Okay, if you are looking for slick Hollywood production values, skip this one. But the film does have sweetness, charm & sincerity. The acting and writing are uneven at best, but I thought James Marks as the boarder Robert was charming & sexy. Yes, "The Wedding Banquet" is a superior film that covers much of the same territory. But "Under One Roof" has its honest pleasures as well.
14 Reviews
sweet low-budget gay film
chollowa-212 February 2006
I liked this film because it comes from a very gay indie perspective. As the director notes in the commentary, all the gay characters are played by gay actors, and that's important to him. You hardly ever get that in a big budget movie because openly gay actors can't draw a big enough audience. The sex and nudity scenes are meant to contrast with typical Hollywood movies that try to hide genitalia and rush through sex and intimacy, which when you think about it is much more distracting and unnatural than including nude scenes in a romantic comedy. It is also refreshing to see gay Asian characters (and actors), especially since they are at the center of the film, and not just revolving around white characters. In fact, there are several relationships shown between two gay Asian men, both sexual/romantic relationships as well as friendships. Sure the acting isn't perfect, partly because it was so rushed, and some of the lines are cheesy. But if you look beyond that, you will be in for a treat.
Kind of sweet
NRastro25 September 2006
I liked it a lot. Yes, it's very much indie and low-budget, but the point of the movie was to show things from the Chinese-American character's point of view, to show why the answer to "why don't you just come out to your parents?" can be a lot more complicated than others may imagine. Worthwhile and fun and sweet.
The style and acting was meant to be naturalistic, and the emotions are kept pretty restrained. I kind of liked the way the characters were very much depicted as pretty much ordinary guys, like the ones I knew growing up. The movie avoids extremes that are so common that we don't even think about them. There's no big, high-drama drug problems (at one extreme) nor no guys with jet-setting (perfect but empty) lives, and the funny "best friend" characters aren't so terribly arch. Seems pretty true to life, which forces you to concentrate on the story and message, which is pretty quiet, emotionally brave turf to tread. In that sense, it takes some risks in its simplicity.
The style and acting was meant to be naturalistic, and the emotions are kept pretty restrained. I kind of liked the way the characters were very much depicted as pretty much ordinary guys, like the ones I knew growing up. The movie avoids extremes that are so common that we don't even think about them. There's no big, high-drama drug problems (at one extreme) nor no guys with jet-setting (perfect but empty) lives, and the funny "best friend" characters aren't so terribly arch. Seems pretty true to life, which forces you to concentrate on the story and message, which is pretty quiet, emotionally brave turf to tread. In that sense, it takes some risks in its simplicity.
Move along. Nothing to see here.
Suradit27 May 2012
Couldn't believe the comment in one other review: " Asian men are never portrayed as the central love interest, or god forbid SEXY." Then I realized that the review was written 7 years ago... and in America.
There are now sooooooooo many fantastic Asian films with Asian men as the central love interest and unquestionably they are overwhelmingly,devastatingly sexy, which is more than can be said for this crew. More importantly the films are interesting, well-acted, well-directed, shot in the real world (as opposed to someone's basement) and did I mention, well-acted.
Most of these far superior movies were produced in Asia, for example, Soundless Wind Chime, 15, City without Baseball, Eternal Summer, My Fair Son, Bangkok Love Story ... to name a few. Not high budget, but beautifully presented and with meaningful stories... and with high quality acting even if the central characters are amateurs or even just kids off the street.
Under One Roof is like a badly acted '50's soap opera or a high school production. I'm not sure which is worse, when they appear to be reading their lines in monotones or when they suddenly try to add some (generally inappropriate) emotion while reading their lines. The main character seems to only employ annoyed whining as his style, no matter what the situation. There is no sense of interaction between the actors.
I can't imagine that even 5 or 10 years ago this would have been more than an embarrassing amateurish production.
There are now sooooooooo many fantastic Asian films with Asian men as the central love interest and unquestionably they are overwhelmingly,devastatingly sexy, which is more than can be said for this crew. More importantly the films are interesting, well-acted, well-directed, shot in the real world (as opposed to someone's basement) and did I mention, well-acted.
Most of these far superior movies were produced in Asia, for example, Soundless Wind Chime, 15, City without Baseball, Eternal Summer, My Fair Son, Bangkok Love Story ... to name a few. Not high budget, but beautifully presented and with meaningful stories... and with high quality acting even if the central characters are amateurs or even just kids off the street.
Under One Roof is like a badly acted '50's soap opera or a high school production. I'm not sure which is worse, when they appear to be reading their lines in monotones or when they suddenly try to add some (generally inappropriate) emotion while reading their lines. The main character seems to only employ annoyed whining as his style, no matter what the situation. There is no sense of interaction between the actors.
