At the beginning of "Saving Face," a character called only Ma (Joan Chen) assesses marital prospects for her disinterested 28-year-old daughter Wilhelmina ("Wil") Pang (Michelle Krusiec).
In a later, more amusing scene, Wil, a Manhattan surgeon, looks over candidates who might court Ma, who is 48.
Such scenes almost can't miss. Consider the riotous auditions in "The Fabulous Baker Boys" and "Waiting for Guffman."
Unfortunately, the brief, ironic turnabout is about as original and entertaining as "Saving Face" gets.
The thrust of the story is rooted is the background of first-time writer-director Alice Wu, who earned a master's degree in computer science and who designed software for Microsoft before dramatizing the experience of a Chinese-American professional coming out as a gay woman.
"Saving Face" hints at first it might be a more narrowly focused variant on "The Joy Luck Club," which was also about Chinese-American mothers and daughters. But it's much less thematically complex and satisfying.
By becoming pregnant by a man whose identity she refuses to divulge, Ma is banished by her own elderly, strict traditionalist father, Wai Gung (Li Zhiyu), from the family enclave in the Flushing section of Queens.
Ma barges in on Wil, unwittingly and unsympathetically interrupting her cautious, conservative daughter's budding romance with the more free-spirited and assertive ballet dancer Vivian Lu (Lynn Chen, no relation to Joan).
Vivian pressures Wil to disclose her sexual identification so they can go public with their relationship regardless of the cost to Wil within her family.
In the tri-generational melodrama, Ma has an undiscussed duality of her own. She's liberal with her own heterosexuality but in denial, despite eyeball evidence, about her daughter's homosexuality. And so she settles into a self-imposed role as her daughter's housekeeper and meddler.
Wu is sympathetic toward her characters, especially to Wil and Vivian. But however heartfelt "Saving Face" might be, it is too elementary and predictable a coming-out story, especially as it appears to be set in the present when lesbianism is incomparably less stigmatic than it once was.
Everything falls into place here. Even Vivian's decision to switch from ballet to modern dance complements the sense of everyone being in transition.
"Saving Face" plods through the most obvious depiction of triumphant self-realization and judgment-free approval, simplifying and generalizing the friction and harsh feelings that were being defined more articulately 30-some years ago in dramas such as "That Certain Summer" (TV), "Find Your Way Home" (Broadway) and "Rachel, Rachel" (movies).
It's no longer enough to tell a story just because it reflects one's own. Additional Information:
Details
'Saving Face'Director: Alice Wu
Stars: Michelle Krusiec, Joan Chen, Lynn Chen
MPAA rating: R for some sexuality and language
Now playing: Squirrel Hill Theater
