The Grace Lee Project

Last updated
The Grace Lee Project
The Grace Lee Project.jpg
Promotional release poster
Directed by Grace Lee
Written by
  • Grace Lee
  • Amy Ferraris
Produced byGrace Lee
Narrated byGrace Lee
CinematographyJerry A. Henry
Edited byAmy Ferraris
Music byWoody Pak
Production
company
Leelee Films
Distributed by Women Make Movies
Release date
  • March 11, 2005 (2005-03-11)(CAAMFest)
Running time
68 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Grace Lee Project is a 2005 American documentary film directed and co-written by Grace Lee. It is about Lee's attempt to define a common set of stereotypes associated with the name that she shares with the film's subjects.

Contents

Synopsis

Growing up in Columbia, Missouri, director Grace Lee felt that she had a unique name and identity, as there were not many other Asians in her community. When she moved to New York City and Los Angeles, she found her name shared by many other people. In her quest to uncover how the Western name “Grace” became ubiquitous among Asian Americans, the filmmaker speaks with many subjects named Grace Lee, soon learning the name’s Hollywood origins, as well as its Christian roots. Dissatisfied with the "nice" personality commonly ascribed to the Asian-American women with this name, she sets out to find people who break the mold, including Grace Lee Boggs, a Chinese-American philosopher and activist.

Production

Lee traveled throughout the United States to meet other people with her name. Although she heard from non-Asians, she chose to focus solely on people of Asian descent. Funding was made possible through public television. [1]

Release

The Grace Lee Project opened in New York on December 14, 2005. [2]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 95% of 21 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.1/10.The website's consensus reads: "The Grace Lee Project is a clever, humorous, and personal exploration of identity, ethnic stereotypes, and the oppressive cultural expectations placed on Asian-American women." [3] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 63 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [4]

Dennis Harvey of Variety wrote that the film's "trivial-sounding hook manages to float a funny but complex meditation on identity, ethnicity and cultural expectations". [5] John Anderson of the Los Angeles Times called it "a journey of realization for anyone who's ever felt lost in the crowd." [6] Stephen Holden of The New York Times described it as a witty autobiography that is "really about cultural assimilation and a stereotype of virtue and subservience that has deep roots on both sides of the Pacific." [7] Noel Murray of The A.V. Club wrote of Lee that "her technique is pretty much everything that's wrong with documentary filmmaking today." [8]

Related Research Articles

Poltergeist is an American horror film franchise distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during the 1980s. The original trilogy revolves around the members of the Freeling family, who are stalked and terrorized by a group of ghosts, led by a demon known as the Beast, that are attracted to the youngest daughter, Carol Anne. The original film was co-written and produced by Steven Spielberg. The Poltergeist films collected a total of approximately $132 million at the United States box office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Linklater</span> American film director, producer and screenwriter (born 1960)

Richard Stuart Linklater is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for making films that deal thematically with suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His films include the comedies Slacker (1990) and Dazed and Confused (1993); the Before trilogy of romance films: Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013); the music-themed comedy School of Rock (2003); the adult animated films Waking Life (2001), A Scanner Darkly (2006), and Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood (2022); the coming-of-age drama Boyhood (2014); the comedy film Everybody Wants Some!! (2016); and the romantic comedy Hit Man (2023).

<i>Million Dollar Baby</i> 2004 American sports drama film by Clint Eastwood

Million Dollar Baby is a 2004 American sports drama film directed, co-produced, scored by and starring Clint Eastwood from a screenplay written by Paul Haggis, based on stories from the 2000 collection Rope Burns: Stories from the Corner by F.X. Toole, the pen name of fight manager and cutman Jerry Boyd. It also stars Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman. The film follows Margaret "Maggie" Fitzgerald (Swank), an underdog amateur boxer who is helped by an underappreciated boxing trainer (Eastwood) to achieve her dream of becoming a professional.