I can't imagine that even 5 or 10 years ago this would have been more than an embarrassing amateurish production.
possibly the worst film ever made
jake8220 June 2004
Okay, I almost never write reviews on IMDb because I generally agree with what at least one person has said about any certain film. However, in the case of "Under One Roof" I was shocked to see that the film had garnered a 6.1 rating and three generally supportive comments.
After viewing this film I couldn't think of a single original or unique attribute that made it worthwhile... every scene, scenario and character is ripped from the endless slosh of gay narratives available in film and television-- many of which are low-quality, but which all surpass this confusing spectacle. Many filmmakers today are using DV as a mechanism to reduce production cost, increase camera mobility and allow for more footage to be shot without being concerned about cost. In "Under One Roof" the extremely low production value is evident, but the makers fail to use DV for any of its other advantages... each scene is shot from only one angle and it is obvious in the scenes where actors stumble over their lines that the production was a very rushed process.
The film is at best a terribly watered down version of Ang Lee's brilliant "The Wedding Banquet" and employs liberal use of musical montages (resulting in very repetitive, annoying keyboard music that becomes very familiar to the viewer by the end of this 76-minute train wreck), flashbacks, supposedly meaningful silences and unnecessary voice over. It teeters between dramedy and pornography with various interspersed scenes of gratuitous nudity that fail to both serve any erotic purpose or further the plot (most notedly a painfully long "sex" scene in which two characters undress and stand around aimlessly for a while before breaking into a sentimental story about a very special coin in one of their collections). The strange, unnatural sets and cheap cinematography only contribute to the film's pseudo-porn air.
Absolutely no variation on the traditional "coming out" story is offered here, in a story about a man (Jay Wong) in his late 20s living at home with his traditional Chinese mother and grandmother in San Francisco. The script's derivative nature is almost too much to handle when you hear the actors stumble over lame one-liners and puns.
I implore you to avoid this bomb at any cost... if you don't believe me, just watch the charming trailer available at the top of this page to see a few seconds of the film's top notch quality.
After viewing this film I couldn't think of a single original or unique attribute that made it worthwhile... every scene, scenario and character is ripped from the endless slosh of gay narratives available in film and television-- many of which are low-quality, but which all surpass this confusing spectacle. Many filmmakers today are using DV as a mechanism to reduce production cost, increase camera mobility and allow for more footage to be shot without being concerned about cost. In "Under One Roof" the extremely low production value is evident, but the makers fail to use DV for any of its other advantages... each scene is shot from only one angle and it is obvious in the scenes where actors stumble over their lines that the production was a very rushed process.
The film is at best a terribly watered down version of Ang Lee's brilliant "The Wedding Banquet" and employs liberal use of musical montages (resulting in very repetitive, annoying keyboard music that becomes very familiar to the viewer by the end of this 76-minute train wreck), flashbacks, supposedly meaningful silences and unnecessary voice over. It teeters between dramedy and pornography with various interspersed scenes of gratuitous nudity that fail to both serve any erotic purpose or further the plot (most notedly a painfully long "sex" scene in which two characters undress and stand around aimlessly for a while before breaking into a sentimental story about a very special coin in one of their collections). The strange, unnatural sets and cheap cinematography only contribute to the film's pseudo-porn air.
Absolutely no variation on the traditional "coming out" story is offered here, in a story about a man (Jay Wong) in his late 20s living at home with his traditional Chinese mother and grandmother in San Francisco. The script's derivative nature is almost too much to handle when you hear the actors stumble over lame one-liners and puns.
I implore you to avoid this bomb at any cost... if you don't believe me, just watch the charming trailer available at the top of this page to see a few seconds of the film's top notch quality.
Sweet yet flawed movie
PVcondo110 February 2005
As a gay Asian American man, I grew up watching TV and movies where I was never represented. So for me Under One Roof was a welcome change from the usual Hollywood depiction of Asian men as either mysterious strangers, emasculated servants, or comic side kicks. Asian men are never portrayed as the central love interest, or god forbid SEXY.
Finally there is a movie where I can see myself reflected on the screen. A movie where not only the lead actor, but several supporting actors are gay Asian men. Yes, I am familiar with the Wedding Banquet, and yes it is a better movie, but how many years has it been since a gay Asian man was the lead in a movie?
Now I am not saying this is a great movie, far from it. The acting can be wooden at times, and downright bad at other times, but after having listened to the directors commentary I think a lot of that can be blamed on the way that filming had to be rushed along.
The two leads, Daniel and Robert were convincing in their scenes together, but less so when they were acting with the others in the cast (I think they had real chemistry together) Given the limited budget and time I think everyone did a good job. The writing was a bit stilted in places, but there were some genuinely touching as well as funny scenes in this movie.
AS for the male nudity. As a healthy gay man, I NEVER find frontal male nudity gratuitous. It is always appreciated and very welcome.
