I join the CTV NewsChanel to talk about the Lucy Liu heartbreaker “Rosemead,” the historical drama “The Choral” and the family dynamics of “Father Mother Sister Brother” and the feelgood divorce movie “Is This Thing On?”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to make the bed! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the Lucy Liu heartbreaker “Rosemead,” the historical drama “The Choral” and the family dynamics of “Father Mother Sister Brother.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: In “Rosemead,” a new based-on-a-true-story drama now playing in theatres, Lucy Liu plays a terminally ill widow who struggles to support her son as his symptoms of schizophrenia intensify.
CAST: Lucy Liu, Lawrence Shou, Orion Lee, Jennifer Lim, Madison Hu and James Chen. Directed by Eric Lin.
REVIEW: “Rosemead” gives star Lucy Liu her first leading role in a drama, and she makes the most of it. Raw and ultimately harrowing, it is the performance of her career.
Set in Gabriel Valley, California, “Rosemead” focusses on terminally ill Chinese immigrant Irene (Lui), and Joe, her 17-year-old son. Once a star athlete, a recent diagnosis of schizophrenia has left him paranoid, hallucinating and violently acting out.
As his interest in school shootings intensifies, Irene, who has kept her son’s deteriorating mental state a secret for fear of stigma, is given a devastating diagnosis of her own. With just months to live and her guardianship of Joe coming to an end on his upcoming eighteenth birthday, she goes to extremes to protect him from an uncertain future. “This is Irene Chao,” she tells 911, “I’m at Sunset Hills Motel. Something has happened.”
“Rosemead’s” shocking conclusion, based on true events, will certainly spark moral and ethical debates. (NO SPOILERS HERE, BUT BE CAREFUL) Intensely disturbing, if this was a work of pure fiction, it might be accused of, at the very best, of being the most downbeat ending we’re likely to see this year, or, at worst, an emotionally manipulative depiction of desperation.
As it is, director Eric Lin and screenwriter Marilyn Fu’s nonjudgmental and restrained treatment of the shocking real-life events allow the unexpected ending to retain its power without feeling exploitive. Seen in context, disturbing as it may be, it is a sensitive portrait of a person driven to the unimaginable by fear. The ending’s violence isn’t excused or supported. If anything, the ending is an opening for further conversation on the effects of stigma, illness and grief in this catastrophe.
“Rosemead” doesn’t pull any punches in its unflinching depiction of Joe’s mental illness but doesn’t quite go far enough in explaining the teenager’s obsession with school shootings. The portrait painted of Joe’s schizophrenia is roughhewn, without much nuance.
The same cannot be said about Liu’s unvarnished take on Irene. She digs deep, getting under the skin of a character at her breaking point, pushed to the unconceivable. Quietly powerful, her work reveals depths unseen in her more mainstream work.
“Rosemead’s” story is tragedy upon tragedy, so don’t buy a ticket to fortify your soul. This is a grim movie, without a ray of sunshine to be seen, but in its heartbreak, there is compassion, no matter how misguided.
You can tell Pixar’s “Turning Red,” a charming new animated film now streaming on Disney+, was directed by someone who grew up in Toronto. Academy Award® winning director Domee Shi includes such staples of city life as a TTC pass and the CN Tower, but it is her reference to the Skydome, the original and only proper name, of the arena now known as the Rogers Center, that cements her Hogtown bona fides.
Meilin Lee (voice of Rosalie Chiang), the movie’s main character, is a free spirit in a traditional family. She likes to dance, hangout with her friends and she especially loves the boy band 4*Town. “Ever since I turned thirteen,” she says, “I’ve been doing my own thing.”
She is navigating the line between dutiful daughter to mother Ming (voice of Sandra Oh) and nonconformist. “Number one rule in my family is honor your parents,” she says, “but, if you take it too far you might forget to honor yourself.”
Everything changes for Meilin one morning after she has a nightmare and before you can say, “Poof!,” she changes into a giant red panda. Hearing a commotion upstairs, Ming investigates. “You are a woman now and your body is starting to change,” she says through the door to her obviously upset daughter.
When the truth of the situation is revealed, Ming is not surprised. Turns out the panda transformation runs in the family, usually following some kind of emotional episode. Unless Meilin wants to be a shapeshifter for the rest of her life, she has to listen to her parents. “There is a darkness to the panda,” says Mei’s father Jin Lee (Orion Lee). “You only have one chance to banish it. And you cannot fail, otherwise you’ll never be free.”
A special ceremony can cure her of the plight, but it must be performed under the red moon, which is one month away, the same night as the big 4*Town show at the Skydome.
“Turning Red” is an imaginatively animated movie that will make your eyeballs dance. Toronto is lovingly recreated and the characters have personality to burn. Mei’s alter ego, the giant red panda, is equal parts terrifying and adorable, a metaphor for puberty come to life, writ large. Topped off with great voice work from Chiang and Oh, it’s a Pixar worthy effort that can sit on the shelf next to the classics like “Up,” “WALL-E’ and “Toy Story.”
The coming-of-age story is equally well handled. The importance of family is a key message, like it is in many kid’s movies, but it is Shi’s sensitive (and very funny) lessons of asserting and being true to yourself that set it apart. Mei feels smothered by the overprotective Ming, but she sticks up for herself, even if it is scary. “I’m changing mom,” she says. “I’m afraid it will take me away from you.”
“Don’t hold back, for anyone,” replies Ming. ”The farther you go, the prouder I’ll be.”
It’s more touching and more nuanced than you might expect from a film about a young girl who changes into a panda, but “Turning Red” is that movie. It is unafraid to be silly, serious and heartfelt, often at the same time. It’s a lovely, insightful portrait of the chaos of being a kid and how respect, family and friends (and a little boy band music) can help smooth out the wild ride. Oh, and Toronto has rarely looked better on screen!
“After Yang,” a new sci fi film starring Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith now playing in theatres, is about a sentient robot life, but the firepower of humanoid android movies like “The Terminator” has been replaced by a slow, contemplative mood.
Set in the near future, “After Yang” begins with the loss of the artificially intelligent Yang (The Umbrella Academy’s Justin H. Min), an android purchased by Kyra and Jake (Jodie Turner-Smith and Colin Farrell) as a cyborg companion and “older sibling” to their adopted Asian daughter Mika (Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja). When Yang suffers a core malfunction and shuts down, Mika mourns the loss of her “gege” or older brother in Mandarin.
Jake’s search for a way to repair the “technosapien” caregiver is trickier than you would think. It’s more complicated than taking a malfunctioning iPad back to the Apple store. The manufacturer will only fix the twelve most common problems, and warns Jake it is illegal to access the data stored in the robot’s memory banks.
Nonetheless, Jake accepts a tool to access Yang’s core chip from museum curator (Sarita Choudhury), only to discover he’s been refurbished several times and holds memories from his many experiences.
Director Koganada focuses attention on the meditative aspects of the story, not the mechanical, creating introspective sci fi that elegantly and subtly explores issues of existence, grief, love and memory. The film’s cold, detached exterior melts away as the running time clicks along, as the sci fi aspects of the story become a study of relationships and why we connect with the people and objects that we do.
Understated but heartfelt performances from Farrell, Turner-Smith , Min and Tjandrawidjaja add emotional resonance to a speculative story that is geared to appeal to the heart as much as the brain.
“Ultimately, the film Koganada has made is a poignant family drama with some sci fi elements. But just because “After Yang” is more interesting than exciting doesn’t mean it isn’t effective and memorable.
