A Thousand Years of Good Prayers

by Wayne Wang

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers

Synopsis

Mr. Shi is a widower and a retired man from Beijing. When Yilan, his only daughter who lives in the US, has a divorce, he decides to visit her in the small town where she works as a librarian. His intention is to stay with her until he helps her recover from the trauma. He is a "rocket scientist", Mr. Shi likes to tell people he meets in America, and enjoys their attention. But Yilan acts less enthusiastic in his show-off, nor is she interested in his plan to rescue her marriage and reconstruct her life. When Mr. Shi persists in finding out the reason for the divorce, Yilan starts to avoid him. Disappointed but not discouraged, Mr. Shi explores the small town and meets an old woman, Madam, who fled the Iranian Revolution to the US. Neither Mr. Shi nor Madam speak English well, but by gesturing and talking in their own tongues, Mr. Shi and Madam start a rare friendship, in which they find momentary haven from the world of lies they have to weave to keep themselves hopeful. But the friendship is soon disrupted when Madam's son sends her away to a retirement home. Facing revelations both from Madam and Yilan's confrontation that Mr. Shi has never been prepared to face, he finally accepts things as they are, and reaches a small understanding with Yilan and her life.

Director

Wayne Wang is a key figure in the development of independent filmmaking, alternating major Hollywood studio films such as »The Joy Luck Club« with smaller, independent work like »Smoke«. Continuing to work in the two different worlds, Wang directed an independent digital film, »The Center of the World«, with Molly Parker and Peter Sarsgaard, followed by Sony/Revolution's hit comedy »Maid in Manhattan« with Jennifer Lopez. His most recent effort, »Because of Winn-Dixie«, based on the children's novel by Kate DiCamilo, opened in 2005. His latest Hollywood film, »Last Holiday«, with Queen Latifah and Gerard Depardieu, was loosely based on a 1950 J.B. Priestly film of the same name.

Cast

Faye Yu - Yilan
Henry O - Mr. Shy
Vida Ghahremani - Madam
Pasha Lychnikoff - Boris

Crew

Director: Wayne Wang
Scriptwriter: Yiyun Li
Based On The Short Story By Yiyun Li
Executive Producers: Yasushi Kotani, Taizo Son
Producers: Yukie Kito, Rich Cowan, Wayne Wang
Cinematographer: Patrick Lindenmaier
Editor: Deirdre Slevin
Production Designer: Vincent De Felice
Casting: Todd Thaler, Philip Huffman
Music Supervisors: Deva Anderson, Delphine Robertson
Music: Lesley Barber
A Production Of Good Prayers
Production Presentation By Entertainment Farm

Technical Data

Format: 35 mm / 1:1,85 / Colour / Dolby Digital
Length: 80 min
Original Language: English, Mandarin, Farsi

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A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers

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