Having worked primarily on music- and danced-based films previously, director Jon M. Chu brings a distinct visual style to Crazy Rich Asians (2018), making the experience of watching the film both unique and memorable.
As with the original book, by Kevin Kwan, the film opens with a prologue that introduces the Young family on a visit to London. After the night manager is rude toward the family and is unwilling to give them their pre-booked suite, matriarch Eleanor Young (Michelle Yeoh) phones her husband and simply purchases the hotel, deftly underlining the two key themes we are meant to associate with the Young family: money and family.
On the surface, the film works as a standard romantic comedy, wherein the protagonist, Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), an American-born Chinese woman and economics professor in New York City, travels with her boyfriend Nick Young (Henry Golding) to a friend’s wedding in Singapore and must navigate his family’s world of opulence and high society. As with many films in the genre, much of the story relies on relationships and misunderstandings. Rachel loves Nick, but Nick’s mother Eleanor thinks Rachel is simply a gold-digger. At every turn, a kind act may be misconstrued as something heinous in high society, and much of the humor of the film depends on Rachel’s fish-out-of-water experiences in Singapore. A key standout in the film is actress Akwifana as Peik Lin, Rachel’s college friend now living in Singapore, and her attempts to help Rachel blossom in Nick’s world.
However, where the film excels is in how it does not follow the clichéd route of the romance genre and instead focuses largely on the relationship between Rachel and Eleanor. By ignoring the classic tropes and pitfalls, the film stresses the importance of the complex intergenerational relationship between these two women, keeping the audience focused on how both Rachel and Eleanor come to terms with each other.
Much of the fun of the film comes from playing with Western expectations of Singaporean culture and how wrong those expectations are. When invited to stay for dinner with the Youngs, for instance, Peik Lin quickly rummages through the trunk of her car, sorting through multiple outfits labelled “Clubbing,” “Walk of Shame,” etc., and pulls out an appropriate dress for the evening. Shocked, Rachel asks why Peik Lin has a cocktail dress at the ready in the trunk of her car, and she simply replies, “I’m not an animal, Rachel.”
The film also plays with technology, especially in one notable early scene, where Nick and Rachel’s relationship is discovered by Cassandra Shang played by Stephanie Auyeung. Shang texts a photo of the couple to her friends and it quickly becomes everyone’s business. The scene starts with Nick asking Rachel to come to Singapore for his best friend’s wedding. The conversation is depicted via classic shot/reverse shot editing. A shot of Cassandra Shang is introduced; she sees Rachel and Nick kissing. Then the sound of drums starts, followed by piano and some violins, until they all collide in a jazzy instrumental score. The music lasts until everyone on her phone list finds out who Rachel is. The music adds to the playful nature of the scene, which is also highlighted with the use of bright colors representing text messages. Once Rachel’s Facebook is found, the screen is filled with dozens of pictures of everyone from Nick’s social group in Singapore. Dozens of text messages appear from women lamenting that he is bringing a girl home. Throughout the film, various patterns and colors are displayed which emphasizes the opulence of the crazy rich. This scene is the definition of show don’t tell in cinema; even if there are no words, a viewer can follow what is happening. Such a strategy is utilized throughout the film, specifically with the mirroring of poker and Mahjong in the beginning and end. Classical in its plotting, the film starts with Rachel teaching one of her classes about game theory by playing poker. She is bluffing, but wins anyway. This scene is later replicated toward the end, when Rachel and Eleanor are playing Mahjong.
The entire film could be a travel ad for Singapore, showcasing the amazing food and locations scattered throughout the city-state and the mixture of languages and a soundtrack featuring Chinese covers of popular American music works to make everything seem both familiar and strange at the same time. What starts as a standard boy-meets-girl story ends up being an exhilarating peek at an intergenerational relationship between two women against a backdrop of high fashion and stunning visuals.
Author Biography
Kaia MacLeod, a member of the James Smith Cree Nation, is an undergraduate student at the University of Alberta. Majoring in Film Studies, which she sometimes likes to call a degree in “movie watching,” she enjoys exploring how folklore is represented on film and in online content.
Film Details
Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
USA
Director Jon M. Chu
Runtime 120 Minutes
