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 When Joy Luck Club came out, it was 1993. Now, 25 years later, the Asian-American community finally gets another movie. When the opened with a song I'd heard my mother sing hundreds of times over decades, it struck a chord with me that nothing else ever has. The story hits on themes of Asian-American culture that I've never seen in anything outside of essays or talking with friends. I don't know that I'm qualified to judge it on script or cinematography or anything, but I came away loving it.
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Sep 4, 2018 05:27
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A lot of the reviews are calling it, without jest, a Chinese Black Panther which I find the most hilarious take e; other reviews say the comparison is inapt because it lacks Black Panther's political edge ahahaha Sinding Johansson fucked around with this message at 09:14 on Sep 4, 2018 |
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Sep 4, 2018 09:10
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As an Asian guy from SE Asia who studied in the west, even without being crazy rich I really felt for Nick and his predicament of family vs personal needs and wants. It pretty much encaptures the hyphenated-American/banana struggle of East v West IMO. loving love this movie. Also this cover of Yellow is beautiful.
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Sep 5, 2018 08:00
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It was a decent Cinderella movie, the lack of abusing maids and the American accents = bad, British accents = good thing was weird tho
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Sep 5, 2018 09:07
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I guess the Singapore Tourism Board got its money's worth, literally every other shot was the Marina Bay Sands casino. Also, I'm not sure whether to crown Awkwafina or Ken Jeong as the least believable Singaporean ever.
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Sep 6, 2018 15:19
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Also I find it really interesting that this is being hailed as a big moment for (East) Asian-Americans, given that only two of the characters in the movie (Rachel and her mom) are supposed to be Asian-Americans. I guess Singapore is the Asian Wakanda.
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Sep 6, 2018 15:23
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It's identity consumerism, an old hat, but the excitement is that Hollywood is (finally!) pandering to Asian Americans and in a more direct way than usual. Hey it's honestly good that there's more diversity of race in Hollywood casts, but how about genuine diversity of thought or of culture? Even its defenders acknowledge this movie is incredibly cliched. If this film depicts 'Asian cultural values', big if, the film hardly endorses them. Nick defies his family to propose to Rachel and Rachel's gambit lacks actual conviction, she's quite literally approaching the situation as a game, not as though she were making an ethical choice. Sinding Johansson fucked around with this message at 16:11 on Sep 6, 2018 |
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Sep 6, 2018 16:05
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I know I sound down on the movie, but it was cute and pretty well made. There are just so many weird things when you actually think about it for a second. Like the fact that so many left-wing-ish sorts of people are praising a movie which has an inspirational scene where a woman finds the courage to be openly rich.
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Sep 7, 2018 15:25
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I think you're absolutely right and thanks for putting that into words. Yeah it was cute, but so is every other film in the genre, and I don't feel the need to praise the film at all because it's getting enough of that elsewhere. Cuteness is a rom com is like the lowest possible bar to set. Some might say it's just a fairytale, don't think about it too hard, but fairytales have always had the starkest depictions of moral lessons. What's the lesson here? Old money learns to accept new, so long as it fits into the status quo. No one is responsible for the circumstances of their birth, so being born insanely rich and having a single mother(!) are totally the same. In light of that, Rachel demonstrates her commitment to family, so what conversely does Nick do? He doesn't flaunt his wealth. That's the hosed up lesson that's also comepletely undermined as the film is basically a 2 hour commercial for luxury products and aspirational consumption. Sinding Johansson fucked around with this message at 16:50 on Sep 7, 2018 |
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Sep 7, 2018 16:46
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I liked it, and since I don't usually watch romantic comedies the emotional bits got me more than I expected. My girlfriend was totally blase about it though. She thought it was well made but that it was unfortunate that it showed asians being so rich, since there's been a lot of prejudice against asians in Canada for coming over and causing problems by crashing their fancy cars and trying to bribe the police. She wasn't really affected by the representation angle since she grew up in a country where all movies have asian casts. So it was like "oh, another movie starring asian people, except this time they speak english." Mahjong scene was really cool. Clever use of subtext in the game, and a part where I can imagine most studio execs would go "but audience wont understand this!!!"
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Sep 7, 2018 23:08
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Sinding Johansson posted:I think you're absolutely right and thanks for putting that into words. Yeah it was cute, but so is every other film in the genre, and I don't feel the need to praise the film at all because it's getting enough of that elsewhere. Cuteness is a rom com is like the lowest possible bar to set. The message I took away from it was "You, an American-born Chinese, can measure up to the standards asked of you and we can accept you", which isn't an especially unique or shocking message, but it's pretty welcome when I find myself questioning if I have a place in this country.
