Monday, March 20, 2006
Red Doors
"Red Doors" is not a bad melodrama with some dark humor here and there. The Wongs is a traditional yet dysfunctional Chinese family with three daughters living in the suburbs of New York City. The eldest Samantha is a successful business woman who is about to get married to a Yale graduate. The middle one Julie is a shy medical student who fells in love with an actress. The youngest Katie is a rebellious high school student who expresses her affection to her high school mate in the most bizarre way. Not enough drama? Here comes the quiet dad, Ed, who overcomes his own crisis due to the newly retirement life by either watching his daughters' childhood videos or tried to kill himself.
They have done everything to bless the best fortune for the family, including the red door at the front gate. But things don't seem always go the way they have hoped for. This film does a great job on examining the conflicts and confusions in these characters' minds with superb performance from the cast. But I simple can't get over with the fact that there is no Asian man in this film except the dad. All three daughters date Caucasians, even Julie dates a white chick! If the story were set in Kansas or Alabama, it would have been understandable because Asian men don't want to live there. But New York? I can't help but to feel unsettling with this "arrangement." Other than that, it's not a bad film. My rating: 7 out of 10. |
