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Soursweet

1988, Movie, NR, 110 mins

Soursweet: Review

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This routine melodrama from Britain follows the lives of a young Chinese couple (Chang and Dun) who emigrate from Hong Kong to England. Arriving in London just after their wedding, the couple finds a small flat and Dun gets a job as a waiter in a huge Chinese restaurant. Five years later, a son is born and Chang's older sister, Long, comes to live with them. Dun eventually starts a business of his own which soon becomes successful, but he then finds himself caught in a violent battle between rival Chinese gangs. Although the title is an appropriate description of the film's mood, SOURSWEET, unfortunately, isn't all that engaging. Screenwriter Ian McEwan (adapting a novel by Timothy Mo) and director Mike Newell really don't explore the material in depth, preferring to rely more on the sweetness of the story than to stress the sour economic realities of Thatcher's England. With the larger implications of the material ignored, viewers are treated to scene after charming scene of the cute little Chinese family struggling to assimilate into British culture. While some of these scenes are undeniably effective and audience-pleasing, they are too cloying and diffuse whatever power the material may have with easy sentiment. leave a comment
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