Face

Description

Genie (Kristy Wu) is a Chinese-American teenager who has been raised by her loving, but traditionally valued grandmother (Kieu Chinh). Abandoned by her mother, Kim (Bai Ling), just after giving birth to her, Genie is caught by her respect for her grandmother Bertha Bay-Sa Pan's Face; is an American independent film of unusual subject matter and quality. Bay-Sa Pan, in her feature writer-directorial debut, gives us here the finely observed story of three generations of Chinese-American women, all fiercely stubborn but inwardly loving. Simultaneously, she takes a look into the Chinese community of New York City in the '70s and '90s that's both realistic and highly entertaining. It's a perceptively written and imaginatively directed film. But, most of all, it's brilliantly acted. As the three women--grandmother Mrs. Liu (Kieu Chinh), mother Kim (Bai Ling) and granddaughter Genie (Kristy Wu)-- Bay-Sa Pan's three actresses give astonishingly varied, spontaneous, powerfully human, award-worthy portrayals. The actresses take their characters believably through several decades, in Queens' Chinatown from the '70s to the '90s, beginning with Kim's first disastrous misstep. After a fight with her boyfriend, she allows a spoiled, sexy rich boy (Will Yun Lee) to seduce and impregnate her. Fleeing the bad marriage that results, Kim moves to Hong Kong and wins success as a banker, leaving daughter Genie with the kind but insular and old-fashioned Mrs. Liu. Decades later, when Kim returns, Genie is understandably resentful and involved in a taboo affair of her own with breezy, good-hearted deejay Michael (played by Treach of Naughty by Nature). What happens to the three after that return is not at all predictable but in the end is moving and convincing. Face takes a subject that might have drowned in sentiment and treats it with humor, keen vision and a hard (but not callous) edge. Some may fault these women for selfishness and obstinacy, but Bay-Sa Pan understands that people have many levels, some unpleasant, and that flaws create telling drama. As a filmmaker, she succeeds on almost every level: generating atmosphere, weaving an engrossing tale and eliciting marvelous performances. She's a talent to watch--and so are her three superb actresses. --Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune A meditation on the conflict between family loyalties and personal ambition, Face is the kind of independent film that can feel slight on a first viewing. But like its original soundtrack - a streetwise blend of hip-hop, Chinese opera and American and Asian pop songs - it is likely to remain in your head long afterward. Kim (played by the exquisite Bai Ling) is a college-age girl in the Queens Chinatown of the 1970's, torn between her traditional upbringing and her dreams of an independent career. After she is raped and impregnated by a spoiled playboy (Will Yun Lee), Kim succumbs to family pressure to marry the scoundrel and bear his child. When the shotgun marriage meets a predictably miserable end, Kim panics, dumps her baby daughter on her loving but inflexible mother (Kieu Chinh) and flees to Hong Kong to start her life over. A second storyline picks up 19 years later: the daughter, Genie (Kristy Wu), has grown into a rebellious young woman about to graduate from high school. When Kim, now a successful international banker, returns home to attend the ceremony, her arrival unleashes three generations' worth of resentment and misunderstanding. The hip-hop artist Treach is appealing as an African-American club D.J. who falls for the reluctant Genie, scandalizing her conservative grandmother. But it is the three women, particularly Ms. Chinh as the stubborn, almost preternaturally generous matriarch, who dominate the film. Ms. Ling, who has been typecast as the gorgeously inscrutable Asian in American adventure films (in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow), shows tremendous range as the guilt-ridden mother; her performance convincingly spans 20 years without need of much help from the makeup department. Ms. Wu, late of Buffy the Vampire Slayer series pulls off the neat trick of being simultaneously sullen and radiant as the conflicted daughter who is resentful of her grandmother's eagle eye yet lovingly concerned for the old woman's safety. The director's attention to details of character and locale makes for a precise evocation of a New York seldom seen in feature films. --Dana Stevens, NY Times Everything is clicking in the independent film Face, but this tale of an estranged mother and daughter who both struggle with their Asian American identity and the choices they make won't work if Bai Ling isn't any good -- and she is very, very good. It is the best performance of her eclectic international career, and it raises the level of this otherwise competently made movie to something more special. Ling plays Kim, who as a 20-year-old in the late 1970s, is trying to become an independent American coed, yet still play the dutiful daughter to her tradition-bound mother (Kieu Chinh of The Joy Luck Club). Swept off her feet by a rich boy (Will Yun Lee) whom she tutors, she has a one-night stand, becomes pregnant and is forced into marriage. Her husband strays and treats her poorly, so she flees to California, leaving her baby daughter for her mother to raise. Nineteen years later, she is back -- a successful businesswoman based in Hong Kong who, feeling guilty about her absentee motherhood, visits to find her daughter, Genie (Kristy Wu of Buffy the Vampire Slayer series), also struggling against the expectations of her Chinese community -- she's into hip-hop and secretly dating a black DJ (Treach) she met at a club. Co-writer and first-time director Bertha Bay Sa-Pan smartly alternates between the 1970s and present day, allowing us to observe the pressures each young woman had to endure, and why each one makes the decisions they do. The cast is very good, filled with bright young talent, and John Inwood's cinematography, which helps differentiate the eras depicted, is top-notch; Alternating between the eras also allows Ling's performance to achieve full impact. She was 31 when this movie was made and is convincing as both a 20-year-old and a 40-year-old. It's not just hair, makeup and costuming; it's wonderful acting. Ling was born in China and was involved with the pro-democracy movement at Tiananmen Square in 1989, forcing her to flee to the United States. She first gained notice as a villainess in The Crow, was Chairman Mao's interpreter in Oliver Stone's Nixon; and finally gained top billing in Red Corner; opposite Richard Gere. But Red Corner; was years ago; since then, perhaps owing to a dearth of Asian roles in Hollywood, she has been reduced to supporting parts (Anna and the King, Wild, Wild West, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and Star Wars: Episode III). Hopefully, the release of Face will cause Hollywood casting directors to take a fresh look at a veteran talent. --G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle Review: A real sleeper! - This movie is GREAT! Bai Ling's role is so well played and it will stir your emotions! A look at cultural differences and values are the theme of this production. Highly recommended! Review: Solid movie - This is a good movie. Four stars. Asian American-themed movies are a real gift to our society and I am thankful to see this one. I thought the acting was strong. Kristy Wu is very convincing and (sorry if this is the wrong thing to say) exceptionally beautiful. Bai Ling shows real range playing both her younger and her more mature self. Impressive! I would disagree with the reviewer who said the music was bad. The music wasn't presented to be the best music of all time, it was presented to establish a sense of place, and it did a perfectly good job of that. Do yourself a favor and check this out. Favorite line: "You an angry Black man in an Asian girl's body."