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FACE
Directed & Produced by: Bertha Bay-Sa Pan.
Written by: Bertha Bay-Sa Pan & Oren Moverman.
Director of Photography: John Inwood.
Edited by: Gary Levy.
Music by: Leonard Nelson Hubbard.
Released by: Indican Pictures.
Country of Origin: USA. 87 min. Rating: PG-13.
With: Bai Ling, Kieu Chinh, Kristy Wu, Will Yun Lee & Treach.

Kim (Bai Ling), a demure 20-year-old college student, is date-raped and impregnated by Daniel (Will Yun Lee), a spoiled rich kid whom she used to tutor. Fearful of the shame, Kim`s mother (Kieu Chinh) arranges for a shot-gun wedding. Unable to put up with her husband, Kim eventually flees Queens, leaving her new-born daughter Genie behind with her mother. Nineteen years later, Kim, now a successful banker in Hong-Kong, returns for Genie`s high school graduation and a combustible family reunion.

Face is nothing original in terms of plot, and dangerously close to being a Lifetime family drama. Yet it is the superb performances by the three generations of women that make the film believable. Bai Ling is especially alluring while Kristy Wu exemplifies the honesty and unabashed energy that Kim once yearned for. And Naughty by Nature`s Treach is charming as Genie`s love interest. The film's other stand-out is its stylish cinematography, from the sweeping opening long take through a Chinese restaurant - a bold visualization of Kim's estrangement - to the candy-colored urban world of Genie. Propelled by rich imagery, Face manages to exude a vivid, ethnically-diverse power that is unmistakably, and lovingly, New York City. Marie Iida
March 16, 2005