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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 1986)
Great film bridges cultures "A Great Wall” is a great comedy, a marvelous examina tion of cultural values con trasted when a Chinese American family travels from their San Francisco home to the Peking home of the father's sister. Leo Fang (Peter Wang, who also wrote and directed) has liv ed the last 30 years of his life in America and has become a top executive in a major computer firm. When the promotion he expects is given to a younger, Review by Sean Axmalcer less-experienced man he decides it’s finally time for the family to pack up and take that vacation they’ve been talking about for years. The Chao family live on the the pension received by the retired high official Mr. Chao (Hu Xiaoguang) and the most pressing matter for the family revolves around daughter Lili’s (Li Qingin) preparation for the national college entrance exam. Mr. Chao obtains the services of an aged scholar who happens to be the father of a classmate and another exam hopeful, Liu (Wang Xiao), and a tentative romance develops. The arrival of the Fangs alters life for the Chaos, of course. On ly Lao speaks Chinese; his American-born wife Grace (Sharon Iwai) and thoroughly Americanized teenage son Paul (Kelvin Han Yee) never learned the langua ,e. In the Chao fami ly, only I.ili speaks English, and then haltingly. Strangely enough when they speak to each other in their respective languages they are able to make themselves understood a great deal of the time, though in areas of cultural difference there re mains something of a com munication gap, particularly in the family units. The way Paul, for example, teases his parents and tossels his dad's hair sets Mr. Chao on edge, and Paul is shocked to see Mrs. Chao read her daughter's mail as a matter of practice. Along with these differences in culture between the two families, director Wang also finds the similarities. The two teens show common interests and pal around together; the mothers trade cultural fashion ideas and make-up tips while they mime their family life ex Psychics Continued from Page 7 Betts said. Betts said often one does not know whether an image is real or imagination, so when she is doing psychic investigation she often works with a partner. ‘‘The main foundation of this work is that you have to trust yourself, and the basis of trust in yourself is your intention," Betts said. "If your intention is to help to find the child and to help the parent, then you will be suc cessful. If your intention is to make money, or to get notorie ty, then it does not always work that way," Betts added. LaFaye Fouts, a psychic chan nel, has been participating in various psychic fairs for 15 years. Fouts said she first realized that she had a psychic power 15 years ago when she became aware of three voices inside her head. Two of the voices would give her words that would belong to a sentence; however, each word would change the meaning of the sentence; the third voice told her which word was the correct one. “It took me a long time to learn that the left side is my conscious mind, the right side is my intuitive mind, and the third one is the i Am' that I am,” Pouts said. Pouts said that once she realized what these three voices were, she understood how they worked for her. "People could ask me about the people they know, and about their past lives. 1 could see pictures of what their rela tionship had been with people in their past, the action in the picture could tell me what the relationship is now." Cash For Textbooks Mon. • Fri. Smith Family Bookstore 768 E. 13th 1 Block From Campus 345-1651 A Peasant of El Salvador A two-man play Tuesday, Oct. 14 7:30 pm 1850 Emerald in Eugene $2 at the door $ 1 students/seniors Sponsored by Campus Interfaith Ministry at the (JO perienc.es and apprehensions about growing older; the fathers drink together and complain of their wives’ lac k of respect. The wonder of the film lies in Wang's ability to visually con vey the contrasts and com parisons l«o's jogging is plac ed beside Chao's exercises. Paul's love of television football parallels Liu's love of televised musical events (Liu does a hell of Pavarotti impression); norms of dating, dancing and eating are contrasted; even the two cities are set side by side in the opening moments of the film. Wang, an Americani/.ed Chinese himself, finds a warm, personable kind of humor in these observations, making fun of no one but finding natural humor arising from the characters. He also celebrates the uniqueness of the families and their ability to share with each other. "A Great Wall" is great fun, a funny, insightful, intelligent lit tle film that captures the foibles of being human. Plays at Cinema 7; in Knglish and Mandarin with Knglish subtitles. UO Bookstore battery specials AA 4 PACK Reg 4.30 Sf"*"' 3.59 1 AA 2 PACK Reg 2.40 <*^1.99 SUPER HEAVY DUTY “C” or “D” ►\ 2 PACKS , Reg 1.59 ^1.29 13th A Kinc«tri M F 7 3<y$ 30 SAT 1000400 M4 4331 Why settle for less . . . than the BEST!?! Monday-Thursday 11 a.m.-l a m Friday 11 a m.-2 a m Saturday 1 p.m.-2 a m Sunday 1 p.m 1 am FREE DELIVERY (Limilvti Ar*'d) 484-2799 Create your own pizza Cheese Lapper (1 tngrtd ) 100 Yard i m. .u and 1 V»*9*iabWl Mile Mnaii anti 2 Vagatabla*) Marathon < m«*h and 3 VegafabWft) Extra Ingred. 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