MOCA x NYAFF Film Club: Saving Face

A queer romantic comedy set in vibrant, multicultural New York City, Alice Wu’s irresistible feature debut breathed fresh life into the charming story of a young woman’s complicated life and her pursuit of love amid the chaos. Wilhelmina is a 28-year-old overworked medical resident living in Manhattan with no social life. Her widowed mother, Ma, cannot understand why her desirable daughter spends all her time at work. Ma, meanwhile, appears to be a traditional ChineseAmerican woman still under the thumb of her ultra-strict father. That Wilhelmina and her mother are both products of the very insular, traditional (and, yes…gossipy) Chinese-American community in Flushing, Queens makes the usual family ties even tighter.

A true love letter to New York City, SAVING FACE is told with a great deal of warmth and humor, as everyone tries to sort out their emotions and fulfill their obligations…to themselves and to each other, while all along acknowledging their not-so-secret lives and trying to “save face.”

It was the first Hollywood movie that centered on Chinese Americans since The Joy Luck Club (1993).