Synopsis:
Raymond Ding is not young. He's been married before. He is the only Asian man Aurora Crane has ever kissed... and, she fears, the only man she has ever loved. Three months ago, she told him she was...
Raymond Ding is not young. He's been married before. He is the only Asian man Aurora Crane has ever kissed... and, she fears, the only man she has ever loved. Three months ago, she told him she was moving out of the apartment they shared for two years. He quietly left instead.
Although Aurora is Hapa (half Asian), she moves most comfortably in the white world. So it's back to the familiar as she quickly tumbles into a new romantic involvement -- this time with someone her own age, someone white, someone she could bring home to meet the folks. If only she could do something about her dreams....
Raymond and Aurora still dream about each other -- sensually haunting dreams that inspire longing in their waking hours, and the fear of mishandled fate.
Each night Aurora alters or removes something in the apartment in an attempt to purge Raymond from her psyche. The furniture is re-arranged on a weekly basis. And then there are the photographs and keepsakes, emotional heavyweights, finding their slow way into a box in the bedroom closet.
Raymond is the only witness to this process. He visits the apartment when he knows Aurora is not home. He reads the newspaper, eats his lunch, then checks for any subtle changes. He is careful not to leave a trace, but Aurora sometimes senses his unseen presence. She knows he still has the key.
Aurora travels home to the Midwest and discovers for the first time her beloved father's subtle racism, even as she considers a future with her "perfect" boyfriend, Steve. Raymond finds himself suddenly in love with a beautiful and somber Vietnamese American woman, Betty. Raymond's widowed father, Wood, plans a trip to China to find a picture bride because he doesn't want to grow old alone. Aurora's friend Brenda rejects Asian men as lovers, seeking refuge in a series of unfufilling sexual liasons with non-Asian men. Raymond's friend Jimmy cheats on his wife with a white woman half his age. And Raymond and Aurora meet "for the last time" several times.
Set in modern-day San Francisco, American Knees is a penetrating anti-romance, filled with lush, dreamlike imagery and sharply realized emotions. It tells this story of two lovers perhaps meant to be together, bewildered as they hopelessly drift apart. Director Eric Byler's celebrated eye for the cinematic invites the audience to unravel, in flashbacks, in private ruminations, and in infrequent encounters, the mystery of an Asian American love story. The meaning of Raymond and Aurora's love, and the truth behind their breakup, are revealed in its aftermath -- just as scientists learn about the birth of the universe by studying the reverberation of its echo.
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