SYNOPSIS

Director｜Alice Wu

Screenwriter｜Alice Wu

Cast｜Michelle Krusiec, Joan Chen, Lynn Chen

Producer｜Will Smith, James Lassiter, Teddy Zee

Cinematographer｜Harlan Bosmajian

Genre｜Featured film

Length｜91min

Year｜2004

Dialogue｜English, Chinese

Subtitles｜English

Region｜United States

Production Company｜Destination Films, Overbrook Entertainment, Forensic Films, GreeneStreet Films

Synopsis

Wilhemina (Wil) Pang is a lesbian Chinese American surgeon living in Manhattan. While she hides her sexuality and her budding relationship with Chinese American ballerina Vivian Shing from her traditionalist family, her widowed mother, Hwei-lan Gao, referred to as “Ma” in conversations, is also dealing with her love secret – a scandalous pregnancy with a man she refuses to name. Banished from her parent’s home in Flushing, Ma moves into Wil’s apartment for refuge. Tension grows in the house as Wil tries to maintain her underground relationship with her same-sex lover, who is more forthright about her gayness and is slowly starting to lose patience with Wil’s indecisiveness. As Wil joins the family’s mission to find her mother a suitable man to father the love child, she also starts to discover her mother’s desires and regrets. The story resolves in a happy ending with both of the heroines united with their lovers. This feel-good rom-com captures two generations of Chinese American women juggling their personal love interests and the honor, or the “face,” of their family.

Director Biography

Studied computer science at MIT and Stanford University, where she received her bachelors and masters degrees. Left a job designing software at Microsoft to write and direct her first film, Saving Face, which premiered at the Toronto and Sundance Film Festivals, where it was acquired and released by Sony Pictures Classics.

Director’s Statement

None.