A Thousand Years of Good Prayers and Princess of Nebraska

On Sunday night the two Wayne Wang films playing at the festival played back to back - two movies for the price of one ticket. I could not resist that bargain.

My review must start before the movies even began. Noah Cowan was on hand to introduce the two films and the director. I know that he must have many films to introduce during these 10 days and that it must all blur together but I do not think it is acceptable to read in a robot like way from cue cards to introduce the movies and the director who is standing right beside you. Was he drunk? Was he rushed? Is he just a poor film introducer? I don't know. All I can say is that I found it embarrassing.

Now to the movies....

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
A Chinese American woman grates at the presence of her visiting Chinese father. Past history and a recent divorce (one the father finds shameful) mean that dinner each night is full of either tense silence or a series of questions addressed to the daughter about why her marriage did not work and what her father can do to get her married again and producing grandchildren. Many of the scenes of the parent overstepping boundaries and refusing to see his daughter as an adult rang very true. It was an enjoyable movie and was well done but not one I would go out of my way to recommend. I gave it a 2 on the audience choice voting card.

Princess of Nebraska
This movie could be subtitled "should I have an abortion?" Basically the main character spent the length of the film walking around San Fran either being an asshole to people (even those who were trying to help her), playing at prostitution, trying to figure out how much money she could get for her unborn baby on the black market and taking camera phone videos of herself (including shots of her hands and her eye). I think that there is a message to be found on the film about children with lots of money and a lack of direction and values going to school in a strange country. It just didn't appeal to me that much.

The director did speak before the movie and between the two movies. I found what he had to say as he spoke interesting and funny. I didn't stay for the Q and A simply because I was tired and very thirsty.