Restless

I liked this movie as it turned out to be a more profound and insightful film than I thought.

I know where the character Richard is coming from. I grew up in the United States and spent nine years in Korea rediscovering my cultural identity and such. I've been sick of movies that only show the Asian-Americans who cannot (or shall I say will not) get down with their ethnicity.

I liked the Go master's comments that most expats in a foreign country know little to nothing about their host nation, even if they've lived there for years. And there are a lot of sleazy loser types from the West that do flock to Asia, something which the film duly pointed out.

One of the most noticeable characters of this film is the city of Beijing. Most Americans have probably never considered the possibility that this could be a beautiful city. If the camera doesn't lie, we are sadly misguided by propaganda. With a depiction of a thriving American ex-patriate community, this film could have been set in Paris. But if it had been, we might have missed some of the best and most thought-provoking parts of this film - the long-term consequences of the horrors of war, the ties of family, the discovery of a non-Western viewpoint.

A few of the performances are weak, and a few of the scenes seem contrived. This is a great film nonetheless - and an important one. We often fail to see the Chinese - and probably the Chinese fail to see Americans - as people who live lives like our own. We're encouraged to think of the inhabitants of non-democratic nations as being forever engaged in political thought and lacking the right or opportunity to do otherwise. This attitude dehumanizes much of the world's population and causes us to forget that we all are likely to fall in love, hurt each other and get hurt in return, have special moments, experience pain. This film reminds us of the many experiences we have in common.

First joint US-China film. Seen at the Women in Cinema Film Festival in Seattle, WA with director and producers present and available for questioning.

Shows a very accurate view of the expatriat life. The diversity of the cast was so intriguing. The variety of languages and accents worked very well. Music was a delight. Some of the lighting a little dark perhaps, but I sill loved it. The flaws are so minimal that they are instantly forgiven.