Wayne Wang Movies
Director Wayne Wang grew up in a Hong Kong household that worshipped at the altar of Hollywood -- he himself was named for movie star John Wayne. After attending California's College of Arts and Sciences, Wang returned to Hong Kong hoping to become a film "auteur." However, at that time, his native country's film industry was geared more to kung-fu movies than to the cinema of personal statement, so Wang had to wait a while to express his vision.After a stint in television, Wang handled direction of the Hong Kong-based scenes of the American film Golden Needles (1975), and then co-directed a melodrama shot in San Francisco, A Man, a Woman and a Killer (1975). Realizing that the mainstream would continue to stifle his creativity, Wang sought out funding from various arts foundations, then produced, directed, edited, and co-wrote the Chinatown culture-clash drama Chan Is Missing (1981) on a beggarly 22,000 dollar budget. Wang soon discovered that he was most effective marching to his own beat; an attempt at "popular" moviemaking, Slam Dance (1987), failed to make the turnstiles click, while the more unconventional Eat a Bowl of Tea (1989) proved to be an audience pleaser. In 1993, the director reached mainstream audiences with his adaptation of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club, a Chinese generational epic, and followed with an adaptation of Paul Auster's Smoke (1995), starring Harvey Keitel and William Hurt; the film's follow-up, a series of sketches involving many of the same characters called Blue in the Face, was released in 1995. Wang returned to Hong Kong once again to shoot Chinese Box (1997), a story set around the British hand-over of Hong Kong to the Chinese. Starring Gong Li and Jeremy Irons, the film received mixed notices. However, such lukewarm reception did little to dim the anticipation surrounding Wang's next directorial effort, Anywhere But Here. A 1999 adaptation of a Mona Simpson novel, it starred Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman as a mother and daughter trying to begin a new life.
Wayne Wang is married to actress Cora Miao, who has appeared in a number of his films, including Eat a Bowl of Tea (1989) and Life Is Cheap...But Toilet Paper Is Expensive (1991). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2007
Filmmaker Arthur Dong's documentary Hollywood Chinese pays homage to the first century of the American film industry, as specifically colored and influenced by the Chinese immigrants to whom Hollywood owes an inestimable debt. Dong touches on everyone from actress Anna May Wong, of Limehouse Blues (1934) and Lady from Chungking (1943), to the late cameraman James Wong Howe, responsible for giving the Rock Hudson thriller Seconds (1966) such a creepy and inventive look. Dong also explores the newer generation of Chinese-American filmmakers, including such giants as Wayne Wang and Ang Lee, responsible for such contemporary classics as The Joy Luck Club, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Brokeback Mountain. At the same time, a haunting and telling undercurrent of racism and stereotypes weaves its way in, suggestive of the difficulties that Chinese men and women found working in Hollywood -- particularly in the early years. As a historical footnote, Dong also makes film history by rediscovering and editing in footage from what is alleged to be the first Asian-American film ever made: the 1916 Curse of Quon Gwan, directed by Marion Wong. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Turhan Bey, Joan Chen, (more)
Wayne Wang's character study Princess of Nebraska stars Ling Li as a young woman named Sasha who finds herself carrying the baby of an opera performer who finds himself on rough times after he gets caught in a compromising relationship with another man. Sasha travels to San Francisco in order to terminate the pregnancy, but while there meets the acquaintance of many people including a family that gives her shelter and a prostitute. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ling Li, Pamelyn Chee, (more)
- 2007
- NR
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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, All Movie Guide
A woman learns to love life when she finds out she won't be around long in this comedy. Georgia Byrd (Queen Latifah) lives in New Orleans, where she works in the cookware department of an upscale gourmet supply shop. While Georgia carries a torch for Sean (LL Cool J), one of her co-workers, she doesn't have the nerve to tell him, and despite her estimable skills in the kitchen, she lives frugally and doesn't put her talent to use. Georgia's good friend Rochelle (Jane Adams) often tells her that life is short and she needs to live a little, but she doesn't pay her much mind until a visit to the doctor reveals that Georgia has a very rare medical condition, and only has three weeks to live. Throwing caution to the wind, Georgia cashes out her life savings and heads to Europe for a last bit of revelry. She checks into a four-star hotel, trades her drab clothes for haute couture, finds herself flirting with a handsome and powerful politician (Giancarlo Esposito), convinces the head of a cooking supplies firm (Timothy Hutton) that she's a high-powered executive from a rival company, and makes friends with a four-star chef (Gérard Depardieu). But when Sean learns the truth about Georgia's condition, he sets out to find her before their chance at romance has passed. Directed by Wayne Wang, Last Holiday is a remake of a 1950 British comedy, which starred Alec Guinness as a salesman with a few weeks to live. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Queen Latifah, LL Cool J, (more)
