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'Saving Face': Dueling taboos all in the family

The concept of "saving face" involves undue concern about how you are perceived by others. And in the quirky, gently charming romantic comedy Saving Face, a mother and a daughter are way too worried about what others think, which gets in the way of their happiness.

You could probably fill in the blank with any ethnic nationality whose parents try too hard to impose their view of happiness on their offspring, but in this case Wilhelmina (Michelle Krusiec) and her marriage-obsessed mother happen to be Chinese. Wil is 28, has a stable, hectic career as a New York surgeon, but no husband, and to Old World-born Ma and her meddlesome friends, that means she must be miserable.

Sony Pictures Classics 'Saving Face' B+ The verdict: Gentle urban ethnic comedy about parallel mother-daughter romantic dilemmas. Director: Alice Wu Starring: Michelle Krusiec, Joan Chen, Lynn Chen, Jin Wang, Guang Lan Koh Run time: 91 minutes Release date: May 27, 2005 Rating: R for language, sexuality, some nudity. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate "Saving Face"   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

Twist No. 1: Although widowed, 48-year-old Ma (Joan Chen) is intent on getting her daughter married, she herself has become pregnant and refuses to identify the father.

Twist No. 2: The reason Wil is indifferent to the many eligible Chinese bachelors that her mother fixes her up with is that she is a closeted lesbian.

With her assured low-budget first feature, writer-director Alice Wu steers right into the conventions of multi-generational farce, yet dodges a formulaic feeling by fleshing out the characters and putting humanity before humor. It is hard not to like these characters, even as you want to grab them by the shoulders and shake some sense into them.

Disgraced by her unwed pregnancy and shunned by her aged parents, Ma is forced to leave her Chinese community in Flushing, Queens, and move in with Wil in her Manhattan apartment. Her dutiful daughter would not usually mind the inconvenience, but she has just taken up with a sexually frank ballet dancer named Vivian (Lynn Chen), who quickly grows impatient with Wil's attempts to hide their relationship from Ma.

At least as much to ease their own strain as to help Ma, Wil and Vivian try to find a suitor for her. Watching Ma prepare for her blind date has all the makings of sitcom, but largely because of Chen's delicate stubbornness and heart-warming fragility, the scene becomes much more.

The movie and its plot threads get resolved at a Chinese singles social, the community dance to which Ma kept dragging Wil. It is a setting that only someone who knows and understands this ethnic milieu would write and the textured details and authentic faces that Wu fills the scene with finesse the hard-to-buy wrap-up.

In a world where My Big Fat Greek Wedding becomes a major crowd-pleaser, a superior film like Saving Face deserves at least a fraction of its success. The quality of the writing and the handful of appealing performances she orchestrated make Wu a filmmaker to watch, no matter how she follows up this amiable debut.