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.
MINI
•"
SMAII MID
10" It”
IAKC.I CilANf
l« 16"
2 95 4.35 6.05 7 70 9 50
3.35 4.85 6 55 8.40 10 30
360 5 20 7.05 8.95 10.95
4 15 5.95 805 10.25 12.25
4 70 6.65 9.05 11 45 13.35
45 .55 .65 .75 85
NEATS
Candaduin Siy-lv Baton
Salami
Ptppwoni
Smoked Oy*«rrt
Shrimp
Ground B*rl
L inqutcd
VEGETABLES
Mushroom*
Obvti
Omont
B*ll P«pp«rr%
PlDffdppUf
Jai*p«no*
Tomalrxr*
C RUST
Whr.U- Whr*l
Kv^uUr
Soft Drinks Available
1809 Franklin Blvd. • 484-2799