It's not finishing school or a traditional upbringing that causes ten-year-old Opal to learn about the world outside of her own backyard, but rather a particularly awkward-looking mutt named Winn-Dixie. Based on a novel by Kate DiCamillo, Winn-Dixie and Opal not only become privy to the eventful, if eccentric, lives of their neighbors (including a librarian who fought off a bear with nothing but a novel, a blind woman who claims to "see" with her heart, and a sensitive ex-con turned pet store clerk), but Opal herself manages to reconcile some of the depression left over after her mother had abandoned the family seven years earlier. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- AnnaSophia Robb, Jeff Daniels, (more)
Can a wealthy Republican politician find happiness with a chambermaid from the Bronx? One man is about to find out, though he hardly realizes it at first, in this romantic comedy from director Wayne Wang. Marisa Ventura (Jennifer Lopez) is a single mother who is raising her gifted but under-confident son Ty (Tyler Garcia Posey) on her own, with some help from her mother Veronica (Priscilla Lopez), after divorcing her husband. Marisa works as a housekeeper at the exclusive Beresford Hotel in Manhattan, where her boss Paula Burns (Frances Conroy) and chief butler Lionel Bloch (Bob Hoskins) urge Marisa and her best friend and fellow maid Stephanie (Marissa Matrone) to be as efficient and inconspicuous as possible. One day, while cleaning the room of noted socialite Caroline Lane (Natasha Richardson), Stephanie spies a beautiful designer gown and dares Marisa to try it on; against her better judgment, she does, and while all dolled up, she bumps into Christopher Marshall (Ralph Fiennes), a wealthy and well-bred bachelor who is running for the Senate. Immediately charmed, Chris asks Marisa to join him for a walk in Central Park, assuming she's the blue-blooded Caroline. Marisa manages to join Chris for the afternoon, with Ty in tow, and Chris finds himself quite taken with Marisa's beauty and down-to-earth personality, as well as Ty's precocious interest in politics. Chris later calls Caroline's room to set up a lunch date, but soon discovers the stuffy Ms. Lane is not the woman he met before. Marisa is also attracted to Chris, but while her friends encourage her to pursue a romance, Veronica believes her daughter is asking for trouble by trying to win a man so far out of her social strata. The supporting cast also includes Stanley Tucci and Amy Sedaris. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jennifer Lopez, Frances Conroy, (more)
- 2001
- NR
In this digitally shot feature from acclaimed director Wayne Wang) (The Joy Luck Club), the boundaries of sexual relations are put to the test by two individuals. Richard (Peter Sarsgaard) is a dot-com entrepreneur who, despite earning millions of dollars, feels little connection to the outside world. After frequenting a strip club, he offers Florence (Molly Parker), a sometime-stripper who also works as a drummer, $10,000 dollars to accompany him to Las Vegas for a short stay. She makes him a list of rules that must be followed: no kissing on the mouth, no penetration, and each will stay in separate bedrooms and only convene during the hours of 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. Staying in adjoining rooms, they stick to the plan as laid out until they develop a fondness for each other -- still, Florence tries to maintain the order of their agreement. Despite Richard's declarations that he is in love with her, she is forced not to let herself get too involved, even when their sexual relationship begins to increase after the arrival of Florence's hooker friend Jerri (Carla Gugino), who after a brutal fight with a man, immerses herself in the sexual lives of Richard and Florence. The film also features Balthazar Getty and Shirley Knight in small supporting roles. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sarsgaard, Molly Parker, (more)
As with his earlier film The Joy Luck Club (1993), Chinese director Wayne Wang tackles mother-daughter relationships in this coming of age comedy-drama. Susan Sarandon stars as Adele August, a Bay City, Wisconsin, mother who longs for a more exciting and glamorous life in Beverly Hills, California. So she leaves her husband (Ray Baker) and packs her reluctant daughter Ann (Natalie Portman) into a gold Mercedes Benz, heading for L.A. When they arrive and move into an apartment they can't really afford, it becomes clear that Ann is the mature half of the duo, while Adele, a dreamer, is not firmly grounded in reality. Her plans include Ann's future career as an actress (a profession in which the girl has no interest) and landing a rich and handsome husband for herself, such as a dentist (Hart Bochner) who never calls Adele again after a one-night stand. When a family tragedy provokes a crisis between mother and daughter, the irresponsible Adele is forced to become a traditional mom for once. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susan Sarandon, Natalie Portman, (more)
