http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Wed, 21 Feb 2007 19:27:19 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/31/010053.php#comment-542813 2007 ford Prices http://ford.host-page.com/ 542813@blogcritics.org Wed, 21 Feb 2007 19:27:19 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/31/010053.php#comment-542703 2007 ford Prices http://ford.host-page.com/ 542703@blogcritics.org Wed, 21 Feb 2007 19:26:54 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/31/010053.php#comment-160737 AM, Before you whip out the insults, check your facts because your ignorance is on full display. This is not "the first movie ever that actually reflected what Chinese and Chinese-American communities are like." Aside from some films by Wayne Wang including the aforementioned "Chan is Missing," which, by the way, I have seen and you obviously haven't, there is Ang Lee's first two films and the documentary "Who Killed Vincent Chin?" You also fail to point out what scenes reflect "what Chinese and Chinese-American communities are like." I saw scenes that would be universal to all immigrant groups, but nothing that was unique to the Chinese-American experience. David, you can post as many PR items as you like, but you don't address my review of the film. I didn't say that the movie was just two lesbians kissing. I said "there is no more exploration of their sexuality" other than that scene. Your post, which focuses on the scene, reiterates my point. 160737@blogcritics.org Tue, 31 May 2005 20:52:49 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/31/010053.php#comment-160515 AM, A movie you would likely enjoy is a film called "Chan Is Missing".It was the first film by the director Wayne Wang. It was done back in 1981 or 1982. It is unfortunately not on DVD yet.But it can be found in VHS format on line. It is a very realistic low budget movie that was filmed in and around Chinatown in San Fransisco. It's portrayal of the day to day life of Chinese-Americans is one of the most realistic you'll likely ever see. At points in the movie if the actor does not speak English he speaks either Cantonese or Mandarin w/o any use of sub-titles. It shows how diverse the Asian community is and how the different generations(new immigrants,young US born Asian youth, people who are torn between the old ways of China and the new ways of the USA,etc.)all interact with each other in a realistic way. Chinatown is shown as a neighborhood and NOT as some dark,mysterious place filled with Triad gangsters running white slave businesses and the heroin trade.All Asian people I know have said it's a very realistic and balanced film. Some didn't like the film itself as a movie per se, but all agreed it is,again, a very honest and real take on Asian (Chinese in particular)life in America today. Plus it's a great low-key mystery,very funny and it was shot in black and white which gives it a suureal edge and timeless quality. 160515@blogcritics.org Tue, 31 May 2005 13:58:05 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/31/010053.php#comment-160383 Wow, this critic is ignorant. Do you even speak Chinese? If you did, you would know this was the first movie ever that actually reflected what Chinese and Chinese-American communities are like, instead of making actors who are supposed to be immigrants speak English with Chinese accents or hiring actors to speak Chinese with heavy American accents. This is revolutionary, in terms of accurately reflecting what life is like, rather than what Hollywood wants it to be to appeal to more audiences. Bravo to the director. Other than that, this film is fun, well-acted, and well-directed. It's not some artsy-fartsy indie film, it's a good old fashioned romantic comedy so go in expecting that instead and you'll see it's solid. 160383@blogcritics.org Tue, 31 May 2005 08:57:41 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/31/010053.php#comment-160362 money qUOTE HERE: THIS MOVIE IS MORE THAN JUST TWO TOPLESS NUDE LESBIASIANS KISSING. COME ON. IT'S REAL, MAN. Did either of you watch the movie with your parents, and was that weird? LC: I haven't seen it much with my parents at all yet. They were going to come to Sundance but it got too complicated. They'll see it later on. I think the only thing that's going to be weird is the love scene, just because my mother never wanted me to do that. I've been acting since I was really young, and she was always like"don't ever pose nude!" That was ingrained in my head. MK: My mother said, "If you are going to pose nude, get a lot of money!" (laughs) LC: I was so scared to tell my mom that I had done a nude scene, and when I finally told her she was like, "Oh my God, Oh my God. Okay." Then, like a week later, I was talking to someone else and I had mentioned I did a nude scene, and my mom acted like she didn't know and went, "Oh my god, oh my god." I said, "Mom, you knew this." She like, "I know, I know." I feel like when we actually see, she will freak out initially. AE: Did it make a difference that it was with a women or was it just the nudity? LC: It's just the nudity. My parents don't care about the lesbian part. Actually, when they describe the movie to people, my Mom is so proud, she says, "This is my daughter, she is going to be in a movie. She's a lesbian." MK: The nudity part I was actually okay with, I trusted Alice. It's funny [turns to Lynn], the most vulnerable moment I find in the movie was when you touched my lip. Every time you do that, I feel so raw and very opened, because it's not so much the nudity and it's not being with a women. I felt that that moment really captured intimacy. Whenever I see that, I always kind of giggle and I am like "Oh, there it is, right there." Even more so then just Lynn and I being naked kissing. 