Touchstone and Beyond: “The Joy Luck Club” is a Masterpiece

Marquee Attraction: The Joy Luck Club

Release Date: October 29, 1993

Budget: $11 million

Domestic Box Office Gross: $32,901,136

Plot Synopsis

Waverly, Rose, June, and Lena all have difficult paths to follow thanks to their parents. They all have memories of their childhood when they were expected to follow certain rules and childhood was not easy for the girls.

Their mothers influence their lives, and as the kids grow older and start their adult journey the time comes when the four girls must decide. Do they continue to push their feelings aside and try to please their mothers or do they be honest with their moms?

The older the girls get, and the more they get to know their moms, the truth of how difficult life can be is realized by the children. Waverly, Rose, June, and Lena all gain a better appreciation for their mothers, and how hard life has been.

Standing Ovation

The film is magnificent. It blends a rich story that spans decades and multiple characters with such ease that it is easy for the audience to be caught up in the magnificence of the story. The Joy Luck Club is a tapestry of life. There are threads and points throughout that connect but also span-new avenues that viewers will be engrossed in the ambitious storytelling that comes from the movie.

The cast is simply perfect. To see the collection of talent that populates the story is remarkable.

Time for the Hook

While I understand the difficulty and the history behind the stories of the mothers, it seems like everything was bad, and I just wonder, was everything really bad? Like everything?

Bit Part Player

Andrew McCarthy as Rose’s husband. He’s well known for his work, and would be easily recognizable, it was interesting to see him take a role that didn’t offer him much fanfare. He was great in the part, and I wish I see more of him on screen.

Did You Know?

  • Wayne Wang, who is well known for having a wonderfully friendly personality, got upset during a marketing meeting for the film when the posters failed to show any of the main characters faces.
  • The film is adapted from Amy Tan’s novel of the same name.
  • The movie was selected in 2020 for preservation in the National Film Registry for its cultural and historical significance.
  • The film was originally financed by Carolco Pictures, but after that broke down, Wang approached Jeffrey Katzenberg at Disney for support, which he got.
  • The success of the film inspired Disney to adapt another Amy Tan novel for the screen, The Kitchen God’s Wife. Negotiations broke down, and no follow-up film was made.
  • Oliver Stone was an executive producer on the film.
  • Critic Roger Ebert placed the film at the number five spot on his top ten list for 1993.
  • There is a reported sequel in the works, but according to Ronald Bass, the film is still waiting to be picked up for distribution.

Best Quotable Line

Rose says to her mom, “I like being tragic, Ma. I learned it from you.”

Bill’s Hot Take  

The film is a multi-layered story about Chinese families, and the fact that it was nominated for Oscars, is a crime. The Joy Luck Club is the very definition of Oscar winner, and it doesn’t take much to think why the film was left off the ballot of Oscar glory.

Casting Call

  • Tamlyn Tomita as Waverly
  • Rosalind Chao as Rose
  • Ming-Na Wen as June
  • Lauren Tom as Lena

Production Team:

Directed by Wayne Wang

Produced by Hollywood Pictures

Written by Amy Tan / Ron Bass

My Critical Response

{Snub-Skip this Film, Lifeboat Award-Desperate for Something to Watch, Commuter Comforter-A Perfect Film for Any Device, Jaw Dropper– You Must Watch This Film on a Big Screen, Awards Darling– This Film is Cinema.}

The Joy Luck Club gets my Awards Darling status. The film is filled with talent, layered with depth and history, and overflowing with talent beyond belief. The movie is simply a masterpiece of narrative.

In this day of film, The Joy Luck Club would be a ten-episode prestige series on the small screen, and while it may be fantastic on television, it’s nice to see in 1993, Disney was taking big bets with stories that showed diversity on the screen.

Coming Soon

Next week, a look back at Oprah Winfrey in Beloved.

Bill Gowsell
Bill Gowsell has loved all things Disney since his first family trip to Walt Disney World in 1984. Since he began writing for Laughing Place in 2014, Bill has specialized in covering the Rick Riordan literary universe, a retrospective of the Touchstone Pictures movie library, and a variety of other Disney related topics. When he is not spending time with his family, Bill can be found at the bottom of a lake . . . scuba diving