Hong Kong emigrant Wayne Wang directed and co-wrote (with Paul Theroux, Jean-Claude Carriere and Larry Gross) this story set in "the Pearl of the Orient" as the British government prepared to hand over the city to China in 1997. John (Jeremy Irons) is an English journalist who has lived in the city for some time; while in some ways he still feels like an outsider, he's come to think of Hong Kong as a home and has close friends there. John is also in love with Vivian (Gong Li), a one-time prostitute who now runs a bar owned by her fiancé, Chang (Michael Hui). John is struggling with the realization that he can never have Vivian as his own, when he learns that he has leukemia; the British are to give the reigns of power back to the Chinese in six months, but John's doctors tell him he isn't likely to live long enough to see it happen. He quits his job and begins wandering the streets, recording his observations of the city on videotape when he meets Jean (Maggie Cheung), a young woman who makes her way selling whatever she can scavenge, and who hides a secret behind the scarves that obscure her face. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeremy Irons, Gong Li, (more)
Director Wayne Wang and screenwriter Paul Auster had enough storylines and characters left over from their charming comedy Smoke to make another film, so they shot Blue In The Face immediately after Smoke was completed. The film once again centers on the Brooklyn Cigar Store and manager Auggie (Harvey Keitel), although most of the other characters are different. The store owner's frustrated wife Dot (Roseanne) is one of them, and one of the plotlines follows her attempts to seduce Auggie. Madonna, Michael J. Fox, Lily Tomlin, and Lou Reed (as himself) also put in appearances. Blue In The Face was shot without a complete script and presents a unique combination of distinctive performances, oddball characters, improvisations, and raffish scenes. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harvey Keitel, Lou Reed, (more)
A Brooklyn cigar shop is the setting for this drama from director Wayne Wang that interweaves the stories of several characters that have fractured family relationships in common. Harvey Keitel is Auggie Wren, poetic owner of the Brooklyn Cigar Company, a store that he considers the center of the world -- a place where all of humanity eventually parades through. One of his regular customers is Paul Benjamin (William Hurt), a writer and a broken shell of a man whose pregnant wife was shot and killed near the store. When Paul's life is saved one day by a young black man named Rashid (Harold Perrineau, Jr., the writer and his rescuer strike up a friendship and begin searching for Rashid's long-lost father (Forest Whitaker). At the store, Auggie is surprised by the appearance of Ruby (Stockard Channing), an ex-girlfriend who informs him that her pregnant, drug-addicted daughter Felicity (Ashley Judd) may also be his -- and is in dire need of help. Screenwriter Paul Auster based the script for Smoke on a 1990 short story he wrote for "The New York Times." He also wrote and directed the film's sequel (of sorts), Blue in the Face (1995). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Hurt, Harvey Keitel, (more)
Director Wayne Wang and screenwriter Ronald Bass effectively interweave sixteen mother-daughter tales in their silken film version of Amy Tan's best-selling novel about the clash between generations. The film takes place in present-day San Francisco, concentrating on a group of late-middle-aged Chinese women. Ever since arriving in the United States after World War II, the women have gathered weekly to play mah-jongg and to tell stories, regaling each other with tales of their children and grandchildren, giving each other a sense of hope and renewal in the midst of poverty and hardship. The Joy Luck Club is made up of four women -- Suyuan (Kieu Chinh), Lindo (Tsai Chin), Ying Ying (France Nuyen), and An Mei (Lisa Lu). But when Suyuan dies, the three surviving members invite Suyuan's daughter June (Ming-Na Wen) to take her place. Along with the daughters of the other members -- Waverly (Tamlyn Tomita), Lena (Lauren Tom), and Rose (Rosalind Chao) -- June is a Chinese-American with only a passing interest in her rich cultural heritage. But through vignettes that switch back and forth in time, the daughters begin to appreciate the struggles of their mothers to start their families in the optimistic promise of the United States. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tsai Chin, Kieu Chinh, (more)
- 1991
- R
Three forms of sexual dysfunction provide the basis of this anthology. The first episode centers on a married couple who can only make love in the presence of a stranger. The second centers on a crazed woman with a constant compulsion to masturbate. The third centers on a voyeur who is planning to marry a woman he doesn't love. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1991