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Sep 8, 2018 00:03
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The family of old, landed money in Singapore isn't even accepting of fuerdai. Rachel could be from the mainland instead and you wouldn't even have to change the plot. Rachel's mom would certainly face even more difficulties being accepted by them. That family is not a representation of a univeral Chinese heritage, they're their own very distinct and exculusive community. The 'resolution' between Rachel and Elenor is totally ambiguous. Was she actually accepting Rachel or was she instead accepting her son's decision? Yeoh's character is silent but from the actress's expressions during that conversation, and from what we see of the mother-son relationship, it seems to me to be the latter. Rachel herself is concerned with her relationship to Nick, not with connecting to her Chinese heritage. It's Crazy Rich Asians, and primarily it's a power fantasy, right from the opening scene. However watching the film made you feel is of course a very personal experience, but unless you care to explain, I don't see how the film can be interpreted as being about a first gen'er getting in touch with her roots or finding belonging in a community. Sinding Johansson fucked around with this message at 16:04 on Sep 11, 2018 |
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Sep 11, 2018 15:39
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Sinding Johansson posted:The family of old, landed money in Singapore isn't even accepting of fuerdai. Rachel could be from the mainland instead and you wouldn't even have to change the plot. Rachel's mom would certainly face even more difficulties being accepted by them. That family is not a representation of a univeral Chinese heritage, they're their own very distinct and exculusive community. Yeah I agree with this, I guess the "message" is more that love was enough for Nick to defy his family and marry a commoner, and his mom has at least grudgingly accepted it, but there's no sort of resolution with the grandma or with the bitchy girls who put a dead fish in her bed. Film seems accurate in that there would be people in that circle who would accept Rachel on her merits (Colin, Araminta, Astrid), but I don't think it shows her becoming part of that society. Actually kind of reminds me of the end of Pride and Prejudice (which the author has explicitly stated is an influence). Elizabeth marries Mr. Darcy, his friend Bingley approves, but his Aunt and sisters are still too snobby to accept a girl from the more minor gentry.
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Sep 11, 2018 20:11
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thekeeshman posted:Yeah I agree with this, I guess the "message" is more that love was enough for Nick to defy his family and marry a commoner, and his mom has at least grudgingly accepted it, but there's no sort of resolution with the grandma or with the bitchy girls who put a dead fish in her bed. Film seems accurate in that there would be people in that circle who would accept Rachel on her merits (Colin, Araminta, Astrid), but I don't think it shows her becoming part of that society. I'm not sure how much you care about the books but there's some interesting developments. It turns out that Rachel's father became incredibly rich and connected in mainland China. Which sort of adds a wrinkle to Rachel's legitimacy and the whole new money vs. old money thing. Kitty Pong becomes a fairly central character as well She ends up marrying Bernard Tai's father and is desperate to fit in to high society and hires a distant cousin of the Youngs to teach her how. It's a little more compelling than Rachel because Kitty actively wants to fit into that society. It might be unfair to tag the series with a muddied message on wealth because it is unabashedly a vicarious light read but the lack of an "average" Singaporean perspective really makes it a story much more about wealth and class than race.
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Sep 12, 2018 12:48
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This may or may not be a good movie but it's being held forth as an advancement in inclusion and that's super cringey. I want to see Asian-American actors in movies that don't revolve around their race or preexisting stereotypes. I'm talking real roles in original films: that doesn't mean remaking Ghostbusters with an all-Asian cast, either. Then maybe I'll watch loving Crazy Rich Asians. Where is the Asian-American romantic lead, or action star, in major films by major Western directors? The actors are there, they're just not being cast into films, and instead we get Mission Impossible 17.
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Sep 19, 2018 03:07
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KOTEX GOD OF BLOOD posted:This may or may not be a good movie but it's being held forth as an advancement in inclusion and that's super cringey. I want to see Asian-American actors in movies that don't revolve around their race or preexisting stereotypes. I'm talking real roles in original films: that doesn't mean remaking Ghostbusters with an all-Asian cast, either. Then maybe I'll watch loving Crazy Rich Asians. Where is the Asian-American romantic lead, or action star, in major films by major Western directors? The actors are there, they're just not being cast into films, and instead we get Mission Impossible 17. It's not exactly what you're looking for, since the movie is 100% about the main actor's race, but I thought The Big Sick was pretty good.
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Sep 19, 2018 14:37
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KOTEX GOD OF BLOOD posted:This may or may not be a good movie but it's being held forth as an advancement in inclusion and that's super cringey. I want to see Asian-American actors in movies that don't revolve around their race or preexisting stereotypes. I'm talking real roles in original films: that doesn't mean remaking Ghostbusters with an all-Asian cast, either. Then maybe I'll watch loving Crazy Rich Asians. Where is the Asian-American romantic lead, or action star, in major films by major Western directors? The actors are there, they're just not being cast into films, and instead we get Mission Impossible 17. It's a medicore-bad movie; as you know but should be repeated, Hollywood doesn't give a poo poo about diversity. I'm certain from an accounting perspective, the big advantage of a wholly asian/black/whatever cast is that the actors are all paid much less. Sinding Johansson fucked around with this message at 17:55 on Sep 19, 2018 |
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Sep 19, 2018 17:52
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KOTEX GOD OF BLOOD posted:This may or may not be a good movie but it's being held forth as an advancement in inclusion and that's super cringey. I want to see Asian-American actors in movies that don't revolve around their race or preexisting stereotypes. I'm talking real roles in original films: that doesn't mean remaking Ghostbusters with an all-Asian cast, either. Then maybe I'll watch loving Crazy Rich Asians. Where is the Asian-American romantic lead, or action star, in major films by major Western directors? The actors are there, they're just not being cast into films, and instead we get Mission Impossible 17. I mean, it's still a significant advancement. It's a film with Asian characters, not portrayed by Scarlett Johansson, Emma Stone, Tilda Swinton, Tom Cruise, Emile Hirsch, or Jim Sturgess. Baby steps I guess. I do wish Searching got more buzz, but I think it did pretty well for itself considering its budget. Squinty fucked around with this message at 18:56 on Sep 19, 2018 |
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Sep 19, 2018 18:51
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Some of my Chinese-American friends are super stoked that this movie finally shows that Asian actors can be romantic leads in film and see this movie as a big deal in that regards. I don’t have the heart to tell them that no studio executive in all of Hollywood is going to come away from this movie with that conclusion. My main disappointment with the film is Constance Wu wasn’t allowed to be funny at all.
