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 992's "Pushing Hands" is the debut film
of director Ang Lee, who co-wrote the script with his familiar
partner-in-crime, James Schamus. As with all of Lee's movies, regardless
of genre trappings, the film concerns itself with family and duty, and how
the two co-exists, for better or worst. The film stars Sihung Lung, a Lee
regular who has been in some of the director's most critically acclaimed
films, including "The
Wedding Banquet", "Eat
Drink Man Woman", and the fantasy martial arts epic "Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon". The rest of the cast, with the exception
of the veteran Lai Wang, would never have made it into the movie had this
not been Ang Lee's first foray into filmmaking. And that, alas, is the
movie's weakest point.
As the "Pushing
Hands" opens, it's already been a few months since retired Tai Chi
Master Mr. Chu (Sihung Lung) moved to America to live with his son Alex
(Bo Z. Wang). Alex is married to the neurotic Martha (Deb Snyder), a
writer currently suffering through terrible writer's block. As it so
happens, Martha's writer's block started about the same time Mr. Chu moved
in, and no one is more aware of this fact than she. For its first 20
minutes, the film explores the unspoken conflict between Martha and Mr.
Chu as they fumble about the house, sharing space in the kitchen and
living room, and yet refusing to co-exist. The relationship between the
two isn't cold, it's non-existent, and neither cares enough to really try
to change it.
The film spends much of its time dealing with Mr.
Chu's attempts to come to terms with his new surroundings, which includes
teaching Tai Chi at the local Chinese school where Alex's son also goes to
learn Chinese. At the school, Mr. Chu runs into Mrs. Chen (Lai Wang), a
widower from Taiwan who teaches a cooking class. The two immediately
catches each other's eye, but realizing there's an attraction and making
it happen are two different animals. Nevertheless, a hesitant relationship
develops, but is threatened by Mr. Chu's lack of aggression and Mrs.
Chen's belief that she's just passing time until her inevitable demise.
One can't help but notice, especially in stark contrast to Mrs. Chen, that
Mr. Chu is still very much alive and kicking, which makes the suffocation
of his new environment even more untenable.
Without a doubt, the one thing that makes
"Pushing Hands" work, even when the movie fumbles to find
itself, is Sihung Lung, giving a heartbreaking and winning performance,
helped in no small part by a wonderfully written character. Mr. Chu is
infused with wisdom about the metaphysical world, but is clueless when it
comes to romance or picking up on the small inflections of those around
him. When Mr. Chu wants to catch Mrs. Chen's attention, he throws one of
his students (during a kung fu demonstration) into her cooking table, thus
giving him the excuse to later visit her house with a "I'm
sorry" gift. Later, at a picnic, Mr. Chu realizes that Alex has been
manipulating him, and he never noticed until Mrs. Chen points it out. To
paraphrase Mrs. Chen, for a man with such powerful kung fu, it's
incredible how dense Mr. Chu is about reading people.
There are things about "Pushing Hands" that
doesn't quite work, and most of it, I believe, are owed to the fact that
this is Lee's first movie, and he probably didn't have as much control or
creative leeway as he would have in future projects. With the exception of
Sihung Lung and Lai Wang, the cast of "Pushing Hands" is hit and
miss. Bo Z. Wang does okay as the son, but his performance is oftentimes
uneven and affecting. The same for Deb Snyder, who is unnaturally stiff,
and lacks polish as an actor. No surprise that the two wouldn't go on to
become well-known names, as they seem lost and out of their element for
much of the movie.
Of course it probably doesn't help Snyder's
performance any that Schamus and Lee's script really doesn't present a
sympathetic portrait of Martha. If anything, one is hardpressed to believe
that someone of Martha's disposition and personality could ever marry,
much less fall in love, with a man like Alex, who is prone to bouts of
drunken nights and violent outbursts. Not surprisingly, it's when the
movie focuses on its Chinese characters that things click. Mr. Chu's
burgeoning relationship with Mrs. Chen is sweet and effective, as well as
Mr. Chu's interactions with his grandson. The Third Act comes as a
surprise, as it leaves the relatively safe home environment for the
dangers of the city's Chinatown district.
Although much of "Pushing Hands" is
surprisingly lighthearted and sometimes quite funny in the early going ons
(Martha's real estate friend, we learn, was a Maoist who converted to
Capitalist), it does get a bit deep and melodramatic toward the end (Mr.
Chu ends up in jail!). The sequence where Mr. Chu finds himself working as
a dishwasher in a Chinatown restaurant is both heartbreaking and
satisfying. In it, Mr. Chu refuses to leave the restaurant after he's been
fired for being a slow worker, and what follows is one man's titanic
struggle to reclaim his self-respect against the world. It's probably the
movie's best sequence, followed by a tearjerker inside a city jail between
father and son.
"Pushing Hands" doesn't have the polish one
is used to in an Ang Lee film, but it is nevertheless a very good movie,
with outstanding performances from Sihung Lung and Lai Wang. The script
needs work, but to its credit there is no force-fed Hollywood happy
ending, and in fact Mr. Chu and Martha never have a meeting of minds, an
outcome that seems perfectly fine for both of them. Ang Lee would go on to
direct better actors in better movies, but he has nothing to be ashamed of
here. "Pushing Hands" marks a fantastic debut for a great
director.
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