Around 60 minutes in, I found myself looking to my right and then left in the jam-packed Cinema Nine (150 seats) on this Saturday afternoon, surveying this audience which was made up of predominately caucasians. What amazed me was not how much they appeared to be invested in the film; it was that they collectively made the cinema A Quiet Place at this particular scene: two post-party conversations going parallel when both the Guy (Nick Young) and the Girl (Rachel Chu) are having a moment of clarity from the razzle dazzle of unabashed excess and for the first time reality begins to set in on them - this could end badly, simply because who Rachel are.
The audience cared maybe because firstly, they of course recongized Rachel as the archetypal Cinderella and secondly they recognized this moment in the proverbial rom-com: as the great Kurt Vonneget put it "Dwahn Dwahn Dwahn Dwahn... it takes twenty, thirty second for the grandfather clock to strike twelve. " ( Shapes of stories talk). In the context of this film, it involves nervewrecking text messaging and a gutted fish.
In the age when even Disney has foregone the idea of their princesses waiting for the princes to show up for the shoe fitting, we the audience expect nothing less than the strong, self-actualizing female protagonist dealing with her dillema head-on. This plucky working-class professor brings out her GAME face against the matriach Eleanor Young and enlists help from a progressive-era fairy godmother FAIRY(term of endearment) and sweeps her Prince Charming off his feet against the backdrop of the most impressive cinematic wedding, or wedding of any kind.
What's still more impressive than the women audience going misty eyes all at once, is this moment: Eleanor sees what's happening and she lets it sink in.
It's in these moments where seemingly nothing dramatic has happened but a course of action has been set in motion and the stakes are raised that I find Jon M. Chu, the director to be a Taichi master of conflict. Retracing all the exchanges in the film , never has the powerful Eleanor needed to raise her voice or use harsh words in order to completely devastate the hope of the idealist girl. She does it with attentiveness, honesty, precision in her choice of words and from a moral plain that's virtually untouchable - the sacrifices and obligation it takes to stay in a rich family and for the family to stay rich. In her own word - "we know how to build things that last". Say whatever you want about the class chasm and prejudices against the working class ,Eleanor is a great villain for the same reasons she is a great mother and gatekeeper of a set of values that sustain riches this crazy.
What do Rachel have on her side? Foundamentally speaking, she has nothing if she doesn't have an honest, devoted relationship with Prince Charming.
I always watch out for the phantom threads, clues and hints the storytellers chose to stitch in at the beginning of the story, which those who are unfamiliar or cynical to the rom-com genre tend to ignore. As far as premise of the story goes , what Rachel had in the beginning is a fixer upper of a man. Underneath all the dreaminess, Nick Young hides. He hid the wealth of his family, his intention and not for the good sports of a surprise engagement. It was a relationship built on mistrust. This time, it's up to Cinderella to coax the conventional gallantry out of Prince Charming and get him out of hiding.
What Rachel don't know (that the storytellers also left behind) is Eleanor's feeling of emptiness a patriach (in hiding from this film) left behind that contributes to her focus on her son. For all the backstory about what it took Eleanor and Nick's father to eventually be together, surely the woman hasn't forgotten but also has long craved that powerful, magical bond that can drive people to do crazy things, precisely what she recognized at her son's teary eyes during the wedding. Rachel has aquired a powerful ally by that moment - love and devotion from her man. As far as myth and fairytales are concerned, marriage is probably a higher order of calling that could eventually trump the duty for one's family. In that moment, Eleanor takes her discovery seriously. Nothing further needs to be spelled out for the audience.
I've always questioned the logic of Cinderella ever since I was a child and found faults in her ditching the prince when the clock strikes twelve. What's so unbearable about shedding the clothes of vanity? (let's not even go to the question of crystal shoe nothing turning into some straw slippers) It turns out the admission to duplicity in your appearances is a breach of trust - that could hurt relationship. In this story, Rachel is made innocent for she is also a victim, deceived by her own mother Kerry. Only when Kerry came out of hiding and revealed her unspeakable past, did Rachel regain full legitamcy to attaining her ally. Prince Charming's proposal would've ended the original Cinderella story here - but the world we are in today will not treat our storyteller kindly if they do so.
When it comes down to final showdown, there is no ALL IN in Mahjong. There is only Close but No Banana. Or One-tile-missing. My favourite scene of the movie is as elegant as it's endearing. For as a Chinese, I 've never like Mahjong for the rampant sabotaging opponents tend to do in order to prevent others getting a good, or god forbid the winning tile. Rachel turns the rule of the game on its head and embodies that final sacrificial act in a heroine's journey with her forfeiting of a winning tile. At this stage, any storyteller might be forced to do so to create a final low point. It takes a very special storyteller to do so from a position of power. Rachel refuses the proposal because she isn't afraid to lose - echoing the foreshadow in the poker game scenario at the beginning - she has the power,because even a nothing hand is a winning hand, if you have love on your side.
When the light goes up in the cinema, I hope the caucasian audience won't look at my face and automatically assume I feel right at home watching a movie full of Asian cast - I find the film's crazy rich culture as gaudy and over-the -top as anyone would, just as I find the chemistry convincing and drama emotionally engaging. Most of all, I find in the film the world of Men, is diminshed and objectified to a level comparable to models on a consumer magazine, not that I 'm complaining. Crazy Rich Asians has love at its heart, but is not a love story. It gives the center stage to this ensemble of beautiful, loving, capable, honest, wise, brave and above all RATIONAL heroines, reminding us all how this world of excessive contention can be a little less crazy, a little less decadent,if we can be a little bit more Asian and a little bit more feminine.
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