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Sep 19, 2018 19:05
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Squinty posted:It's a film with Asian characters, not portrayed by...Tilda Swinton... This one always feels weird to me in these kinds of lists. Did anyone really want an "authentic, comics-accurate" Ancient One? The character is so rooted in lovely Fu Manchu Asian stereotypes...I can't imagine anyone would feel represented or seen if they cast the role accordingly. gently caress ScarJo, though, definitely.
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Sep 19, 2018 23:13
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The internet is stupid, and is more outraged over white people playing fictional characters who are "supposed to be Asian" than they are about Asian actors not being cast as any other type of character
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Sep 20, 2018 04:05
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The real villain in all of this is definitely Scarlet Johanson, lol
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Sep 20, 2018 06:38
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Apparently it's now the 6th highest grossing rom com of all time. https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2458630/crazy-rich-asians-just-passed-another-significant-box-office-milestone Although, bafflingly enough "What Women Want" is in the top 5? That movie looked like garbage, and I don't know a single person who's ever talked about it let alone in a good light.
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Oct 3, 2018 02:37
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dirksteadfast posted:My main disappointment with the film is Constance Wu wasn’t allowed to be funny at all. Totally agreed. She was the main reason I went to see the flick and she didn’t even get to do poo poo
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Oct 3, 2018 04:51
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Thundercracker posted:Apparently it's now the 6th highest grossing rom com of all time. What women want was so successdul theyre making a gender flipped version releasing early next year
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Oct 3, 2018 05:36
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I don't know what made me think watching a romcom was a good idea but it didn't disappoint. I guess the overwhelmingly positive reception and the novelty of the Asian cast and setting would make it interesting, but no, not really, it felt like the most by the numbers romantic comedy ever. Oh no will the rich snobby parents like the poor commoner girl??? I thought it didn't sufficiently set the couple up either so I wasn't very invested in their relationship in the first place; up until he busted out the ring I thought the coffee shop might've been like their second date. I'm neither Asian nor American but dumplings aside, most of the conflict seemed like would apply with any immigrants coming back to the old country. And despite the almost two hour runtime, some things like the sabotaging women and the cheating husband aren't really developed or followed-up enough. In conclusion, not recommended unless you already love romcoms. E: guillotine everyone except Rachel and her mom. mobby_6kl fucked around with this message at 19:51 on Nov 12, 2018 |
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Nov 12, 2018 19:15
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Squinty posted:I mean, it's still a significant advancement. It's a film with Asian characters, not portrayed by Scarlett Johansson, Emma Stone, Tilda Swinton, Tom Cruise, Emile Hirsch, or Jim Sturgess. Baby steps I guess. Searching was pretty good yeah
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Nov 16, 2018 07:07
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After rewatching the film, it’s painfully obvious how much the movie tries to convince the audience that Minty is a good person. If it wasn’t for the fact her first time on screen has her in no makeup and plain clothes, and then following it up with “See? She likes street food vendors! Just like common folk!” she’d be just as unlikeable as everyone else.
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Nov 16, 2018 17:46
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thekeeshman posted:I guess the Singapore Tourism Board got its money's worth, literally every other shot was the Marina Bay Sands casino. Also, I'm not sure whether to crown Awkwafina or Ken Jeong as the least believable Singaporean ever. Funny thing is how many locations were filmed in Malaysia. 
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Nov 17, 2018 11:04
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The MSJ posted:Funny thing is how many locations were filmed in Malaysia. If I remember right, the writer of the novel can't go back to Singapore, as they'll arrest him for dodging national service.
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Nov 21, 2018 11:40
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Padje posted:If I remember right, the writer of the novel can't go back to Singapore, as they'll arrest him for dodging national service. Yeah, I was watching an interview with him where someone said "Oh we should go to Singapore together and you can show me around" or something like that, and he just made some vague noncommittal noise and moved on.
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Nov 21, 2018 17:16
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I liked it honestly and thought it was really cute
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Dec 1, 2018 21:04
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Everyone should read the article about Singapore that William Gibson wrote for the first issue of Wired in 93.
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Dec 2, 2018 02:38
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