Saving Face

What is it with Asians and melodrama? In old world Asian culture, it's all about saving face. Respect. In director Alice Wu's debut feature, Saving Face, Michelle Krusiec (in her first leading role) stars as Wil, a young surgeon in New York going through her residency. At a Chinese community social event, Wil first notices Vivian (newcomer Lynn Chen), a seductive ballet dancer. Vivian becomes the catalyst in Wil's sexual awakening, and the two eventually end up as lovers. At the same time, her mom (Joan Chen) is going through her own problems, finding out she's pregnant in her late 40's. Her old world dad, needless to say, is furious and, yes, embarrassed. Ma ends up barging in on Wil's life, which turns out to be perfect timing as both have sudden heavy issues they're forced to deal with.

Krusiec pulls off the lesbian bit quite well; she's cute-demure and tomboyish, and almost the kind of girl guys dream about getting with. Though audiences are used to seeing Joan Chen in sexy roles, she is believable as a single pregnant mother. Across the board, the East-meets-West protagonists all bring empathic performances without shoving the melodrama aspect in your face. The comedic elements pop in at the right moments throughout. At the beginning, you might think you're watching a strange and fluffy Asian and American hybrid melodrama, then suddenly, whoa, lesbian sex scene! Then, at the end, we get one surprise ending (which should've had the impact of a depth charge, but I won't complain), and another one that takes a detour before arriving at the inevitable. It's as if Wu was intent on deconstructing the whole idea of trite Asian melodrama. There's definitely nothing wrong with that. Saving Face is an impressively strong debut that, despite its taboo themes, should please anyone with an open-minded heart.

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