Conflicting Generations
Face Examines Family, Honor, and Humanity

The battle between generations is amplified when the gap also represents different cultures. In Face, the new film by director Bertha Bay-Sa Pan, the conflict of multiple generations is represented by a single household and the three women living there.

Face
Kristy Wu, Bai Ling, and Kieu Chinh represent three generations of Asian-American life in the drama Face. (Indican Pictures, 2002)
Directed by: Bertha Bay-Sa Pan
Written by: Oren Moverman and Bertha Bay-Sa Pan
Starring: Bai Ling, Kieu Chinh, Kristy Wu, Anthony 'Treach' Criss, Ken Leung, Will Yun Lee, and Tina Chen

Rated R (for some language and brief nudity)
Running time: 89 min.

FilmGuru's Rating : 6 out of 10.

Bai Ling plays Kim Liu, a young woman in 1977 New York who finds herself at odds between the traditional Chinese culture that her family represents and her own desires for a more modern life. Her attempts to be American cause scorn in her family, and her mother (Kieu Chinh) worries that Kim is "too white." When she is raped by Daniel (Will Yun Lee), a young man she has been tutoring, Kim is sucked into the role of a "traditional" Chinese wife and into a loveless marriage.

The film does not tell a straight, linear story, however. Immediately following Kim's rape, the plot flashes forward a couple of decades where Genie (Kristy Wu) is living with her grandmother (Chinh). It is apparent that Mrs. Liu has raised Genie in the absence of Kim, who is now returning home to New York to see her daughter graduate college.

While Kim bridged the gap between the old ways and the new, Genie has all but forgotten her Chinese heritage. She doesn't read much Chinese, her clothes and music are standard for an American adolescent in the 1990s. When she begins to spend time with a non-Chinese man named Michael (Treach), she further alienates herself from her grandmother. As Kim tries to rebuild lost connections to family, Genie shuts out her mother while desperately holding on to the fragile thread linking her to her grandmother.

Ling, who appeared in last year's Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and She Hate Me, is making a name for herself with American audiences. Here she seems comfortable in both roles, playing the young and idealistic Kim as well as the older, more jaded woman who has abandoned her daughter. Her ability to portray both helps make the character (and the film) believable.

Wu is a newcomer, recognizable to fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Chao-Ahn in the seventh season of the show. Despite her relative inexperience, she overshadows Ling in every scene, perhaps because her character is more understandable to western audiences.

Overall, Face is a well-told story, although a bit predictable at times. The fact that it is so predictable makes the pacing a bit slow. Likewise, the characters are a bit too stereotyped at times, as with Michael who exists solely to be the outsider. The story would have been far more compelling if it had focused more on Genie and less on Kim. Genie's relationship with her grandmother conflicted with her desire for love outside of the traditional Chinese culture. Exploring more about her relationship with Michael would have helped round out the story better.

Even though a movie like Face is not my normal cup of tea, I enjoyed it and felt that it had something to say. A small film like this is unlikely to reach a mass audience. Nevertheless, it may capture the imagination of those who are looking for something a bit more sedate and willing to seek it out at the local art houses.