After I’ve read the NYT article for Alice Wu’s Saving Face, I thought it’s definitely “perfectly bizarre” that this movie starring a huge Asian American cast was written and produced. Not surprised to hear that some producers tried to make the charters white just like how they did with Crazy Rich Asians. I’m glad Wu stood her ground and insisted that things like an Asian cast and having the characters converse in Mandarin Chinese are nonnegotiable. The title of the movie itself signals a distinct Chinese origin. We Chinese often use the word “face” to denote dignity, which isn’t too bizarre to understand - we are all guilty of judging everyone by how they look or present themselves in this materialistic world. And “losing face” is the term elders love to deploy to describe us youngsters when we are about to do something that will bring “dishonor to the family.”
With the film dealing with themes like homosexuality and out-of-wedlock birth, it’s not difficult to ascertain why this movie is all about “saving face.” Those two themes are seen as behaviors that will make a family lose face in a traditional and conservative Chinese culture. I think the film mostly adheres to the stylistic conventions of Hollywood filmmaking. Continuity editing, adherence to the rule of thirds, a linear style of narrative, an invisible style of cutting, are all characteristic of “Saving Face” and also classic Hollywood films. I think this film is just like any of the movies from the romance or drama genre we see today. Something you can watch on a Friday night over popcorn. I did notice the framing in some of the scenes is interesting though - the characters seem to be framed on both sides of the shot by something as if they are boxed in. This is reminiscent of the mise-en-scene in Wong Kar Wai’s In The Mood of Love where critics speculate the framing to mean that the characters are restricted in their freedom to move and think. They are confined in a tiny box called social conformity just like how Ma and Wil are blocked from following their hearts to “save face”.
The colors are typical of a movie we’ll see produced in the 2000s, but the music and tone of the movie are something I didn’t expect. I guess this can be seen as both a formal and thematic challenge to conventional stories about Asian families and the LGBT community. I had thought the movie was going to be depressing given the themes it will be dealing with, but it's a pleasant surprise to find that the film finds moments to humor the audience and keeps the overall tone of the movie light and sometimes playful even. The plot twist involving the mother is shocking and hilarious to say the least, and even Wil and Vivian get to reunite and reignite their sparks once again. After the failed wedding, my prediction would be that the mother-daughter duo would’ve become exiles from the family who will lead much happier lives than when they are not because they are not restrained by the family’s code of honor anymore. Again, a pleasant surprise to find that they are at the end celebrated for their fortitude to violate the ridiculous code. Wu did challenge the conventional Chinese family traditions here by saying “screw the obligation to please your parents to “save their faces”, go live your own life.” I’m not sure if the language is counted as part of a movie’s formal elements, but I appreciate that most of the characters spoke in Mandarin as they would in real life, and the things they discussed in their conversations are on point, albeit most of the time insufferable.
As a viewer, it does matter to me whether the film challenges any conventional Hollywood filmmaking formally and thematically. So many movies these days follow the same rules and result in repetitious and identical storylines and themes. The premise of Saving Face in itself is already a direct challenge to the conventional Hollywood movie that almost always centers around white characters. And I enjoyed savoring this masterpiece very much. I guess this means that I would appreciate a refreshing narrative more than unique formal techniques.
As for the question of representation - I’ve actually just done extensive research into the representation of Asian women on Hollywood screen a few weeks ago and found, to no one’s surprise, Asians and Asian Americans have been severely underrepresented in the popular culture, and even if we are seen on screen, our personalities have most likely been reduced to harmful stereotypes that would only serve to perpetuate prejudice and bias against us. Even though I’m Malaysian Chinese and spent most of my life growing up in Malaysia, I have been pushed to consume Hollywood entertainment since I was a kid. I was so enamored by it to the point I was literally ashamed that I was Asian and had boring black hair and eyes. There are times when I wish I was white and that I was living in America or Europe and not a “lame” country in Southeast Asia. Not seeing people who look like me onscreen made me feel invisible as if my identity as an Asian girl/woman is insignificant and shouldn’t exist in pop culture. As a teenager, I thought liking American movies and celebrities are the coolest things ever, and I would torture myself over excelling in English lessons, hoping people would one day someone would praise me for sounding like an American. (Cringe, I know.) It took me a long time to realize the detrimental effect this infatuation had on my self-image and even longer time to cultivate an appreciation for my own culture. I’m glad to say that I’m exceedingly proud of my own cultural identity today. Representation matters, and I say this with conviction because I was and still am part of a group that is underrepresented on screen since the inception of Hollywood cinema.