Beautiful cinematography, and a gentle look at two generations of Chinese Americans, centered on a 62-year-old widow and her 30-something daughter, unmarried to the concern of her mother and her friends. The film feels highly authentic, starting with these two being played by the real-life mother/daughter pair of Laureen and Kim Chew, and much of it shot in their own San Francisco home. I loved the representation and the warmth emanating from the film, but it might have been a little too gentle for me. The emotions and humor are rather muted, and some of the more interesting action in the story is summarized after the fact, rather than shown.
Then again, like its title, the scenes Wayne Wang gives us are little bits of from the heart, little pieces of dim sum, and there is a lot of selfless love between these characters. When the mother tells the daughter something about the soup doesn't smell quite right, the daughter doesn't get miffed about what might come across as ingratitude in another culture. When the uncle (Victor Wong) is playfully rebuffed in his pragmatic offer to marry the mother, he doesn't sulk or get angry. When the daughter moves out, the mother quietly accepts her new lonely condition, even though we see what it means to her in her eyes when the door closes. What a fantastic moment that was, and impressive given Kim Chew was an amateur actor.
There is also calm acceptance over the natural "Americanization" of the younger generation. The uncle points out that this may mean the family may lose bits of cultural knowledge, like how to make Chinese sausage or pork in shrimp sauce, but it's not in a heavy-handed way, and Wang is not proselytizing. The mother drinks tea, the daughter, a can of coke. The uncle himself loves American movies, like You Can't Take It With You (1938), and after messing up while cooking, they go out for McDonald's. Cantonese and English flow together freely, as do aspects of Chinese and American culture.
The ending is rather ambiguous in one sense, as not everything that will happen to these people is spelled out, and the story has an unfinished feeling to it. On the other hand, one gets the sense that through the support of family, friends, and community, these little lives will continue to move on in harmony.
Then again, like its title, the scenes Wayne Wang gives us are little bits of from the heart, little pieces of dim sum, and there is a lot of selfless love between these characters. When the mother tells the daughter something about the soup doesn't smell quite right, the daughter doesn't get miffed about what might come across as ingratitude in another culture. When the uncle (Victor Wong) is playfully rebuffed in his pragmatic offer to marry the mother, he doesn't sulk or get angry. When the daughter moves out, the mother quietly accepts her new lonely condition, even though we see what it means to her in her eyes when the door closes. What a fantastic moment that was, and impressive given Kim Chew was an amateur actor.
There is also calm acceptance over the natural "Americanization" of the younger generation. The uncle points out that this may mean the family may lose bits of cultural knowledge, like how to make Chinese sausage or pork in shrimp sauce, but it's not in a heavy-handed way, and Wang is not proselytizing. The mother drinks tea, the daughter, a can of coke. The uncle himself loves American movies, like You Can't Take It With You (1938), and after messing up while cooking, they go out for McDonald's. Cantonese and English flow together freely, as do aspects of Chinese and American culture.
The ending is rather ambiguous in one sense, as not everything that will happen to these people is spelled out, and the story has an unfinished feeling to it. On the other hand, one gets the sense that through the support of family, friends, and community, these little lives will continue to move on in harmony.