Face

A small plane passes through a blue sky at the beginning of Face; the jet a symbol of freedom, travel, and escape. The story unfolds between three generations of women in the Chinese community of New York City. Genie, a strong-willed and beautiful young woman is being raised by her grandmother. She tries to honor her grandmother's wishes, but the contemporary culture of the city has the lure of a siren. In this way, Genie echoes her own mother, whose arrival from Hong Kong is announced as an event. The expectations of Chinese culture become sharply delineated for Genie when she finds love outside of the Chinese community. Winsome and intrepid, Genie must choose her loyalties. Unflinchingly, Face portrays the vibrancy of New York as the three women make sense of their relationships to one another. A truthful portrayal of family tensions and race relations, the story line of Face is both taut and charming.

This is a film that can be seen several times because it is so multifaceted, a classic that could be any immigrant's story, but equally a story of clashing generations. Told brilliantly, with outstanding actors and direction and a score that tells it's own story--"Face" is a must-see.

I loved this movie!! It is poignant, moving, well-directed, well-written and beautifully acted. Anyone dealing with family issues will appreciate seeing a family of three generations of women struggling with and learning to overcome their own demons.

Genie (Kristy Wu), a Chinese American teenager, having been abandoned at birth by her mother, Kim (Bai Ling), is being raised in New York by her traditional and yet adoring grandmother (Kieuh Chinh). Genie's life and existence is challenged when she meets a warm and gorgeous DJ named Michael (Treach). The fact that he's African American threatens to come between her and her grandmother. A culture clash ensues and Genie is forced to choose between family and love.

Director Bay-Sa Pan's directing is self-assured; she is not afraid to slow down the movie's pace and to make her viewers uncomfortable. She reveals tense racial stereotypes that challenge both the characters in the film as well as us, the viewers. In a Q&A at Urban World Film Festival, Treach explained that this role was one of the first where he was asked to play a non-thug.

Through emotional ups and downs of humor, sadness and anger, we wind through this story and find it's end. Along the way, we are rewarded by a unique and unpredictable story as well as strong performances from Pan's actors, especially Kristy Wu, who's talent is abundantly clear. You'll absolutely will enjoy this movie!!! Check it out!!!!

I did not expect it to but "Face" affected me quite deeply. Generally, I find myself choosing genres with less dialog and less emotional content. I am more a hardcore action / adventure fan, loving Sci-Fi or the occasional documentary or foreign film. I gave face a chance when a friend recommended it to me as a true piece of New York and almost too gritty for Lifetime Net. The films' angle inside of real family dysfunction was a surprise peek in the mirror for me. Unlike the family in the film, I am a second generation American male of an average Russian Jewish family however, my story seems all too congruent with that of the lead character in "Face". My first viewing of this movie was really a lot much more than I knew I was signing on for but I felt a cathartic sense or acknowledgment by the third time. You wont find me in the drama section of the video store not because I'm too scared to get deep but because it is only a diamond that can bring it out in me.

If this film were a soup, it would be missing a spice or two. As a film, it felt like a well-funded student outing aiming for an afterschool special. While it might have tasted fresher back in 2002, I'm not so sure about that....and it has not aged well in my opinion.

That said it's heart is in the right place, basking in the warmth of our great American melting pot.

The grandmother here not only takes care of two wayward generations, she carries the film. Much respect to Kieu Chinh. Her actual personal story sounds pretty amazing coming from Vietnam before the War there. Meanwhile there is also Bai Ling, who is gorgeous but struggles to wash away some of the soap opera dramatics inherent in her character. Again Bai Ling's real life story is pretty astounding from her days in China as a teenage actress onward. Lastly Kelly Yu completes the female line, and of course you're rooting for her, but she felt the most detached from her role.

Treach from Naughty by Nature fares the best of the male roles by a city mile, the other two are pretty cartoony. The dialog in general but especially for those men just hits some rough klunkers at times. I think that's where the Afterschool vibe kicks in.

Maybe had the film makers found a way to have Treach and Kieu Chinh on screen, they could have saved "Face."

One credit to the film, it does not try to tie up loose ends or put to pretty a bow on the parallel mother-daughter stories. That said, you can likely save time skipping "Face" at this point. Honestly I'm not sure how it bubbled up in my film queue, trying to figure out was there something about the music (which worked hard to kick up the volume of the story) or one of the actors?!?!