160362@blogcritics.org Tue, 31 May 2005 05:45:59 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/31/010053.php#comment-160361 In ime director Alice Wu's new Asian American romantic comedy ''Saving Face'', which opened in limited release this weekend, Michelle Krusiec and Lynn Chen play Wil and Vivian, a doctor and a dancer who fall in love against the backdrop of their insular Chinese American community in New York. I talked to Lynn and Michelle recently about the movie, their first kiss, and how they feel about playing the first Asian American lesbian couple in an American theatrical release. AfterEllen.com: Michelle, how did you get cast as Wil? Michelle Krusiec: That process took a while. It was May, 2003 when I first met [producer] Teddy Zee, who had seen the show I made in Taiwan. It wasn't until August that I was actually cast. Between May, June, and July I was preparing for the role as if I had been cast, hoping that all the work would eventually pay off, but I didn't get a firm confirmation until late in the process. AE: What preparation were you doing, learning Mandarin? MK: That was a big thing because when I first initially met with Alice, I had probably one of the best auditions I have ever had, because I totally connected with her. But I wasn't fluent in Mandarin. I was at an elementary level at the time and my pronunciation was pretty bad. It was very possible that people could hear it and it might draw you out of the performance, and that's what she was concerned with. So I tried to get myself as proficient as possible. Essentially I think I went from elementary grade to high school grad in three months. AE: (to Lynn) How did you get the part of Vivian? Lynn Chen: My manager at the time only represented Asian actresses, so he was being called for every single part. He sent in all the stuff, I went in and auditioned, and immediately they said "You should read the script." So I did and was called back two weeks later, called back, again and again. It was similar to Michelle, I knew I was their first choice and they were telling me things like, "You might want to look like a ballet dancer, you don't have the part, but you might want to do these things." I was like "okay" and did those things, but it was a long casting process for me. I started in May or June and was not officially cast until a few weeks before production started like in September. AE: What did you two think when you first met each other? MK: Truthfully, I thought Lynn was really sweet, and I wanted someone to be more like, grrr! To dominate me. I think that is a more stereotypical response: one woman is dominant and the other one is passive. That was sort of what I fell into, I wanted a women who is strong and hard, who was going to take me, because I was a passive and introverted character. Lynn's performance took it in a different great direction. Alice went with a totally different choice. Alice's casting choices sort of show how unique she is. LC: When I first read the script and when I was auditioning and stuff, I had a different picture of Vivian in my mind. I pictured someone who was strong, who was comfortable in her own skin, but less classy then she ended up being. I pictured someone who was sort of raw and just said what ever the hell she wanted to say and didn't apologize for it. When I was auditioning and saw the wardrobe, I was like, "Oh, okay, she is a little classier than me" with my stained tank top, and my bra hanging out. AE: What was your initial impression of Michelle? LC: When I was in the final stage, I knew what was going on and found out they had cast Michelle as the lead already, and I was like, "Okay, great. I have to find out everything about this girl because I have to know exactly who I am going to be working with." I had HBO on Demand, I watched all the movies she had been in and fast forwarded to Michelle's part and paused and watched. I rented Pumpkin and all these movies. I was like, "Wait a minute, she has done so many different types of roles. I can't put my finger on who I think she is!" MK: (laughs) LC: When I first walked in the room to audition with Michelle, I had known she was a good actress, but I had already tested with someone else before that--like a month before, someone else they were considering for your role. MK: (surprised) You did? LC: Yeah. MK: (laughing) I don't want to hear this. LC: I tested with her, and I was like "this isn't working." I was worried about the project because I didn't think she was right for the role at all. I thought if they were really considering this girl strongly for it, then I was in trouble, because A, I don't think she is right for it, and B, I am not feeling it. AE: The chemistry wasn't there. LC: Right. When I went for my final audition with Michelle and I did it with her, I was like, "I can totally see this happening and we're on the same page." 160361@blogcritics.org Tue, 31 May 2005 05:29:46 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/31/010053.php#comment-160360 'SAVING FACE' BY WOMEN BORN OF TAIWAN PARENTS DEBUTS IN U.S. Central News Agency, CNA, Taiwan governtment news agency A trio of women born of Taiwanese immigrants to the United States and the ever-luminous Joan Chen have shined in the romantic comedy "Saving Face, " which premiered in Los Angles and Orange County in California last Friday. The Los Angeles Times said the debut film by Alice Wu, also the screenwriter, seems like something that she has 'been doing for years, " and that the film "avoids the pitfalls of many of the coming-out, coming-of-age and coming-to-terms-with-your-family movies popular with first-timers. The film is sweet with being saccharine, wry without being cynical and unabashedly romantic without being cloying or disingenuous." Wu was a computer programmer in *[SEATTLE - Microsoft] Silicon Valley. Out of her passion for the movies, she decided she would turn the stories [NO THIS IS HER OWN ORIGINAL STORY] told to her by her mother, a graduate of National Taiwan University, into a movie. HER PARENTS ARE FROM SHANGHAI, OR AT LEAST HER FATHER IS. HER BIO SAYS HER PARENTS CAME TO USA FROM CULTURAL REVOLTUION CHINA AS SHANGHAI ACADEMICS. Wu deftly weaves the delightful multi-generation relations story which features Michelle Krusiec, a successful surgeon in New York City, while Joan Chen plays her 48-year-old widowed and Mandarin-speaking mother, who is recently banished from her home for being pregnant and refusing to disclose the name of the child's father. There is also Lynne Chen, a dancer and Krusiec's girlfriend. Krusiec wrote and performed "Made in Taiwan, " a darkly comedic survival story and coming-of-age tale of a young soul-searching Asian American daughter with an old-world mother hell-bent on teaching her the ways of the world while she was a theater student at Virginia Tech. Since graduating, Krusiec has hosted "Travelers" for the Discovery Channel, performed as a series regular on NBC's "One World," and PLAYED many roles on shows such as "Providence" and "E.R." Lynne Chen has performed on the Broadway stage since she was 10. "Saving face" has won official selection in the Sundance Film Festival and Toronto Film Festival. (By L. S. Chu and Lilian Wu) 160360@blogcritics.org Tue, 31 May 2005 05:26:37 EDT