Smile (I) (2005)

Introduced to a volunteer opportunity with the Doctor's Gift Program, Katie (Mika Boorem) signs up for a trip to China, where she meets Lin (Yi Ding), a girl with whom she shares a birthday. Lin has a facial deformity that discourages her from ever showing her face, but her friendship with Katie helps her start to see life in a new way.

Director:

Jeffrey Kramer

Writer:

Jeffrey Kramer

Stars:

Mika Boorem, Luoyong Wang, Yi Ding

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mika Boorem	...	Katie
Luoyong Wang	...	Daniel
Yi Ding	...	Lin
Beau Bridges	...	Steven
Linda Hamilton	...	Bridgette
Cheri Oteri	...	Linda
Sean Astin	...	Mr. Matthews
Shuai Chi	...	Calvin
Jonathon Trent	...	Ted
Erik von Detten	...	Chris
Jia Song	...	Daniel's Wife
Essie Shure	...	Brittany
Susan Chuang	...	Ticket Agent
Yaojun Feng	...	Conductor
Hua Zhu	...	James

Storyline

Katie, a teenage girl from Malibu, California, finds herself in the throes of growing up, facing her parents, her boyfriends, her sexuality and a very privileged life. Half a world away in rural, China, Lin, born on the same day as Katie, faces a much different reality. Because of a severe facial deformity, she lives a life of fear and shame. Her father, Daniel, has devoted his life to her, with hopes and dreams that her circumstances will change one day. The opportunity comes with the discovery of the worldwide "Doctor's Gift" program. Katie volunteers and comes to China. Once there, she is deeply touched by the work, which prompts her to take off on her own to find Lin. A "smile" is brought to Lin's face, Katie finds her soul and their extraordinary connection becomes a life-changing experience for both girls.

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Plot Keywords:

china | deformity | malibu | friendship | teenage girl | 

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Taglines:

A single choice... An incredible journey... And a selfless act... Will unite them and become a life-changing experience they will remember forever.

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some mature content involving teen sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA China

Language:

English Mandarin Spanish

Release Date:

8 April 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

Le sourire d'un coeur

Filming Locations:

Jingxi, China

Company Credits

Production Co:

Konwiser Brothers, Changchun Film Studio, Dark Forest

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Features Cowboy and the Senorita (1944)

User Reviews

Not worth the effort

Two redeeming qualities of this film were the cinemaphotography and a storyline that was hard to resist. However, the script, the direction, and some scenes, were just awful. I kept asking myself why such a good cast would have produced such a bad movie. My only conclusion was that these actors must believe in the charity which underlies the plot of the movie, but knew the movie was filled with flaws.

This film could have been so much better, and reached a larger audience accordingly. What makes me think this is that with all of the problems of the film, some scenes being painfully bad to watch, I still wanted to see how the obvious conclusion would resolve itself.