Red Doors: Asian family comes undone

Reviewer: Craig Phillips
Rating (out of 5): ***

Red Doors, Georgia Lee's undeservedly obscure independent film about an Asian American family looks even better after seeing the coming attraction for another Asian family-themed drama previewed on the DVD, Close Call, which looks entirely overwrought and muddled.

The story, such as it is, centers on three sisters in a Chinese American family, the parents being first generation immigrants, with the oldest daughter (Jacqueline Kim) in an emotionally distant relationship with a white man but soon to be married to him, and the youngest, teenage Katie, a completely American-cultured riot girl (Kathy Shao-lin Lee, wearing homemade tshirts and multicolored hair) participates in a flirty battle of pranks with a boy in her class (an amusing running story though it begins to overstay its welcome). Believably, the middle daughter, a winning Elaine Kao, is caught in between everyone's needs and neuroses. She attempts to please her parents - getting a medical degree and going out on blah dates with Asian men, while secretly discovering she may lean another way sexually. The father (Tzi Ma, a familiar face to American TV-watchers, and The General in The Ladykillers remake), depressed middle aged Ed, only finds happiness in the culture and place he misses dearly, in nostalgia for the past. He contemplates suicide, only to be interrupted each time by the nonchalant Katie. Ed's attempts to find some meaning in his life, rooted in his culture's traditions, form the main spine of the story, though part of the problem with the film - or charm, depending on your attention span - is its episodic structure, with all the family members' stories getting nearly equal weight.

Some of the supporting characters are more problematic and lazily drawn; for example, the fiancee, Mark, a preppy white stockbroker who interrupts lovemaking to answer a work call, yawn, is a particularly one note depiction of an unhappy relationship. But the main characters are winning enough and there are enough genuine comic moments among them to make you overlook the rather weak supporting characters.

The generation gap story is, pardon the pun, an age old one, no matter what the demographic, and Red Doors is a little too aimless to be completely rewarding, but the whole film is so ingratiating and the cast so pleasing it's hard to turn up your nose at it.

The film does have a bit of an almost stereotypical, contrived independent film approach, too, but again, the droll, deadpan humor throughout overrides the occasional amateurishness and it leads to a surprisingly touching denouement. For all its flaws, Red Doors is a true-to-heart look at an Asian American family and deserves a life on home video.

Extras: The filmmakers offer up an engaging commentary track on the challenges of making this low-budget film (where they admit to borrowing a shot from Antonioni). The DVD also includes Georgia Lee's short film, Educated.

See also: Eat Drink Man Woman; Yi Yi; Dim Sum; Eat a Bowl of Tea; Wedding Banquet.