Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? Yes.
Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? Nah.
Note: “The Joy Luck Club” came out in 1993
Score: 3.5/5
Secret ending? No.
Running time: 139 minutes (~2.25 hours)
“The Joy Luck Club” is a drama that’s based on the book of the same name. It follows the stories of four Chinese immigrant mothers in America, and their daughters who are born and raised in America. It stars Kieu Chinh (Suyan Woo), Tsai Chin (Lindo Jong), France Nuyen (Ying-Ying St Clair), Lisa Lu (An-Mei Hsu), Ming-Na Wen (June Woo), Tamlyn Tomita (Waverly Jong), Lauren Tom (Lena St Clair), Rosalind Chao (Rose Hsu Jordan).
If “The Joy Luck Club” were made today, the casting would drive oversensitive critics into fits. It’s about four Chinese mothers and daughters, but the actual actresses span a gamut of races – Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese. It doesn’t impact the story or the final product anyway, and is a shining example of how we should all quit this whitewashing or racecasting debate that everyone loves to bring up. It’s about the performance, not the ethnicity, when it comes to films.
Highlights
Clash of cultures is applicable to any context, really
The clash between East and West isn’t just about Asians vs Americans (although being in Singapore we can certainly relate). Its also about the cultures of the young vs the traditional, and how learning to understand each other is what brings greater harmony and synergy to a relationship. But the way it’s given form, with Asian vs Western values, is something that anyone living in a globalised city will understand.
Lindo Jong is the classic tiger mum
Lindo (Tsai Chin) behaves exactly the way a kiasu mother would, what with her loud proclamations and boasting of her child’s prowess and her incredibly passive aggressive behaviour. It’s impossible to please Lindo, just as it’s impossible to please demanding parents, and again, anyone living in Singapore can attest to this. She’s the parent we all know, given form on film.
Rivalry between Waverly and June
I’m really not that sure how this frenemy thing works between females (although I’ve heard, on good authority, about how ladies can both be best friends and archenemies depending on the situation) but Waverly (Tamlyn Tomita) and June (Ming-Na Wen) certainly fit the description. Their passive aggressive putdowns combined with their genuine joy at each other’s life events is a strange, but I suppose accurate depiction of such relationships.
Letdowns
Ying Ying/Lena & An-Mei/Rose are much weaker stories
The problem with starting the story with the Woos and the Jongs is that they are the more compelling, stronger stories (and they also have better actresses in those roles), so the middle of the film sags, especially since the St Clairs and Hsus have the weaker performances. As a result, their stories feel like a poor facsimile of the earlier two stories.
Anthology style isn’t fully embraced nor it it rewritten in the conventional style
So the film is about four sets of mothers and daughters, so it splits the film into four and gives us four discrete stories. Yet it doesn’t do the anthology style that well because it tries to weave a semblance of a running narrative through all the four stories, without actually adhering to conventional plot structure. Perhaps there was no better way to do it, but sticking to one style or the other would have given stronger impact.
“The Joy Luck Club” is the story of family first, cultures second.
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