Finally there is a movie where I can see myself reflected on the screen. A movie where not only the lead actor, but several supporting actors are gay Asian men. Yes, I am familiar with the Wedding Banquet, and yes it is a better movie, but how many years has it been since a gay Asian man was the lead in a movie?
Now I am not saying this is a great movie, far from it. The acting can be wooden at times, and downright bad at other times, but after having listened to the directors commentary I think a lot of that can be blamed on the way that filming had to be rushed along.
The two leads, Daniel and Robert were convincing in their scenes together, but less so when they were acting with the others in the cast (I think they had real chemistry together) Given the limited budget and time I think everyone did a good job. The writing was a bit stilted in places, but there were some genuinely touching as well as funny scenes in this movie.
AS for the male nudity. As a healthy gay man, I NEVER find frontal male nudity gratuitous. It is always appreciated and very welcome.
AWFUL
kire10620 October 2004
This movie sucked, I expected badly made softcore smut, but this was sad sad porn, all I kept waiting for was for Robert to drop his pants, and he never did, instead we had to settle for flaccid dicks from a couple of naturalists, and a bad shot of the obligatory queen in the movie. AWFUL. I don't expect these movies to be good, but at least I expect them to be interesting, and the only interesting thing about Under One Roof, were the two guys making out behind me at the theater. Can I just ask? what's up with all the tickling? what are they five? and lets not talk about the technical aspects, because I've seen better acting in regional theater. the only intentionally funny thing in the flick was the grandmother, although the main character's shortcomings got me chuckling a few times.
Under One Roof is Underwhelming
jamesmccormack8 July 2008
My advice: skip this one. Really. You have better things to do. The only laugh I got from this film is reading the IMDb synopsis - "Sex and the City meets The Wedding Banquet." I don't think so. You may find a chuckle or two because the film -and everyone in it - is sooooooooooo bad.
This is film is so amateurish it does not deserve to be in the movie database. The script is at the high school creative writing class level. This is a bad sit com parody you would expect to see on your local public access channel. The acting - if you want to call it that -is horrible. Attn: Jay Wong: you cannot carry a film. And, Sandra Lee: please keep your day job. The "sexy" boarder is Robert played by James Marky - I just don't see it.
To top it off, this feature looks like is was shot with someone's home video recorder - flat, lifeless. Don't get me started on the editing - scenes are held way to long for no reason. Camera shots are usually wide to capture the whole room and all the people in it. So there is plenty of awkward staging. No pesky medium and tight shots to get in the way.
Lots of miscues in this one. Key to the plot is the "heat" between Daniel and Robert. But, there just isn't anything so the film fails because it is centered around this "dangerous relationship". Funny how the film synopsis lists Robert as a cute guy from the South. His character is from Indiana. Last time I looked, that state is in the Midwest. In a useless subplot, Daniel's "girlfriend" is dating a "black man" The horrors! But he looks Asian to me.
But there is some nudity (mostly limp is you know what I mean) in the film - more on the level of soft porn.
This is film is so amateurish it does not deserve to be in the movie database. The script is at the high school creative writing class level. This is a bad sit com parody you would expect to see on your local public access channel. The acting - if you want to call it that -is horrible. Attn: Jay Wong: you cannot carry a film. And, Sandra Lee: please keep your day job. The "sexy" boarder is Robert played by James Marky - I just don't see it.
To top it off, this feature looks like is was shot with someone's home video recorder - flat, lifeless. Don't get me started on the editing - scenes are held way to long for no reason. Camera shots are usually wide to capture the whole room and all the people in it. So there is plenty of awkward staging. No pesky medium and tight shots to get in the way.
Lots of miscues in this one. Key to the plot is the "heat" between Daniel and Robert. But, there just isn't anything so the film fails because it is centered around this "dangerous relationship". Funny how the film synopsis lists Robert as a cute guy from the South. His character is from Indiana. Last time I looked, that state is in the Midwest. In a useless subplot, Daniel's "girlfriend" is dating a "black man" The horrors! But he looks Asian to me.
But there is some nudity (mostly limp is you know what I mean) in the film - more on the level of soft porn.
light, inter-ethnic gay comedy
benzao18 November 2002
The humor one may expect, resulting from inter ethnic situations and gay life are here. Gay sit coms (particularly when set in, where else? San Francisco) have become all too common and stereotypical. Yet, this one has some quirkiness, and enough insight to balancing love, family and other responsibilities to make it stand out.
Couldn't agree more
dovajorth29 November 2005
Pure garbage. This movie is an insult to gays, Asian-Americans, everyone. I didn't care about any of the characters, especially the central figure in the film. There is no chemistry between these two guys, so I feel nothing for them or their "romance." Ugh. Embarrassingly bad. I ordered this from OnDemand and regret that I actually paid money for it. The direction is cheap-looking, sloppy, and the editing weak. It watches like a porn movie, sans the porn! The writing is completely implausible. The live-in border being forced upstairs while awaiting repairs in the basement is so contrived that it's laughable.
