Red doors are said to bring good luck, although the new film
of that name has had the misfortune of debuting in the shadow of
another one featuring Asian American lesbians, Saving
Face. Worthy though it is of the attention it’s been
receiving, Saving Face has been stealing the spotlight
since landing theatrical distribution.

Meanwhile, Red Doors has been quietly dazzling festival goers and
juries, capturing the awards for Best Narrative Feature (New York
category) at the Tribeca Film Festival and Best Ensemble Acting
at CineVegas, and out Outfest, the HBO Audience Award for Best
First Feature and the Grand Jury Award for Screenwriting.

It’s hard to avoid comparing Red Doors and Saving Face
when they both feature first generation Chinese American lesbians
in New York. Also, in both cases the main characters are medical
professionals who fall in love with artists. Saving Face’s
Wil is a surgeon who falls for a ballet dancer, while Julie (Elaine
Kao) in Red Doors is a fourth-year medical student who
becomes smitten with a TV star (Mia Riverton).

Taxing parents, ill-conceived weddings, and serious boogying (be it ballroom,
ballet or hiphop) all feature prominently in both films.

But the similarities end there.

Red Doors is understated and tends toward offbeat humor, foraging
for amusement amidst pain and regret. Ed Wong (veteran actor Tzi
Ma) has just retired and is desperately trying to reconcile the
happier times when his three daughters were growing up, with the
emotional disconnect and strained communication that have since
taken up residence with his family. He watches old family movies,
mining them for answers or at least solace--digitizing the video
footage to ensure its survival, perhaps hoping to somehow make
the good times it has captured endure.

He doesn’t smile and contributes nothing but silence to household
conversation, and his oldest daughter, Samantha (Jacqueline Kim),
gives him three sessions with a psychiatrist as a retirement gift.

The film is at times self-conscious in its quirkiness, as
in Ed’s series of half-hearted, gag-like suicide attempts.
But his efforts keep getting interrupted by the intrusion of mundane
life, highlighting the absurdity of his actions rather than the
desperation that feeds them. Red Doors disregards formulas
for commercial success, and its deliberate eccentricity contrasts
with Saving Face’s ploy for mainstream appeal.

Red Doors’ filmmakers even resisted early studio interest
in the project, retaining creative control by financing it entirely
through the support of family and friends. From the start, they
intended the movie to be independent in finance as well as appeal.
The result is heartfelt without being cliche, tender but with
an edge.