Set in San Francisco, a reunion between four Chinese mothers quickly succumbs to recriminatory undertows as the women begin to ponder, reflect upon and try to rationalise not only the brutal compromises their adopted country has forced upon them, but also the onerous moral imperatives they, by default, have inevitably imposed upon their American-born daughters. Based on Amy Tan's best-selling novel and adapted here by Tan and Roland Bass, this rueful, multi-character rumination on the immigrant experience and the multi-cultural familial ties that alternately bind and blind reworks a well-thumbed format with just enough brio to elevate it a few rungs above the standard issue tear-jerker. Director Wayne Wang, whose last effort was the execrable Life is Cheap . . But Toilet Paper is Expensive, knows the value of a carefully nuanced sentiment and his Asian-American cast, led by veteran France Nuyen and Tamlyn Tomita, never misses a cue.
