Face 2004

G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle: It is the best performance of [Ling's] eclectic international career, and it raises the level of this otherwise competently made movie to something more special. Read more

Kerry Lengel, Arizona Republic: With no access to these women's inner selves, we are left wanting at least a fuller portrait of their outer lives, some way to infer the meaning that the film declines to provide. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: There's something especially frustrating about small, personal independent movies that adhere to the stodgy conventions of small, personal, independent movies as if compelled by a cadre of militant MFA candidates. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: By the end of Face, we've been drawn deep into the battle for both communal support and individual freedom that marks the progress of so many ethnic groups in America. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Ling, delicate and haunted, and Wu, a real spitfire, make their reconciliation sting as much as it soothes. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: Feels like the stretched-out short student film that it is. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: A film with visual flair, musical inspiration and dramatic gravity. From the top to the bottom of the cast list, there are performances rich in detail and intelligence. Read more

Jami Bernard, New York Daily News: A sincere but superficial version of a familiar story. Read more

Dana Stevens, New York Times: A meditation on the conflict between family loyalties and personal ambition, Face ... can feel slight on a first viewing. But ... it is likely to remain in your head long afterward. Read more

David Rooney, Variety: The story's conflicts between modern and traditional attitudes, family and independence feel like familiar fodder, and the pedestrian approach fails to inject much freshness into the material. Read more

Laura Sinagra, Village Voice: The movie never really finds a fresh groove. Read more