As a queer lady of East Asian descent who researches transnational queer media and tradition, Saving Face (2004), the debut characteristic via Alice Wu, holds a unique position in each my center and my analysis.
Set within the tightly knit Chinese language-American neighborhood of Flushing, New York, Saving Face follows Wil (Michelle Krusiec), a tender, promising but closeted surgeon whose in moderation balanced existence is thrown into chaos when her widowed mom, Hwei-Lan (Joan Chen), presentations up on her doorstep. Hwei-Lan is pregnant and has been banished via her neighborhood, and is refusing to call the daddy.
What unfolds is a tale that blends romantic comedy with drama. In addition to Wil’s budding dating with a dancer named Vivian (Lynn Chen), the movie explores the tensions between moms and daughters, identification and accountability, and the quiet power of silence and the worry of popping out.
However what makes Saving Face stand out 20 years after its free up is its portrayal of affection and circle of relatives – via a lens of tenderness and care. It was once one of the vital first mainstream movies to centre a queer Asian American lady.
The emotional center of the movie lies within the layered interaction between private need and cultural expectation, which is felt now not most effective via Wil but additionally via her mom. Whilst Wil is punctiliously exploring a same-sex romance, Hwei-Lan’s sudden being pregnant has left the circle of relatives reeling with disgrace. The movie explores how those two ladies of various generations are driven to accomplish “respectability”, at the same time as they lengthy for romance and self-determination on their very own phrases.
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This newsletter is a part of a chain highlighting good movies that are meant to be extra widely recognized and firmly a part of the canon of queer cinema .
In lots of East Asian societies, the speculation of “face” – an individual’s popularity, dignity and social forex – shapes the way in which they transfer throughout the global. To “lose face” is to lose one’s social status, bringing disgrace on oneself and one’s circle of relatives.
Rising up as a tomboyish daughter in Hong Kong, I used to be aware of how even my clothes, coiffure or mannerisms might be learn as a mirrored image of my oldsters’ good fortune or failure in elevating me. In different phrases, my gender expression may just make my circle of relatives lose face, one thing that queer ethnographer Denise Tang has additionally seen within the stories of her lesbian informants in Hong Kong. This social power – the way in which neighbours stare and communicate, the way in which circle of relatives popularity hinges on on a regular basis interplay – can also be onerous.
And prefer Wil within the movie, I channelled my power into instructional fulfillment. This was once most likely to catch up on my (unspoken-yet-socially recognised) queerness, to end up my price and save face – each mine and my circle of relatives’s. In environments the place silence is most well-liked, excelling turns into a type of camouflage – some way of negotiating who you might be with no need to mention it aloud.
Wu’s movie captures this completely. Each Wil and her mom are stuck in webs of expectation: to be the “dutiful daughter” and “respectable mother”.
However what I like about Saving Face is that it doesn’t demonise tradition or neighborhood. As a substitute, it invitations audience to witness how love – queer love, maternal love, self-love – can enlarge our figuring out of what it way to belong. The mum-daughter dynamic is solely as central because the romantic plot, and it’s uncommon to peer this type of intergenerational, diasporic storytelling rendered with such care and charm.
Shot on 35mm, Saving Face is a visible pleasure. The nice and cozy, lived-in colors and cushy, quiet richness give the movie a undying, intimate really feel. There’s a restrained class to Wu’s route that we could the emotional currents breathe.
The movie explores the affection between a mom and daughter as Wil and her mom, Hwei-Lan (Joan Chen), are shoved in combination via her mom’s unplanned being pregnant.
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Joan Chen is magnetic as Wil’s mom, bringing sudden comedic appeal along poignancy. Krusiec and Lynn Chen, as Wil and Vivian, deliver a nuanced chemistry that feels authentic. Their connection has all of the longing and awkwardness that makes a romcom paintings, with out falling into cliché.
Regardless of its cult standing in queer Asian and Sinitic-language communities, Saving Face remains to be frequently overlooked of broader LGBTQ+ movie canons – even if it was once lately added to the Criterion Assortment, recognized for curating important vintage and fresh cinema. However it will have to now not be.
This movie is excess of a “representation win”. It’s a pointy, humorous and emotionally wealthy tale that complicates the binary between private freedom and accountability. And queer Asian characters are nonetheless hardly ever portrayed with this a lot nuance, complexity – and pleasure.
For audience unfamiliar with the cultural backdrop, Saving Face gives a glimpse into the negotiations many people make inside of households and communities who prioritise unity and silence over disruption. For the ones folks who know this global in detail, the movie is a present. This is a reputation that our stories aren’t most effective legitimate, however gorgeous.
