"Wedding Banquet" is a work by the famous Chinese director Ang Lee, who won the Golden Bear Award and the Golden Horse Award for Best Picture at the Berlin Film Festival. Dealing with homosexuality with the unique ethical point of view of the Chinese people, a series of contradictory impulses in the film, but the director kindly told a tragedy by accident and turned it into a happy comedy. The story describes Wei Tongyuan living in the United States with his male friend Simon, but he is constantly urged by his parents in Taiwan to get married soon. What is more unexpected is that his parents came to the United States to force the marriage, and Wei Tong had to rent him. The mainland female painter of the house Wei Wei agreed to fake marriage. In the case of a big trouble in the bridal chamber, Weitong and Weiwei do a fake show, and Weiwei is pregnant with Weitong's child. After many twists and turns, the traditional parents accepted the fact that their son was gay, and Simon also agreed to be Weiwei’s godfather.
The director of the film "Face" should be little known. Her name is Wu Siwei, a second-generation Chinese immigrant from California. "Face" is her debut work written and directed by her. Before that, she obtained a master's degree in computer science from Stanford University and worked as a software engineer in a small company in Seattle. Out of his hobby of literary creation, he began to write novels, which gradually evolved into scripts. She quit her job and came to New York to start a systematic film study. The movie was born 5 years later. At first I saw that the introduction of this film made a good "lesbian" film, but after watching it, it was not the case. Set in the Chinese community in New York, the film describes the relationship between Chinese family members and the contradictions and struggles caused by differences in ideological concepts from the perspective of a young Chinese woman born and raised in the United States.
Both "The Wedding Banquet" and "Mianzi" highlight the bizarre development and changes caused by the collision of Chinese and Western cultural concepts through the special phenomenon of homosexuality. The directors of the two films are both Chinese who have lived for a long time or even grew up overseas. They are well aware of the differences between this ethnic group in such a Western society. They pay more attention to the conflict of different life behavior values and moral concepts, and use their The way is presented in the movie. This is probably the main reason why I think of "The Wedding Banquet" after watching "Face".
There is no detailed comparison between the two films, but two more macroscopic impressions are recalled in my mind. After some comparisons, the two films have the same attention and some obvious similarities. After the treatment, there are huge differences in expression and content, which is worth pondering.
Conflicts between parents and children, conflicts of ideas, differences in environments, as well as conflicts between new lifestyles and traditional ideas, all these conflicts, these kinds of contradictions may appear in any ordinary Chinese family. They are different. It's just that the forms of expression are different. In "The Wedding Banquet", these conflicts are concentrated through the sexual orientation of his son Weitong. On the one hand, it is self, on the other hand, it is the traditional respect and observance of the parents' ideas. When the two exist at the same time, the contradiction gradually unfolds. Come. Like the title "Wedding Banquet", a very Chinese word, when placed in the box of "America", gives this contradiction a special variation.
Although "Face" also has the issue of daughter's sexual orientation, it has been weakened by the director a lot. The self-suppression that children and parents obey has produced subtle differences among the three generations. As a native American, her daughter Xiaowei has her own independent character and life values despite the influence of Chinese family traditions. The love between her and Vivian has not been extremely alienated or discriminated, nor has it caused extremes. Contradictions and conflicts are even expressed in a more tender tone. As a young American who should live independently at the age of 18, Xiao Wei hopes that his mother can be like a bird hiding behind a wooden tree, strictly abide by the timetable, and appear at the place where it should appear at the time of appearance, not at any time. Disturb your life. The daughter grows up to be independent and no longer needs the mother’s care, but the mother still spares no effort to care, and always looks like a child who can’t control her, seizing every opportunity to give her daughter more care in all aspects in the wrong way . The mother is the daughter of another father. The relationship between the mother and the grandfather is to abide by the children and obey the orders of the parents. The mother lives in the grandfather's house and obeys all the arrangements of the grandfather. The most feared thing is to shame the grandfather.
Just like the name of the film "Face", the biggest focus of the film is on the Chinese people's outlook on face. No one wants to lose face, and everyone wants to save their face. In addition to the problems of homosexuality and children’s independence in life and choice and the parents’ dependence on their children, the film also includes immigrant society such as year-end love, unmarried first pregnancy, single mothers, blind dates, love and marriage, love and personal development, etc. The various problems encountered show that generations of immigrants have struggled and transformed from adhering to traditional cultural concepts and transitioning to accepting American culture. Such conflicts and transformations sometimes bring some sadness and misery, but in the end, a new generation of Chinese people are challenged. Get free from certain shackles.
Compared with Face In exchange for the U.S. green card, many illegal immigrants in the U.S. are willing to exchange fake marriages for a long-term green card. At the beginning of the film, Simon’s friend called him a rabbit. Was not accepted; his father told Simon not to tell Wei Tong that he knew everything, which embodies a kind of forbearance of the Chinese; the old generation’s respect for face; the two elderly people show the mutual relationship between the old couple Respect and love each other; and slightly show the young girl's mastery of their own destiny and the attitude of daring to love and hate and so on.
The scenes between these bits and pieces in "The Wedding Banquet" are intentionally weakened by the director to emphasize the main part of the contradiction, so it will not give people a very deep impression. The difference between "Mianzi" is that she uses her own tender way of self-deprecating to show the life of this ethnic group in an atmosphere of self-preservation, and some so-called bad habits in the Chinese community are also warmly talked about. It became ridiculous but very cute.
If "The Wedding Banquet" is about the contradictions in the life of the first generation of immigrants, then "Mianzi" is a portrayal of the life of the second generation of immigrants. The traditional contradictions are still going on, but one can be seen in a continuation. Hopeful change. These two films are like stories told to us by first- and second-generation immigrants. We can always hear the past, hear the present, and imagine the near future.
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