, apparently.

[wolfinthewood.livejournal.com]

Further thoughts: long ago there was a film made of the classic lesbian boarding-school novel 'Olivia', which I saw once and enjoyed. Think it may have toned down the lesbian elements, though.

Then there is another famous period piece, from Germany: 'Madchen in Uniform'.

[wolfinthewood.livejournal.com]

Sorry about this serial reply. Here's the info on the 'Olivia' film. Bet it's hard to track down, sadly:

Olivia
[Pit of Loneliness]
Jacqueline Audry, Director
1950 : France : 100 minutes : Lesbian : Drama :
In the latter half of the 1800s, an English schoolgirl falls
deeply in love with one of her headmistresses in the French
boarding school she attends.