Red Doors

Red Doors is about a family that have lost their emotional connections to each other. It deals with a  Chinese-American family where the parents and children cut off from each other and are struggling to reconnect. The title of the film symbolizes the doors of the family's home. In the Chinese culture, red doors are supposed to be lucky which makes this ironic because in the film the family is distant and unhappy. The story starts off with Ed Wong who has just retired and is planning to leave his wife and three grown daughters to get a sense of meaning in his life. His daughters are grown and no longer need him and he has grown old so his job doesn't need him either. Ed goes through depression and has attempted suicide numerous times but he always gets interrupted. 

The oldest daughter Samantha lives the American dream. She has a successful corporate job and is engaged to a prominent businessman, and they live in a beautiful house. When she reaches her 30th birthday she realizes how dissatisfied she is with her life. She seems to be on the wrong path. In the film she reconnects with her ex boyfriend from high school who is now a music teacher at the high school they went to. He reminds her of the dream she had to become a ballet dancer. At this point she is confused on whether she should continue to be successful but live an empty life, or take the fork in the road down the path not traveled. The middle daughter Julie has always been the shy and quiet one. She is in her 4th year of medical school, and takes ballroom dance lessons as her creative outlet. She is really focused on her work at the hospital and is too shy to make connections. She ends up meeting Mia Scarlett, who happens to be a famous actress. Julie is the only person who doesn't go crazy all over Mia, and when she helps Mia after the actress loses it watching a surgery they two become friends and then lovers. Mia tries to protect Julie from the media because she has to maintain her wild girl reputation who has a lot of lovers. She and Julie clash over the way Mia presents herself and Mia hides her relationship with Julie which she doesn't like. Kathy is the youngest daughter who is a senior in high school who is a hip hop dancer. She is rebellious and participates in a game of prank warfare with her crush Simon, her next door neighbor and sworn enemy. They are attracted to each other and instead of communicating their feelings, they engage in these pranks towards one another that get dangerous. Kathy, believes that her family doesn't care what she is doing because she is a hip hop dancer. 

The film moves us gracefully along through the story as each daughter faces their fears and issues. Sam tracks her father down at the upstate New York Buddhist monastery where he has been. Each of the Wongs will find their way, but how they get there, and the paths they take, are what makes Red Doors funny, warm and engaging. You don't have to be Asian-American to appreciate this film because it could be your family, or the family of anyone you know and that's what makes the film appealing to watch .The Wongs may be Chinese-American, but their problems are not, and that gives the Red Doors a universal appeal.