A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2007) released 2008

Using imdb.com as my primary reference for this blog I see more and more inconsistencies in the year attributed to a movie and its release. Possibly that's because I no longer live in one of the 10 biggest cities in the country, but it is also probably due to the vagaries of film distribution in general. This one was released in our second tier metro area yesterday and I enjoyed it at 5:15 in the campus-area theatre with one other (anonymous) viewer. It's a quiet, slow movie, like a New Yorker short story. Actor Henry O, as the Chinese Mr. Shi, stands like the letter S, with his hunched back, sunken chest, and trousers pulled up over his belly like Martin Short's Ed Grimley. The resemblance (to the manic character from SCTV and Saturday Night Live) ends there. Mr. Shi is thoughtful and a quick study, taking notes in his little book, as he tries to get along in his daughter's adopted Spokane. I like director Wayne Wang's previous work: Smoke (1995) with Harvey Keitel as part of a great ensemble; Chinese Box (1997) with Jeremy Irons, Gong Li, and Maggie Cheung; even Last Holiday (2006), a predictable chick flick with Queen Latifah. I never saw The Joy Luck Club (1993) all the way through, but always liked the bits I saw while channel surfing, especially the part where the Anglo man unknowingly insults his mother-in-law at the feast. There's lots of food in this as well (much of it going to waste). Co-star Feihong Yu as daughter Yilan was in Joy Luck Club, and gives a thoughtful performance here as well. This is an American film, but most of it is in Mandarin with English subtitles, and some of it is in Mandarin and Persian with none (Mr. Shi befriends an Iranian immigrant and they have conversations, speaking in their own languages and translating what they can). Wang's cinematographer on 4 of his 18 films (not this one) was the Iranian-born Amir Mokri, my film school colleague, of whom I think whenever I see the word Slumdog (I'll be seeing that movie tomorrow). Amir used to refer to himself and his fellow cinematography students as "schlepdogs." Anyway, this is slow; it may be too slow, depending on your mood. I checked my watch when the pivotal scene occurred, it was about an hour into the 83 minute film! Not too slow for me, though. It inspired pleasant memories of my dear departed Warren, who was also smart, helpful, friendly, and a quick study.