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The Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club

Drama · 1993

Through a series of flashbacks, four Chinese women born in America and their respective mothers born in feudal China explore their pasts.

Movie details

The Joy Luck Club

“Between every mother and daughter there is a story that must be told.”

1993 Drama 2h 19m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.1 / 10

Community rating

Through a series of flashbacks, four Chinese women born in America and their respective mothers born in feudal China explore their pasts.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Joy Luck Club?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Three suburban English families' lives intertwine with tragic consequences.

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The Cement Garden

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Drama · 1993

After the death of her husband, the mother of Julie, Jack, Sue and Tom begins to suffer from a mysterious illness. Aware that she is going to have to go into hospital she opens a bank account for the children, so that they can be financially self-sufficient and will be able to avoid being taken into care by the authorities. Unfortunately she also dies and Julie and Jack (the older, teenage children) decide to hide her body in the basement so that they can have free reign of their household. Soon Tom has taken to dressing as a girl whilst Sue has become increasingly reticent, confiding only to her diary, meanwhile Jack and Julie sense an attraction developing for each other. However Julie's new beau, Derek, threatens to unearth the many dark secrets within this family as he becomes increasingly suspicious of Jack.

Erin Brockovich

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Wayne Wang

Written by

Amy Tan · Ronald Bass

Tsai Chin

Tsai Chin

Lindo Jong

Kieu Chinh

Kieu Chinh

Suyuan Wong

Lisa Lu

Lisa Lu

An-Mei Hsu

France Nuyen

France Nuyen

Ying-Ying St. Clair

Rosalind Chao

Rosalind Chao

Rose Hsu Jordan

Lauren Tom

Lauren Tom

Lena St. Clair

Tamlyn Tomita

Tamlyn Tomita

Waverly Jong

Court is in session

Put The Joy Luck Club on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Ambition earns the room.”

The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Importance has entered the chat.”

The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.