A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2007)
The film follows Mr. Shi, a retired widower from Beijing. When his only daughter, Yilan, who lives in Spokane, Washington and works as a librarian, gets divorced, he decides to visit her to help her heal. However, Yilan is not interested. She tries keeping an emotional distance but when this finally fails she begins physically avoiding her father. He confronts her about an affair with a married Russian man and she, in turn, lets loose about all the gossip she'd heard as a young girl about his alleged affair with a female colleague back in China.
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Memorable, crazy movie
Instant Favorite.
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
1000 years is a small film built on a simple premise: a Chinese father visits his daughter. He is nearing the end of life and the film is at all times reflective and quiet. His daughter is recovering from a bad divorce and they have never felt close. He arrives in America feeling alienated and the film centers around themes of reaching out and alienation. He makes friends in the park with an Farsi woman - they don't share language, but they share communication.Of course, the journey they all take is in their conversations and silences is the film.If that doesn't sound like your cup of tea then you won't enjoy this: however if you can let this wash over you it is surprisingly involving and beautifully rendered.It is film for the mature, the small gestures and meanings of the words in different languages hold meanings within meaning but there is something implicitly human on display here.Shot in natural tones with a washed out feel to it the cinematography lends much.One to be savored and strongly reminiscent of Swedish cinema this is real film in one sense, but it fails in being too staged in places.All in all a small film that will appeal to those who enjoy reality in film.
The films of Wayne Wang are an acquired taste. His early films,such as 'Eat A Bowl Of Tea','Dim Sum:A Little Bit Of Heart',and his best known film 'The Joy Luck Club' are meditations on the Asian lifestyle in the United States. If your tastes are aimed at explosions,car chases, mindless teen sex romps,bathroom humour,then avoid Wang's films at all costs. If you like a well written screenplay that doesn't dwell on car chases,explosions,toilet humour & all the rest that make for just another descent into the cinematic sewer,then you just may get your groove on with the films of Wayne Wang. Here,a elderly Chinese widower comes to the U.S. to visit his adult daughter (and try to run her life), while adjusting to the American experience (or at least trying to adjust). Toss in an attempted friendship with a widow from Iran,mix in some long hidden family secrets, and we have ourselves the formula for a real human drama. The cast,mainly made up of unknowns,make this slowly paced (but never boring)drama an alternative to the formulaic Hollywood garbage that always seems to be the centre of attention at the local multiplexes. No rating,but outside of the discreet mention of extra marital affairs,nothing to offend here.
I saw the preview for A Thousand Years of Good Prayer, which shows a Chinese man talking on a park bench with an Iranian women; both have problems speaking in English but they communicate and talk about their children. I thought it would be a nice heartfelt movie about two immigrants connecting. That was a part of it... but it was a lot more than that.There is indeed a Chinese man; he is an old rocket scientist and is visiting his 30-some year old daughter in the U.S.; the problem is that they don't talk... almost at all. The setting is a pretty dull-looking suburban apartment complex, and the only thing to do is to go to a nearby park with some ducks. I had a feeling of depression throughout the whole movie. There isn't really anything momentously bad that happens in the movie; maybe it's that nothing huge happens at all and people are just not happy. It was very non-uplifting, especially as there is no clear resolution by the end. There are a couple funny parts, and some of it is pretty charming as it is a reflection of real life. However, I was expecting a very cute and fun feel-good movie, and it wasn't. It was a snippet of time in this family's life, about some pretty severe communication gaps and how difficult it is to heal a whole lifetime of lack of intimacy and hurt. Some wounds don't heal overnight, and some lessons can't be learned in a short period of time. The film has sincerely stellar acting, and it is serious in a very real way. I can't say I enjoyed the film and maybe it's because it hit too close to home, but I can say it was very good.
This movie felt like it lasted over 1,000 years. A really bad soap opera masquerading as a meaningful family "drama" exploring generational and cultural barriers. There is not one genuine moment in its bloated running length. An anamorphic screen image can't disguise what an amateurish production this is the acting is especially laughable. Story in a nutshell: elderly Chinese man comes to The States to visit his daughter. The father is hoping (and pushing) to become a grandfather. Pathos and a lot of moping ensue. Yawn. The void between father & daughter is played out in interminable dinner scenes. The only thing more boring are the excruciating park bench pidgin English dialogue scenes between the father and an Iranian woman he befriends. Daughter's Russian boyfriend is a cardboard cutout of a joke like everyone in this epic. And oh yeah, the most unintentionally hilarious line of the movie, "You were never a rocket scientist."