By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Georgia Lee
Starring: Elaine Kao | Freda Foh Shen | Jacqueline Kim | Tzi Ma
Country: united_states
Year: 2007
Running time: 90
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0415234/
Bruce says: “Georgia Lee wrote and directed this enjoyable comedy about the Wongs, a dysfunctional Chinese-American family. The three Wong daughters are all going through major changes. Samantha (Jacqueline Kim), the oldest daughter, gave up a promising opportunity to study dance at Julliard because her parents thought she should study something more serious. She is about to be married to a successful non-Asian man who knows everything about what people are supposed to do. The closer she gets to her wedding day the more Samantha realizes something is missing from her life. Julie (Elaine Kao), the middle daughter, is an overachieving med school student who can’t find the right man. Suddenly, she discovers that the right person for her isn’t necessarily male. Kathy (Kathy Shao-Lin Lee) plays the youngest daughter who is still in high school. She is a punked-out rebel, trying to attract the boy she likes through random acts of violence. She also is an accomplished hip-hop step dancer and dabbles in traditional Chinese ribbon dancing in full costume when she thinks no one is around.
“Their mother Mai-Li (Freda Foh Shen) spends most of her time worrying about the next generation maintaining Chinese traditions, most of which her generation has already tossed by the wayside. Ed (Tzi Ma), their father, is soon to retire and is withdrawing more each day; after dozens of suicide attempts he realizes he is depressed. To ease his pain, he runs off to a Buddhist monastery. By the end of the film all the individual crises come together for a touching finale.
“Lee covers her character’s tribulations with delicacy and restraint, quite uncommon in most current comedies. RED DOORS places the blame for Ed’s withdrawal on his pending early retirement. I think there is more going on than that. He is a man living in a household of women and, to a certain degree, is an outsider because of his gender, not unlike the mother in CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS, a film I was surprisingly reminded of while watching RED DOORS. 3.5 cats”