Rosemead is a 2025 American drama film, directed by Eric Lin, in his directorial debut, from a screenplay by Marilyn Fu, based on a 2017 LA Times column by Frank Shyong.[6] It stars Lucy Liu, Lawrence Shou, Orion Lee, Jennifer Lim, Madison Hu and James Chen. It is set in San Gabriel Valley, California and follows a terminally ill widow, Irene (Liu), dealing with her medical condition while handling her son Joe's (Shou) schizophrenia.
The film premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Festival on June 6, 2025, and it was released in the United States on December 5, 2025.
Plot
Irene is a terminally ill widow who lives with her 17-year-old son Joe in San Gabriel Valley, California. Since being diagnosed with schizophrenia, Joe has been seeing a therapist and starting to take medication to help with his symptoms. Irene hides the fact of her cancer diagnosis from Joe. Joe is a former star student and swimmer, whose schizophrenia symptoms worsen. Joe is usually dropped off at therapy sessions, but one day Irene decides to join Joe in a session, where the therapist has Joe reminisce of a happy time. Joe recounts a memory where Irene, his father, and Joe are dancing and singing in a motel at night.
Irene and Joe are eating food while listening to the radio talk about recent school shooting events. Joe turns up the volume before Irene turns it off. Joe has an active shooter drill at school and is overwhelmed. Immediately afterward, he tries to go to the bathroom and Joe’s schizophrenia triggers him to run in between empty classrooms and destroys school property. The school discovers the damage and links it to Joe using the school's security cameras. School administrators bring this situation to Irene but she dismisses their suggestion to transfer Joe to another school with allegedly better resources to manage Joe's condition.
Joe has more frequent episodes with bursts of violence, shatters his iPad screen, destroys rooms, and eventually self-harm. One day, Irene finds Joe's laptop open with browser tabs on school shooting events like at Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, and Aurora, Colorado. Irene finds Joe in his room with the television's volume turned up while the news details of victims and weapons. Irene starts to attend Joe's therapy sessions, and she shares with the therapist of Joe's recent concerning search history. Irene also visits a local gun shop to check on whether Joe has visited the shop, and the shop owner confirms that Joe has visited and was interested in a gas mask.
After visiting the doctor, Irene learns the experimental drug she is taking for her cancer is not working and will only have months to live. Joe is found jaywalking at night. Picking Joe up at the police station, Irene learns that upon Joe's 18th birthday, she will no longer have custody of Joe and his medical care.
Joe goes missing after another episode, and his friends try to locate him. Irene drives around the city to look for Joe, while putting up missing person's fliers and talking with locals on the whereabouts of Joe. After a couple of days, Irene received a call from a motel that Joe is spotted, where Irene is reunited with Joe. Irene visits her friend who owns an herbal medicine shop and drops off the deed to her printing shop. She also visits the gun shop again and has a conversation with the owner.
Upon Joe's 18th birthday, Irene takes Joe to the motel that he has fond memories of. After eating cake, Irene gifts Joe white sneakers and Joe suggests to Irene to stay in the motel room forever so no one can bother them. Joe falls asleep, and then Irene meticulously cleans the room and goes to her car to make a call to her friend to burn pictures of their family. Irene returns to the motel room with a gun to kill her son. Irene is distraught and mourns for her actions, but calls the police about the incident. She is arrested but dies from her cancer before she is tried in court.
In September 2020, it was announced Lucy Liu had joined the cast of the film, with Eric Lin directing from a screenplay by Marilyn Fu, with Mynette Louie set to produce.[7] Liu served as a producer and stayed with the project for over five years.[8] Moreover, Liu practiced Mandarin to portray Irene's accent mannerisms.[9]
Rosemead had its world premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Festival on June 6, 2025.[11] It had its international premiere at the 78th Locarno Film Festival on August 14, 2025, at Piazza Grande, and won the festival's Prix du Public UBS audience award.[12] In August 2025, Vertical acquired North American distribution rights to the film, scheduling it for a theatrical release in the United States on December 5, 2025.[13][14]
Writing for NPR, A Martínez and Olivia Hampton notes Liu's performance "paints a wrenchingly compassionate portrait of an immigrant mother struggling to navigate multiple challenges in the wake of her husband's death".[9]RogerEbert.com gives the film three out of four stars, saying the film has a "refreshing level of candor, straightforward but delicate in delivery".[17]
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