Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity (2002)

I don't care, Sandra Oh doesn't look good in a granny sweater.

Genre: Comedy Family Drama Romance (Canada)

Starring: Sandra Oh (Last Night; Sideways), Valerie Tian

Directed By: Mina Shum

Overview: A young girl uses Taoist magic to help her mother improve her life.

Acting: Sandra Oh does a great job. She was great in Last Night, and she's great in this. Rick Young, as Bing Lai, unfortunately suffers. He overacts in nearly every scene. Made me roll my eyes, it was so hammy. Where was the director then?
Rating: 6

Cinematography: The film is well shot, with enough art and originality mixed in with the standard. Decent, but there's really nothing much else to say.
Rating: 7

Script: Written by the director, the script had some good moral lessons and seemed realistic enough. Again, this category does not excel, but the scenes, especially the hard-hitting ones, get their point across.
Rating: 7

Plot: The story itself revolves around three couples, all belonging to the same community, hence all somehow interconnected. The child is constantly casting spells to make things better, but things seem to go wrong over and over. In the meantime, a man is facing a crisis of faith, while another is having a crisis of family. All three stories end really well, mostly predictable, but pretty poignant.
Rating: 8

Mood: The mood wasn't really the director's forte. If I was making a movie about ancient Chinese Magic, I would have more symbology, I'd have the girl surround herself a little more with it, I'd make it a touch more prevalent in the imagery, in the score. Don't get me wrong, Mina did well enough in getting the themes across, but it didn't jump out at me like I'd hoped.
Rating: 7

Uh, seriously, it's just rain, relax.

Overall Rating: 70% (Well, Maybe Not ALL That, But SOME Of That)

Aftertaste: The plot is really what made this movie. It's not a great film, but it was enjoyable. It hasn't left much of an impact, but they all can't now can they?