Movie reviews aren't my shtick. At one point, I would have called myself an anime/manga otaku and I still love a good solid Korean drama (or Taiwanese, Chinese, Japanese... They're rife with heart), but movies are often a rare treat for me.
With this one, there was the PC hype. There was also the low key dissing about how it only covered the glorified rich culture of Singapore and excluded the everything else.
I have to assert that all of it was missing the point I got out of it.
Rachel Chu enters the scene, beautiful, down to earth, smart, knowing nothing about the man she loves, Nick Young, where his family is concerned. But we see her, the economics professor, dishing out a lesson in human psychology that will come to a head later. There will be spoilers...
We then see her meet up with her enamored boyfriend, a man who never gives us the impression that he's hiding much, even by omission. He's not doing it for her own good or even his. He looks at her like she walks on water but we see time and again how they always seem to know how to catch each other. It's mesmerizing to watch without ever seeming sappy or overly perfect. We see a man who takes this woman seriously, yet knows how to enjoy his life with her.
She probably seems like she's walking into his invitation to his cousin's wedding completely blindsided, but even when she realizes things are much bigger than she thought, we are also reminded that she knows people. There's no tearful shouting of being lied to, because she shows a resilience to all that comes her way, both with emotional honesty and critical adaption. She's not made of steel and her eyes become liquid with her feelings but she doesn't wilt.
Before her introduction to the illustrious Young family, she visits her friend Peik Lin where they first drop the bomb on just what she's stepping in. She doesn't panic--she is even game for Peik Lin's risqué new-money fashion closet when Peik Lin calls her simple red dress a good choice for the Little Mermaid's Sebastian.
I'm not going to analyze scene for scene so I'll skip to some other key points.
Meeting Eleanor's mother gave me the dread that this woman might be like every other Asian drama rich-mama and be a passive aggressive bitch. Michelle Yeoh could definitely pull it off, but she never quite got that dirty. Instead, we see a woman who both wields old traditional beliefs and the heart of a woman who never was quite fully accepted by her husband's mother. She seems as if she might become petty, but she doesn't push, only stands her ground, an element we also see in Rachel. Rachel never makes the mistake of trying to meet this woman on her level. Instead, she takes a cue from Peik Lin and finds her own way to the front. It isn't malicious or petty either. She leaves the cold spots and stokes the warmth instead.
Astrid is one of my favorites of the bunch. Despite the snooty careful way she carries herself, she immediately shows a sort of adaptable kindness too. Her husband Michael seems like a lucky man, but instead, we see his insecurities try to push Astrid into believing he cheated on her because she is too perfect. She doesn't take the bait. She not only shows she is a real human being, but she tells him that he is a coward and she can not make him into a man. She tells him their home is his, but as far as their child goes, the child will be the one to decide how much his father is a part of his life. She does not leave broken, even though we know she loves him no less. She takes out a pair of the earrings she hid to conceal her wealth for his sake and puts them on calmly, a light of self-possession in her eyes.
There are no heroes or villains, even though it is ultimately a love story, we see real people. Beyond all claims of destitution or wealth, we see people who navigate through it, some tempted and shallow, some oblivious and wise, but the strengths and weaknesses we see only make it more obvious that we would be foolish to judge anyone. These people grow and change, for better and worse.
It is the mahjong scene after Rachel makes up her mind to leave that brought on the waterworks, because here we can sense that Rachel is about to show his mother Eleanor her full bloom. It is an honest scene where Rachel is both teaching and learning, a way to show both the honesty of her character and the reason why she has every right to gift the world with the profession that makes her happy. I wouldn't say she plays Eleanor like a fiddle at all. No, this is where she reaches in to understand Eleanor even as she gives her softness. She needs no walls because all is left on the table. As she shows, there is no winning when it hurts the one you love.
I won't give up my thoughts on the ending. It all culminates into the big finish and I wanted to stand and clap through the veil of happy tears. While many critics will pick at the cultural aspects or revere them, I've never pretended to know enough about Asian culture to go that route. I've simply been enamored by the cultivation, the spectrum, of humanity through entertainment. I adore and loathe some aspects as an outsider who can quite easily and honestly say that I am never opposed to the interpretations of lives I haven't lived. I could never speak for white people, women, asexuals, etc. though I'll borrow the labels from time to time when I think they might shed understanding, avoiding them otherwise. I don't need to be Asian to appreciate the beauty of this movies, both in the story and the wonderful cast that brings it home.
Crazy Rich Asians is a must-see. If you want funny, emotional, interesting, smart and never a dull moment, it's all here. No movie, no matter how it tries, will ever be able to encompass every cultural aspect. This is, on the surface, a Cinderella story. Beneath it is a tapestry of humanity. People with the requisite personalities that are ever subject to the growth and change of life.
See it.
