Written by Linda
February 14, 2009
Saving Face is a cute comedy that uniquely blends together several genres that we usually see on opposite sides of the video store: mother/daughter drama, multi-cultural comedy, and lesbian love story. With a winning ensemble cast led by the luminous Joan Chen and the scrappy and smart Michelle Krusiec, Saving Grace mashes all these genres together in this winning debut film by Alice Wu.
"Wil" (Michelle Krusiec) is a young Chinese-America doctor who is thrown for a loop when her single mother (Joan Chen) announces she is pregnant, but will not reveal who the father is. It is the scandal of all scandals, as Ma is 48-years old, thusly bringing shame on seemingly the entire community. Mom is kicked out of the house by her own elderly parents, and shows up at Wil's doorstep with her bags, much to the dismay of her daughter.
Now, Wil has her own issues. She is successful and pretty, but unmarried. What her traditional immigrant family doesn't know is that she is a lesbian. With her mom now around all the time, her double-life becomes a little tricky when she starts seeing Vivian (Lynn Chen), a beautiful dancer who was a childhood friend. It doesn't take long for Vivian to get frustrated with Wil's secrecy, and Wil has to figure out if she, too, is willing to risk getting kicked out of the family by revealing her own taboo lifestyle.
This sounds kind of heavy, and at some points, Saving Face is... but the film, for the most part is buoyant and very funny. Coming from a background where my own mom is from another culture, I was delighted at how Saving Face nailed the portrayal of an immigrant community in America. Much of the action takes place in the close-knit Chinese-American community of Flushing, Queens. Characters slip between Mandarin and English, often in mid-sentence. Some of the kids of immigrants, like Vivian, don't speak the language, while others are fluent. And the elders fiercely try to hold on to their culture's values, even if American society tells them to relax and loosen up.
Saving Face is a charming little film with an extremely appealing cast. Joan Chen, a woefully underused actress, shines in her role as the vulnerable, yet strongly defensive Ma. Michelle Krusiec is a fine match for Chen, playing the independent, modern American woman who is still extremely influenced by her cultural upbringing and her role as a dutiful daughter. Using its societal and cultural mish-mash of a plot, Saving Face ends up being both uniquely American and ultimately universal in its themes, and will hopefully find a long shelf-life on video.
