PUSHING HANDS

Now that I reviewed two films that are two of Ang Lee's best and well known, let's go to his very first film which is part of a trilogy of three of his early films before getting into Hollywood called "Father Knows Best". The first film of the trilogy and first film he ever directed is...



The film is just you're average "fish out of water" story. An elderly Chinese Martial Arts teacher, is an immigrant in America and lives with his son's family. However, he is not adjusting well to life in America and doesn't even know any English. He must now adapt to his new surroundings before he can live peacefully in America. 



Our main character Master Chu is a character that most people who just immigrated to America can relate too. He knows nothing about English, he believes his old country's traditions while America differs from his country, he tries to connect with his son and his family who are already Americanized and he must try to find his place in the country. His relationships with the character are all really good. The relationship between him and his son is nice and brings that son must take of care of his Father bond. The relationship with his grandson is cute and I like how he tries to teach him the Chinese language because he feels like the school isn't teaching him too much. He also has a love interest and a mean boss and those relationships really work. The relationship I like to look at is his relationship with his Son's wife, the reason for that is she knows nothing about the Chinese language and he knows nothing about the English language and throughout the film their alone together and they have trouble communicating to each other. That's exactly how most Americans are like around foreigners who can't speak the English. In fact, try watching the scenes with the two together without subtitles and see how realistic the relationship is. Master Chu is a great character and is deferentially somebody you can sympathies with or identify with.



The film itself, while having a well written story and character, it's nothing big or spectacular, it's more of a realistic look on the world around our main character and to be honest that's what makes the film work. Yes, you'll get some good shots, yes there are some funny moments, yes there are some Kung Fu moments but for the most part it's just a realistic look on life. As a matter of fact (And this is going back to the relationship between him and his Son's wife) in the first 11 minutes of the film there's no music (Except in the opening credits),only very few words spoken and we see our main character try to adapt to his new surroundings. Perfect way to open the film. Oh for you Kung Fu fans out there, there's very little of it and the fighting may not impress you as much.

It's a really simple film but it's a nice start to Ang Lee's career. 

RATING 4/5