Saving Face

Wil is a talented Manhattan doctor, with a bright future and a budding
relationship with Vivian, a witty and beautiful dancer. A second
generation Chinese immigrant, she's hit over the head with the cultural
familial obligation stick when her mother shows up on her doorstep with
nowhere else to go. Ma, a 48 year old unmarried widow, is pregnant, won't
disclose the father's identity, and has been thrown out of her parents'
home, instructed to find a husband or never return.

Wil's frustration at having to share a small apartment with her mother is
only intensified by her reluctance to share the truth about her
relationship, and this mother-daughter dynamic is what drives the film,
masterfully using the strict social norms and obligations of the
Chinese-American community to turn a mirror upon Society at large.

Half in (subtitled) Mandarin and half in English, it requires a certain
amount of attention, but the script merges the two seamlessly - and indeed,
the film is almost worth watching just for that.

For an indie film, it neither looks nor sounds like one - it has a jazzy,
crowd-pleasing soundtrack and well-polished cinematography (although some
scenes are very low-lit). With a snappy script and well-paced plot, 'Saving
Face' is that rare beast: a lesbian-themed movie that's actually a good
film.

The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2004, finally reaching
the UK at the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival in April this year.
Sadly, it hasn't made the cut for the Edinburgh run of the Fest, but as it's already out on DVD you can still seek it out - and should.

The DVD contains a few extras: two short documentaries (a "behind the
scenes" and a Sundance video diary), deleted scenes, and a director's
commentary. The shorts contain some interesting snippets, although they're
mostly the director gushing about her three leads and how fabulous and
talented and sexy they are, which is fair. The deleted scenes are nothing
too special, and it's easy to see why they were left out, but the director's commentary is well-worth listening to, as Wu has a lot to say about how she shot the picture and why.

Saving Face is Alice Wu's first writing and directorial outing (no pun
intended), and it bodes well for future efforts. [Morag Hannah]