Official Synopsis
Four older women, all Chinese immigrants living in San Francisco, meet regularly to play mahjong, eat, and tell stories. Each of these women has an adult Chinese-American daughter. The film reveals the hidden pasts of the older women and explores cultural conflict and the relationships between mothers and daughters. The film is structured as a series of vignettes told from the perspectives of the different women.
While you can certainly file this under ‘chick flick’, you will find lots of value in the film’s message, even if you are a dude. Seeing the mother/daughter relationship strain as the younger daughters strive not to become their mothers is funny at times, and simply heartbreaking in other moments. On the flip side to that coin, you also get to see the daughters discovering who their mothers are and what they might have went through to get where they ended up. Each story is told through the eyes of the mother, though the stories end up bridging into their young daughters’ lives. I guess that’s the majesty of this movie, how you go from not knowing anything about the characters to knowing everything about them. It’s as if you’re getting the reveal just as much and as soon as the daughters, and it’s just as powerful to you as it is the characters.
The story that is the centerpiece to the film is June’s (played by Ming-Na Wen), whose mother died before she got to know her. Her tale is unfinished thanks to her mom’s death, and one that she must complete, but has to push the other stories along to get completed.
What I really liked about The Joy Luck Club, outside of the powerful storytelling, is how they didn’t set out to make it this sad drama. Writer Amy Tan wrote the original novel and helped with the screenplay. Director Wayne Wang made sure to keep the sad moments balanced with the happy, which makes this type of film high in replay value. Sure there are some great downer moments, like when Lindo (played by the very talented Tsai Chin) tortures her poor daughter Waverly to play chess to the point where the daughter becomes rebellious and sassy (hilarious street scene). It takes that and balances it out with how chess is resolved and how young Waverly understands why her mother did what she did. There’s a balance, but the ending is the exception to that balance. This is one of the few movies that still gets to me at the end, and it’s not a bad ending. You get to see June’s mother Suyuan (played by Kieu Chinh) conclude her story as her daughter is concluding her story. It’s quite powerful and will cause you to cry (guaranteed).
How this movie didn’t get nominated for an Academy Award is beyond me, but it certainly deserved it in the writing and acting departments respectfully. Add this film to your list of ‘must-haves’ in your movie collection, yes even if you’re a dude.
As for the Blu-ray portion of the review, it’s good, but not great. While I think this movie deserved a bit more love from the Disney folks, it did turn out well. There are moments of graininess in the film, especially with the more blue tinted scenes, but overall it’s a pretty good transfer. The reds, yellows, grays and blacks turn out very well. They’re crisp and clean. I wish the film had a bit more care to it, though, as it certainly deserves a bit more love in the transfer department.
As for the features… there are none. It’s a shame. No commentary, no behind-the-scenes — zilch. Of course, the film is $20, so it’s tough to argue about the lack of features.