My American Vacation

I had the pleasure of watching this film during one of it's public screenings. I guess it screens for families at a school in my neigborhhod pretty frequently. A great idea since it's not a film that I have to feel dragged to for my daughter's sake. It really is a FAMILY FILM.

I brought my mother and my young daughter to the screening and all of us fell in love with it. And found ourselves laughing on the way out of the screening! Mostly because we could totally relate to the characters, who are similarly three generations of Chinese women.

The story is about three generations of one family who go on a vacation in a goofy trailer. Tsai Chin, who was Lindo in the Joy Luck Club, is just as hilarious and collected as she was in that movie as the mother who keeps everyone together. (My mother who doesn't understand that much English was saying after how she is so like her.) And my daughter feel in love with the actress who plays Kim Miyori's daughter.

The film is beautiful. The scenic shots are absolutely stunning.

There are wonderful shots of Taiwan and then beautiful sweeping shots of the campground where the finally park.

I think it is being distributed on video and will probably purchase a couple of copies for my family and one for my daughter's school.

Finally a women's movie, a family movie, and a fun movie-- all in one! Two thumbs up!

Even the presence of well known stage actress Tsai Chin fails to save this movie that starts brightly but tails off into a mundane and predictable fare. The story centers on Grandma Lee's(Tsai Chin) visit to the US to see the families of her two Chinese daughters, Ming Yee and Ming Na, played ironically by two Japanese actresses, Kim Miyori and Deborah Nishimura.

The whole gang then decides to take a vacation by driving a caravan to the rocky mountains in Colorado. It's not the destination that is important but the opportunity for all of them to spend 'quality time' together. Grandma and her two daughters discover that they really don't know one another. The two sisters bicker throughout but a near tragic accident brings the family together again.

This movie starts with a refreshing comedic feel that raises a few good chuckles, but sadly this deteriorates badly once the maudlin and sentimental stuff came along. The conclusion is an anti-climax and you just don't feel like you've watched anything worthwhile, unlike the excellent Ang Lee film 'Eat Drink Man Woman', which was both funny and heartwarming.

I totally enjoyed this vacation captured by filmmaker VV Hsu. A film about three generations of women with mother played by Tsai Chin (whom I loved in the Joy Luck Club)coming from China to take a real "American Vacation" with two sibling sisters and a 7-year old granddaughter as well as one lonely 'husband' in the cramped quarters of an RV - you can only imagine some of the conflicts that arise.

The complex and interesting relationship between these three generations of women as well as the side-show relationship of the two sisters cuts across all ethnic lines and this could be any family on a vacation - we can all relate to these relationships. And these women really kick up a storm in this movie.

I especially enjoyed some of the quiet moments of the trips as each would go off by themselves to capture private moments. At the end of this film I truly felt as if I too had been on a vacation.

And the post cards and letters that Tsai Chin's character wrote to her friends back in China about the successes of her family (in direct contrast to what was actually happening) was hilarious. It was especially wonderful to see one of her friends in China played by talented actress Beulah Quo - she radiates her charm in this cameo role and brings the friends alive in their letters from their friend from America.

There are so few films that address matters of the heart and things that matter. This one moved me to those deep soft places in your heart that you keep hidden to the world. When you see this film it takes us to our own families with our lost dreams, jealousies and hidden desires and helps us to seek our own hidden treasures - you suddenly feel your heart wild and alive again.

When you feel you really need time out - need a vacation, watch My American Vacation the scenes are beautiful and Hsu captures the mood of vacationing and seeing the countryside in an RV - you will feel you have been on a majestic and beautiful trip on the inside as well as on the outside!

I found this to be a very touching film about a Chinese-American family that makes new discoveries about themselves when they take a vacation together. VV Dachin Hsu, the writer-director, must be applauded for having the strength to write and produce a film about a Chinese- American family, and if more people had her vision, then maybe there would be more and better roles for all Asian - American actors. The cast in My American Vacation, are all proven veterans of film and stage that help bring the story to life. We feel their pain, we feel their joy. Their acting coupled with an evocative and inventive score, composed by Joel Iwataki, has me waiting in anticipation of Ms. Hsu's next film.

Enjoyable movie. A family adventure. Well written and directed, and beautifully acted by a stellar cast. A good sense of humor and fine details about the mix-ups of contemporary family life. If you're tired of the usual big Hollywood noisemakers, then watch this one.