Asian-American filmmaker Wayne Wang returns to the city of his birth for this surreal, violent, and darkly comic look at the seamy underside of life in Hong Kong. A young man of Chinese/Japanese heritage (Spencer Nakasako) working at a racetrack in San Francisco is hired by gangsters to deliver a briefcase to the Big Boss (Lo Wai), a notorious leader of Hong Kong's organized crime syndicate. Dressed in western clothes and proclaiming himself "The Man with No Name," the courier arrives in Hong Kong with the briefcase chained to his wrist, but this doesn't stop a group of enterprising young hoodlums from stealing it from him. As he searches for his precious cargo, the man tries desperately to rendezvous with the Big Boss, only to hear a dizzying variety of excuses from his second-in-command (Lam Chung) as to why the Boss can't or won't see him. The courier also has to deal with his elderly Uncle Cheng (Cheng Kwan Ming), who would rather show off his latest dance routines than help his nephew save his own neck. The man also witnesses all sorts of bizarre and bewildering behavior, from a restaurant that serves feces to a prostitute who announces she doesn't mind being abused, though she's tired of not being paid for it. Directed by Wayne Wang in collaboration with actor Spencer Nakasako, Life Is Cheap...But Toilet Paper Is Expensive was released by Wang with a self-imposed "A" rating (for "Adult") after being threatened with an "X" by the MPAA ratings board; the film contains no explicit sex, but the MPAA was troubled by the film's gangland violence and pervasive bad taste. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spencer Nakasako, Cora Miao, (more)
Eat a Bowl of Tea is set in New York's Chinatown during the immediate postwar years. After a seeming eternity of separation, Chinese immigrants are finally allowed to bring their spouses to the U.S. thanks to looser immigration laws. Those husbands and wives no longer able to procreate fully expect their own sons to head back to China to seek out new brides. Russell Wong plays Ben Loy, a young man who decides not to marry the bride picked out for him, but a girl of his own choice, Mei Oi (played by Cora Miao). The film tackles several issues, including Mei's difficulty in assimilation, Ben's problems with his intrusive relatives, the outside pressure brought to bear in producing an heir, and the ongoing struggle of making ends meet financially. Both bride and groom respond to their insecurities by indulging in extramarital affairs. It takes several near-catastrophic events to prompt a happy reconciliation. Partially funded by PBS' American Playhouse production staff, Eat a Bowl of Tea is based on an extremely popular Chinese-language novel by Louis Chu. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cora Miao, Russell Wong, (more)
In this off-beat and stylish mystery by director Wayne Wang, C.C. Drood (Tom Hulce) is an underground cartoonist who is separated from his wife Helen (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) and daughter Bean (Judith Barsi). When his lover Yolanda (Virginia Madsen) is found murdered, Drood is the main focus of the police investigation. When Drood uncovers a sex scandal involving police chief Gilbert (John Doe) and Detective Smiley (Harry Dean Stanton), he realizes he is being made the fall guy for the crime. Singer Adam Ant plays Drood's buddy Jim. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Hulce, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, (more)
- 1985
- PG
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Wayne Wang's follow-up to his low-budget success Chan Is Missing is a gentle, slice-of-life comedy about the shifting relationship between a widowed mother and her thirty-year-old unmarried daughter in San Francisco's Chinatown. Mrs. Tam (Kim Chew) lives with her youngest daughter Geraldine (Laureen Chew) -- her older children having already left home. Geraldine is a graduate student who wants to live on her own but tells herself that she should stay at home with her mother and her Uncle Tam (Victor Wong), a happy-go-lucky bartender who would like to marry Mrs. Tam if only Geraldine would just go away and get married. Mrs. Tam, convinced that she will die before she hits 62, wants to see her daughter married. But under the surface, Mrs. Tam likes Geraldine's presence in her house, Uncle Tam may not be serious about his marriage intentions, and Geraldine herself could possibly be using her mother as an excuse not to get married and have to assume responsibility. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laureen Chew, Kim Chew, (more)
This thriller about a $4000 robbery was successfully lensed by writer/director Wayne Wang on a budget of $22,000. Cabdrivers Wood Moy and Marc Hayashi are robbed by the elusive Chan Hung (whom we never see in the film). As Moy and Hayashi track down the thief, Wang offers indelible images of the seamier portions of San Francisco's Chinatown. Whether the two cabbies ever retrieve their lost loot is immaterial; the film is a mood and character piece, seasoned with unexpected moments of laughter. Chan is Missing became a sleeper on the arthouse circuit, a fact that would open many professional doors for the multi-talented Wayne Wang. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marc Hayashi, Wood Moy, (more)
- 1975
Director Rick (Emerald Cities) Schmidt and Wayne (Chan is Missing) Wang were still novices when they combined their talents on A Man, A Woman and A Killer. Filmed on location in San Francisco, this Pirandellian drama is ostensibly about the adventures of a hit man. But as we watch the protagonist in action, we also observe the film crew following the actors around. Despite being taken "out" of the picture in this self-conscious manner, the audience is kept in thrall by the film's atmosphere and tension level. A Man, a Woman and a Killer proved an excellent launching pad for two distinguished cinematic talents. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