Convincing and inspirational
Gordon-1115 June 2007
This film is about a young Chinese American who has to come out to his mum who holds traditional Chinese attitudes.
It approaches the traditional Chinese values of family and respect for elders in a touching way. I was particularly impressed by the scene where Daniel picks back up the torn dating leaflet after mum's simple sentence about dad. It illustrates how tradition imposes intense lock and chain on Chinese youngsters. Even more touching is the exchange of thoughts between the two mothers. It is almost inspirational, and I think all mothers in the situation should watch it for educational purposes. Daniel and Robert are so natural and passionate about each other that makes their relationship and the film even more convincing.
It approaches the traditional Chinese values of family and respect for elders in a touching way. I was particularly impressed by the scene where Daniel picks back up the torn dating leaflet after mum's simple sentence about dad. It illustrates how tradition imposes intense lock and chain on Chinese youngsters. Even more touching is the exchange of thoughts between the two mothers. It is almost inspirational, and I think all mothers in the situation should watch it for educational purposes. Daniel and Robert are so natural and passionate about each other that makes their relationship and the film even more convincing.
A Painful Atrocity
sigmasm13 January 2005
I rented this movie expecting it to be a cute love story. However that was the only that I got from the movie. The movie not only proved to be a low-budget film through the usage of amateurish filming but also in a terribly poor acting. The actors weren't unable to convey much real emotion and everything seemed so forced. If we were to bypass the above mentioned flaws, we are still left with a terribly written script. There dialog is bland and often times sporadic coupled with humorous moments with such poor lines that it leaves one completely unsatisfied and frustrated. Also the interweaving of Chinese dialog and Chinese customs without much explanation proved to be too selective because it is probably only understood by Asians. Also, there are many gratuitous nude scenes which proved to be quite distasteful.
Television Test Pattern meets Emergency Broadcast System!
dgodowd24 January 2010
Perhaps the most unwatchable film every produced. The viewer should be paid to watch it. The "actors" were clearly pulled at random from the local grocery store, moving woodenly and delivering their lines as if reading from cue cards. Yes, it would be nice to have gay actors playing gay characters, but unfortunately there are no actors in this movie.
But wait, there's also the superlative camera work, which appears to have been executed by someone in a post-ictal stupor. The camera drifts lazily from one side of the room to the other, occasionally capturing an "actor" delivering a line.
The production "values" fall below an average 3rd grade holiday pageant and the "script" is non-existent.
The soundtrack alternates between languid guitar strains from a douche commercial and some of the harshest keyboard work ever heard that overstays it's welcome after 10 seconds.
If you're a glutton for punishment, had your cable cut off, no longer own a broadcast antenna and this is the ONLY DVD left in your collection, you should still avoid this movie.
But wait, there's also the superlative camera work, which appears to have been executed by someone in a post-ictal stupor. The camera drifts lazily from one side of the room to the other, occasionally capturing an "actor" delivering a line.
The production "values" fall below an average 3rd grade holiday pageant and the "script" is non-existent.
The soundtrack alternates between languid guitar strains from a douche commercial and some of the harshest keyboard work ever heard that overstays it's welcome after 10 seconds.
If you're a glutton for punishment, had your cable cut off, no longer own a broadcast antenna and this is the ONLY DVD left in your collection, you should still avoid this movie.
enjoyed the movie
edson_hockey27 January 2010
I enjoyed this movie. The acting is some what lacking but most gay movies are as such. I did feel as though the characters were well developed during the course of the movie. I think Jay Wong (Daniel Chang) is very attractive and plays a strong masculine role in the movie. I appreciate that portrayal instead of the feminine stereotypical role that is usually played in gay movies.
I loved Vivian Kobayashi (Gram Chang) in this movie! she made me laugh. I wish she had a bigger role but she did very well with what she had to work with.
All in all, I would say this is another love story to be watched by a couple that is in love and wants a heart warming story. The story is not new but it is just a plain and simple love story for gays.
I will say it made me tear up a few times, although, that is not that hard to do anymore these days. I am just a hopeless romantic, so some would say. LOL
I hope this helped!
I loved Vivian Kobayashi (Gram Chang) in this movie! she made me laugh. I wish she had a bigger role but she did very well with what she had to work with.
All in all, I would say this is another love story to be watched by a couple that is in love and wants a heart warming story. The story is not new but it is just a plain and simple love story for gays.
I will say it made me tear up a few times, although, that is not that hard to do anymore these days. I am just a hopeless romantic, so some would say. LOL
I hope this helped!
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