I first heard of the film Rosemead when I saw a social media post from a friend who happened to attend a screening in New York City back in May of this year. The movie starred actress Lucy Liu, of whom I’ve been a big fan of ever since I had seen her in her breakout role in the television show ‘Ally McBeal’ as Ling Woo. My favorite and most iconic role of hers is O-Ren Ishii in the film Kill Bill.
I was very excited at the opportunity recently to attend a screening of ‘Rosemead’ by SF Film with Lucy Liu in attendance. I did not know much about the film except that it the film was based on a tragic real life story back in 2017 in Rosemead, California. This story portrayed an immigrant widower Taiwanese mother who was struggling with her cancer coming out of remission and her high school senior son struggling with schizophrenia. Both cancer and mental illness are considered very taboo in the broader Asian American community.
8Asians Exclusive: actors Lawrence Shou and Lucy Liu.
Lucy Liu’s First Leading Role
First and foremost, I was shocked and surprised to learn that ‘Rosemead’ was Liu’s first leading role. She has been in show business for over 30 years! Liu has been interviewed on that topic while doing a press tour:
“The film is Liu’s first project as both producer and lead actress, which she notes is practically inconceivable for someone who’s been in the business as long as she has in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“We got it made after many, many years — 16 different investors,” Liu told the outlet about the Eric Lin-directed indie in which she plays a Chinese immigrant struggling in the wake of her son’s schizophrenia diagnosis. “But even after we made the movie, it was like, ‘Does anyone want to distribute it?’ Everyone’s like, ‘How is it going to fuel us? What’s our kickback?’ It does come down to finances.”
That reflected a lot of the conversations Liu has had throughout her career, which includes action franchises such as Charlie’s Angels and Kill Bill, as well as award-winning work on TV series like Ally McBeal and Elementary. Liu admitted that although she was grateful to “fall into” mainstream fame with those roles, she described them as “side-salad roles.”
“They’re not necessarily roles that would challenge me or tap into my potential,” the mother of one explained. “They said [Rosemead] would not have been made if it weren’t for me. But also at the same time, when I’m not doing what I’ve been tailor made for — action or other things that they’re used to seeing me do — maybe it’s not as shiny. If it was this big action and had all the heroics, it would be more (marketable). It’s like a commodity.”
The 56-year-old was unrepentantly candid as she addressed how the biases in Hollywood made it harder for her as she grew in the industry. Liu remembered being called out for perpetuating “Dragon Lady” stereotypes after playing a warrior in 2003’s Kill Bill, asking why none of the other actresses faced a similar critique.”
A Brief Interview
At the press line, I was able to ask both Liu and actor Lawrence Shou (who plays the son, in his first feature film debut), what drew them to the project and if they had any personal or knew of any family or friends who have experienced mental illness or cancer.
Liu expressed her desire to tell stories that weren’t being told about the Asian American community. Shou felt that the story was universal and tried to remove the stigma of mental illness for all.
Review
I enjoyed Rosemead. It’s a compelling drama about actual real life events. We see a vulnerable Liu portraying a struggling mom hiding her chemotherapy from her son and unsure exactly what to do. She wants to do the right thing while dealing with the cultural shame within her community of having a mentally ill son.
I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen Liu speak or act in Mandarin, which I believe a majority of her lines are in. At times, I did think Liu’s portrayal of English-as-a-second language accent was a bit off (or maybe because I’m so used to seeing Liu speak perfect unaccented English I found her accent odd), but her mannerisms definitely reminded me of my mom and her Taiwanese and Chinese friends in the community. Lawrence Shou, for his first feature film debut, did an *amazing* and convincing job of his struggles with schizophrenia.
This was also director Eric Lin’s first full feature film directorial debut (though he has been a long time cinematographer). Lin overall did a terrific job, though I did think that some of the pacing could have been better at times. Knowing that this film was based on a true story made the film a bit sad.
Intro and Q&A at the SF Film Screening
8Asians Exclusive: Lucy Liu
During the post-screening Q&A, Liu did reiterate (as she has in the past), the challenge of making this film. She had to find sixteen different investors to invest in a film that probably would not make money. What shocked me even more is that the theatrical release will be in only two cities. New York for a week starting on December 5th and in Los Angeles, on December 12th. There are currently no streaming or other distribution plans as of this writing.
To some degree, I can understand the distribution challenges. The film is a small independent film about the touchy subject of mental illness in a Taiwanese American community. Though I do wonder what the total production budget for the film – I am guessing a few million at most?
If you live in New York or Los Angeles, I encourage you to support this film in its theatrical release. You may not be able to see it otherwise for a while until it gets broader distribution or availability. Although this is set as an Asian American story, the themes and struggles are universal.
‘Rosemead’ is in theaters for ONE week only started 12/5 in NYC and 12/12 in LA. Buy tickets here on Fandango.
