Pushing Hands

The adage of "Great things come in small packages" aptly applies to PUSHING HANDS/TUI SHOU. The film deftly tells its story with charm, humor and grace. A son's elderly father is the newest part of the family, and troubles therein lie. Essentially, it's a story of one family, yet could easily fit into many households. So many topics are breached, under the gentle, loving eye of the director (Ang Lee). The leads, the venerable Sihung Lung, Deb Snyder and Bo Z. Wang, do a credible job bringing this story to life. Recommended.

Tuei Sho(Pushing Hands) is Ang Lee's first film after graduation, and the first episode of his "Triad of Father." In spite of its status as an early work, it manifests subtlety, elegance and articulation in narration style constantly seen in his latter works. Everyone, whether seen this film or not, can tell that it's about the bondage and gap of affection, relation and interaction within family, but it's more than that. It also tells about culture, not only the apparent differentiation, but the shift within a man's life, the time and the whole modern history of China. If you understand Chinese(language, culture and history), it is delicately overwhelming. If not, it's still amiable and a bit exotic. Tuei Sho is so worth viewing and contemplating again and again.

Sihung Lung, the actor who played Master Chu, the aging tai chi master, gave a very convincing and sincere performance in this film. It was no wonder that he won the Golden Horse (Taiwan's equivalent for the Oscars) for Best Actor in this film. His performance was extremely touching, as tears jerked into my eyes as I see an aging and traditional Chinese father trying to get along with his westernized family while also trying to adjust to life in a new place and culture. The film encourages people, especially new immigrants, to emphasize and put themselves in their parents' shoes. Try to understand how difficult it is for them to come and settle in a new place and try not to push them away. Be patient with them, take a step back and everything may be better.

The movie title, "Pushing Hands", is very appropriate, as this is the term for an exercise in tai chi in which a person achieves balance by giving up balance. In this non-aggressive exercise between 2 people, a person offers no resistance at all to the pressure or push that the other person is exerting and keeps borrowing this strength until they feel they have fused into one and thus have achieved harmony. This was what Master Chu did. Although his daughter-in-law kept misunderstanding him, causing much discontent and eventually got his son to try to sent him away, he offered no resentment or a temper tantrum. He simply walked away gracefully. This action caused his son to appreciate him and remember why he got his father to live together in the first place in a tear jerking scene and finally they worked out a solution. They decided to give each other space by living separately instead of pushing each other away. In the end everyone was much happier, as even the daughter-in-law learned to accept the father, symbolized by her decorating the guest room for him and asking the question if he would ever visit. The father achieved the balance that he seek in Tai-Chi.

Ang Li is simply amazing and sensational. He did what he could with the limited budget and created a very warm and tear jerking film. Although this film was not the highest quality (the version I saw was very unclear and skips sometimes) and it could feel slow at times, especially the beginning sequence, the film was a great work in directing. The film picked up its pace after the slow beginning without any big fighting scenes or explosions and never felt boring afterwards. Also, from the beginning sequence, where he was able to show the dissension and gap between the daughter-in-law and the father by using just different scenes and visuals, to scenes throughout the film where he used lighting and different camera angles to show the internal pain and sadness that the father experience, it was, simply put, a great piece of art considering the budget. It showcased the talent of Li and gave the audience a glimpse of the man who would bring us the memorable Couching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Rarely have I seen the highest level of martial arts, internal kung-fu, portrayed in it's proper perspective. It is hard these days for people to realize that 'soft' style kung-fu will enable an old man to defeat many young men without much effort. With all the silly 'wire-fu' out there in the movies most people have no idea that there is a subtle way to defeat strength through 'chi energy' power lines.

There is no question that Ang Lee has the ability to put kung-fu back at the top of the martial art world. Through his well thought out story line and his perfect blend of drama and comedy he has taken a deep look at the struggle that exists today for thousands of people as they care for their elderly parents. This is truly a movie that can bond many generations.

When I was in class that day, I asked the students what did the "pushing hand" say? Almost all of them, including those who haven't seen "Pushing Hands", answer the collision between Chinese and Western cultures, so I wonder why it is so unified. After reading Baidu Encyclopedia, I understand! What is the "homesickness" is indeed the standard of the central idea, but there is no performance in the movie, and it is not allowed to pay for the payment. Inserting a digression, about the very interesting thing about this film, on the day of the release of "Pusher", the box office was flat. On the same day, I won nine nominations at the Golden Horse Award, and after winning the best actor, supporting actress and special prize, the box office immediately after the next day. Big rise. It seems that we have to hear about it, only to know it. After reading the comments, we know what the movie is about? "Pushing Hands" Virgo is often the most like the author himself, so "Pushing Hands" is very good, and the sharp parts are hidden under the gentle and popular narrative. The whole film is staring at Lao Zhu alone, so look at "Pushing Hands" and see Lao Zhu. Taijiquan Professor Zhuo-Taiji Pusher, in the words of Lao Zhu in the film, is: We practice the inner family, pay attention to refining the spirit, practicing the spirit, and waiting for the level of refining the spirit, it is very It's hard to practice again. Lao Zhu is an old man who admits to lose. I practiced pushing my hand to teach Lao Zhu at this level, but I feel that life has become utterly weak. The loneliness and emptiness faced after retirement were all due to the reason that the son came to the United States, and the son married the wife of the foreign woman. All the pressure was passed on to his son and he could see it in the next minute. So Lao Zhu did not accept his life and wanted to fight. Teaching Tai Chi in Chinatown, the action after meeting Chinese Mrs. Chen is completely like a boy in first love. Later, after the hope was shattered, Lao Zhu still refused to admit defeat and left home! This "jailbreak" failed again. In the face of the humiliation of the restaurant owner, Lao Zhu's bloody Fang's defeat of the "enemy" still lost his cultivation.