A Thousand Years of Good Prayers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
Directed by Wayne Wang
Produced by Yukie Kito
Rich Cowan
Wayne Wang
Written by Yiyun Li
Starring Yu Feihong
Henry O
Vida Ghahremani
Pasha Lychnikoff
Music by Lesley Barber
Cinematography Patrick Lindenmaier
Editing by Deirdre Slevin
Distributed by All media worldwide
The Match Factory
Release date(s) 2007-09-01
Running time 83 minutes
Country USA, Japan
Language English, Mandarin, Farsi
Preceded by Princess of Nebraska
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers is a 2007 drama feature film directed by Wayne Wang starring Yu Feihong, Henry O, Vida Ghahremani and Pasha Lychnikoff, adapted from her short story by Yiyun Li and shot on a high-end high-definition video camera. [1]

The film was lauded by critics, such as Kim Voynar at Cinematical as being "meticulously paced and beautifully shot"[2] while Screen International writer Patrick Z. McGavin called it "not earth-shattering or particularly urgent, though it enables a talented filmmaker to work through personal ideas about assimilation and family conflict in an open, smart and gracious way." [3] Todd McCarthy from film industry magazine Variety described the film as "Mainly concerned with generational and cultural issues, very modest entry possesses equally modest commercial potential."[4] A Thousand Years of Good Prayers was made as a companion piece to The Princess of Nebraska, a 2007 film also directed by Wayne Wang and adapted from Yiyun Li’s short story. [4]

It won the Golden Shell Award for Best Film and also Best Actor Award at the 55th San Sebastián International Film Festival.[5]

Contents

[edit] Plot

The film follows Mr. Shi (Henry O), a retired widower from Beijing. When Yilan (Yu Feihong), his only daughter who lives in Spokane, Washington, and works as a librarian has a divorce, he decides to visit her to help her heal. However Yilan is not interested, keeps her distance, finally avoiding her father. It is revealed that she is getting ready to marry once again, with a Russian man (Pasha Lychnikoff). As Mr. Shi explores the small town, he meets an old woman, Madam (Vida Ghahremani), who had fled Iran after the revolution to the United States. Neither Mr. Shi nor Madam speak English well, but by gesturing and talking in their own tongues, but they start a friendship which ends when Madam is sent to a retirement home. Eventually, Mr. Shi and Yilan come to terms as father-daughter.

[edit] Background/Production

Wayne Wang chose to adapt A Thousand Years of Good Prayers into a film because it reminded him of all the Ozu films he so admired when he was a film student.[1] He also has said that he was drawn to the short story by Yiyun Li because of some similarities to his own father.[6]

When Wang first approached Yiyun Li, who had no previous expreiences, to write the screenplay, he provided her with a screenwriting software and "some good scripts." The vague Midwestern setting was determined as Spokane, where Yiyun Li studied. [1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c The Match Factory GmbH (2007). "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers" (PDF). Press release.
  2. ^ Voynar, Kim (2007-09-12). TIFF Review: A Thousand Years of Good Prayers. cinematical.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-22.
  3. ^ McGavin, Patrick Z. (2007-09-18). A Thousand Years of Good Prayers. screendaily.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-22.
  4. ^ a b McCarthy, Todd (2007-09-19). A Thousand Years of Good Prayers. variety.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-22.
  5. ^ McGavin, Patrick Z. (2007-09-30). Hong Kong-born director Wayne Wang's "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers" won the best film and best actor awards at San Sebastian. fest21.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-22.
  6. ^ Stein, Ruthe (2008-03-15). Wayne Wang honored at Asian film festival. SF Gate. Retrieved on 2008-04-22.

[edit] See also