The Joy Luck Club

*This entry is part of a mini-feature, High School Nostalgia: books-turned-movies that were discussed during my high school years.

Cast:  Kieu Chinh, Tsai Chin, Tamlyn Tomita
Director: Wayne Wang

The book is thick but well written and quite entertaining. A book about mothers and daughters, it transitions to their experiences, back in China and now in America, and how they try to bridge cultures and teach each others the ways of another. I liked this book, I did. It wasn't my favorite high school reading but because of its wonderful message (and it does make for light reading), I have read it a couple of times. This movie, on the other hand, while it did reach out the message of the book, failed to hit the mark that the book was trying to leave the readers with. I felt that half of it was unattached, with the other half expressing much of the emotion and sorrow that the book was trying to define.

Merchant of Venice

*This entry is part of a mini-feature, High School Nostalgia: books-turned-movies that were discussed during my high school years.

Cast: Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Joseph Fiennes

Director: Michael Radford

Merchant of Venice was the first Shakespearean work that I had my hands on. It's light, and it served its comedic purpose, but had dramatic flair. To this day, Sherlock's monologue is the only speech that I can still recall. While the play is light to read and easy to take in, the same can't be said regarding the movie. Interpreted in the traditional sense, Merchant of Venice succeeds in transporting ancient Venice on screen, the flaw might have been the interpretation of the lines in itself.