Though it may not be as profound as its pacing would suggest, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers delicately examines familial issues in an earnest fashion.
Though it may not be as profound as its pacing would suggest, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers delicately examines familial issues in an earnest fashion.
Wayne Wang's intimate drama A Thousand Years of Good Prayers stars Henry O as Mr. Shi, a Chinese man who, after the death of his wife, decides to travel to the United States in order to see his estranged daughter for the first time in over a decade. Their time together is awkward at first, seeing each other only at dinner when he cooks for her. Shi spends his days taking in the strange culture, improving his language skills, and making a friend in an Iranian woman. Eventually his persistent
attempts to forge a connection with his daughter lead to some buried issues bursting forth between the pair. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
A keenly observed portrait of a parent and child estranged by geography, language, ideology and generation. In other words, a universal story of family in the age of globalization.
Quizás el film más personal de Wayne Wang, un sobrio y cálido relato sobre las barreras culturales, idiomáticas o emocionales que suelen separar a los seres humanos.
Wang's new film suggests not only a return to form but also the revival of an old theme from his early Asian-American dramedies: the different ways that certain generations translate and adapt their cultural heritage
The minor key and quietly observational work is not earth-shattering or particularly urgent, though it enables a talented filmmaker to work through personal ideas about assimilation and family conflict in an open, smart and gracious way.
Sensitively directed by Wayne Wang, "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers" is a deeply moving film about Shi(Henry O), a retired rocket scientist and widower, going to vist his daughter Yilan(Faye Yu) in America. Yilan at first eats dinner with her father but soon gets annoyed and starts avoiding him which is strange
behavior considering this may be the last time they ever see each other. Her benign neglect reminded me of "Tokyo Story" in its lamenting of how badly treated the elderly are in society but in this case, it runs both ways, a reminder of how it is the generation gap that makes communication even more difficult than any language barrier. For example, despite his limited command of English, Shi manages well on his own and makes the acquaintance of others including a pair of Mormon missionaries. They quote from the Book of Mormon to which he replies with a quote from Marx.(I'll have to remember that for future reference...) This just goes to show that Shi is from a generation when Communism was still the orthodoxy in China. But now, he lives in a country that has changed massively and traveled to a strange country that he seeks to comprehend.
September 29, 2008
Walter M.
Super Reviewer
A captivating movie that follows a lonely widower's journey to see his estranged daughter in America. Leaving poignant memories behind in China, Mr. Shi truly hopes that he can reconnect with his daughter, Yilan, and set upon a path where he can truly embrace the genuine meaning of family and fatherhood. He enters a
country where the culture is stranger than the language itself, and surprisingly connects and befriends an elderly Iranian woman in a neighboring park. Mr. Shi realizes that in order to fully accept the present circumstances with his daughter, the past must also be fully recognized and accepted whether the many years that have come and gone.
Henry O, Feihong Yu, Vida Ghahremani, and Pasha D. Lychnikoff stars. Worthy!
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