SFIAAFF Review: A Thousand Years of Good Prayers

The Film

In A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, actor Henry O's portrayal of the main character Mr. Shi, who steps foot in America for the first time to visit his newly divorced daughter Yilan (played by Faye Yu) in Spokane, Washington, had us laughing and crying at practically the same time. We could empathize with his quest to get to know his daughter again, whom he hadn't seen in twelve years. We had much less empathy for Yilan, perhaps because her relationship with her father reminds us of our own father/daughter relationship. We know that makes no sense, but human emotions are a strange thing. And that's why we loved this film.

The two seem to revert back to their roles from twelve years ago, except that Mr. Shi has recently learned to cook and prepares large meals for Yilan each night. He still comes off as a strict, pushy parent who gets it all wrong, and Yilan is a sullen teenager who lies about her life and stays out all night to avoid connecting with her father. Mr. Shi is left to find connections with the random and colorful people in his daughter's town, but he tells her he'd rather "see the America that you're happy in."

The most lovely relationship that Mr. Shi has takes place daily on a park bench with an Iranian widow, who has come to Spokane to live with her son, daughter-in-law, and their newborn son. Through their limited English, they have a very touching connection.

Mr. Shi and Yilan do end up coming to a subtle closure when Mr. Shi finally is able to talk about the past, which he had always refused to do before. "It's a struggle just to survive. I only want to talk about happy things." Yilan had felt that because she was never exposed to the negative aspects of her parents' relationship, she never learned how to have a relationship of her own. We can definitely empathize with that.

The Q&A

When asked about his inspiration with taking on the film, Wayne Wang said he found himself in a similar situation when he and his wife got married and didn't tell his parents. They came to visit and did some snooping, like Mr. Shi does in the film, and his father said, "How can you get married with only $3,000 in your savings account?" Although it was annoying at the time, Wang said he can now see where his father was coming from.

When asked whether he has any daughters of his own, Henry O said he has two, but he's much gentler with them than Mr. Shi. But he does have one daughter over thirty who isn't married, and he worries a lot about her. O lived through the Cultural Revolution, which was brought up in the film, and he also lives in Spokane.

The Gala

The Gala was a huge hit, with delicious sushi, dumplings, and fruit and cheese. We hear there was alcohol but couldn't get anywhere near the table all night. There was an obvious joke made at one point about elbowing people to get up front, like the elderly Chinatown ladies. We didn't need the drink anyway.