All
the media hype of Kevin Kwan’s best-selling novel, Crazy Rich Asians did not
fail to deliver. The trailblazing romance comedy movie with an all Asian cast was
rife with vibrant and free-spirited characters that our jaws hurt from laughing
so hard. It was an extravagant display of power and brazen wealth while trying
to resolve imperially an all too conflicting familial duty against the desires
of the heart.
The
opening scene was brief but sufficient to convey a strong message. Old money
fixes everything- even a callous case of racism. Perhaps it also gives us a
glimpse of the constant struggles that people of other race face even in a
simple case of staying in a hotel.
Rachel
Chu (Constance Wu) and Nick Young (Henry Golding) were effervescent in
their characters. There is a hint of biased since I am an Asian but I think they
won the movie-goers with their indomitable spirits. The theatre was not full
but the whole two-hours was filled with laughter and loud reactions.
The
gentle tug on my heart came when I saw the familiar Singapore Changi airport. I
suddenly missed home so much that seeing a recognizable place almost made me
teary-eyed. The sight of so many familiar Asian cuisines as seen in
street-stall delicacies like satay, dumplings and curry made my stomach growl
at the same time made my eyes a little bit misty. The ‘lah’ at the end of the sentence made me laughed so hard. I caught
myself exclaiming several times to my husband, “I’ve been to that place!”
The
movie was a treasure trove of cultural display. The rich ethnicity of Chinese
people was so distinct and although humor was injected in most of them, the
truth is palpable. They favor their own people and Rachel is just too ‘American’ to belong to their family. The
movie painted a dazzling picture of Singapore and Marina Bay Sands hotel was majestic
and grandeur as expected.
The
underlying issues with Rachel’s plight were brought into what might be cruel
but the truth nonetheless- she will never be enough. It is not just the
question of wealth and power but also tradition and culture. Eleanor, Nick’s
mother, exudes this aura of opulence and it is difficult to dislike a mother
who thinks she knows what’s best for her son. Chinese culture goes deeper than the
world-defined hierarchies or imperial influence and the movie clearly depicted
that.
Crazy Rich Asians brought me into
nostalgic reminiscences of my visits to Singapore. The places, the food, the
people made the movie too ‘Asian’
that my eyes got misty thinking of the other part of the world I call home.
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