<i>Paris Is Burning</i> (film) 1990 film by Jennie Livingston

Paris Is Burning is a 1990 American documentary film directed by Jennie Livingston. Filmed in the mid-to-late 1980s, it chronicles the ball culture of New York City and the African-American, Latino, gay, and transgender communities involved in it.

<i>Quinceañera</i> (film) 2006 film directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland

Quinceañera is a 2006 American independent drama film written and directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland. Set in Echo Park, Los Angeles, the film follows the lives of two young Mexican American cousins who become estranged from their families—Magdalena because of her unwed teenage pregnancy and Carlos because of his homosexuality—and are taken in by their elderly great-uncle Tomas.

<i>Fletch Lives</i> 1989 film by Michael Ritchie

Fletch Lives is a 1989 American comedy mystery film starring Chevy Chase and the sequel to Fletch (1985), directed by Michael Ritchie from a screenplay by Leon Capetanos, and based on the character created by Gregory Mcdonald.

<i>The Watermelon Woman</i> 1996 film by Cheryl Dunye

The Watermelon Woman is a 1996 American romantic comedy-drama film written, directed, and edited by Cheryl Dunye. The first feature film directed by a black lesbian, it stars Dunye as Cheryl, a young black lesbian working a day job in a video store while trying to make a film about Fae Richards, a black actress from the 1930s known for playing the stereotypical "mammy" roles relegated to black actresses during the period.

<i>The 3 Rooms of Melancholia</i> 2004 film by Pirjo Honkasalo

The 3 Rooms of Melancholia is a 2004 Finnish documentary film written, directed and co-produced by Pirjo Honkasalo. The film documents the devastation and ruin brought on by the Second Chechen War, more specifically the toll that the war had taken on the children of Chechnya and Russia.

<i>The Son of No One</i> 2011 film

The Son of No One is a 2011 American crime thriller film written and directed by Dito Montiel based on a book of the same name, written by Montiel. The film is Dito Montiel's third collaboration with actor Channing Tatum.

<i>American Adobo</i> 2001 film by Laurice Guillen

American Adobo is a 2002 Filipino romantic comedy film directed by Laurice Guillen. The film stars Cherry Pie Picache, Traci Ann Wolfe, Christopher de Leon, Dina Bonnevie, Ricky Davao, Paolo Montalban, Randy Becker, and Sandy Andolong. Written by Vincent Nebrida, it tells the story of five Filipino-American friends living in New York City dealing with love, sex, friendship, careers, and cultural identity. The title was derived from adobo, a very popular, famous and national dish in the Philippines. The film was released on January 16, 2002 in the Philippines and January 25, 2002 in the United States.

Imelda is a 2003 documentary film co-produced and directed by Ramona S. Diaz about the life of Imelda Marcos, former First Lady of the Philippines. Beginning with her childhood, the film documents her marriage to future President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos, her rule under the dictatorship, her exile in Hawaii and her eventual return to the Philippines.

<i>In the Family</i> (2011 film) 2011 film by Patrick Wang

In the Family is a 2011 independent drama film that was the directorial debut of Patrick Wang. It tells the story of the surviving partner's attempt to maintain his relationship with his dead partner's young son.

<i>American Zombie</i> 2007 American film

American Zombie is a 2007 American mockumentary horror film directed by Grace Lee, written by Rebecca Sonnenshine and Lee, and starring Lee and John Solomon as documentary filmmakers who investigate a fictional subculture of real-life zombies living in Los Angeles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grace Lee (director)</span> American film director

Grace Lee is an American director and producer. She is known for both her documentaries and narrative films, which often mix in elements of documentaries.

<i>American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs</i> 2013 American film

American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs is a 2013 American biographical documentary film directed by Grace Lee.

Girl Rising is a 2013 documentary film produced by Kayce Freed, Tom Yellin and Holly Gordon at The Documentary Group, in partnership with Paul G. Allen and Jody Allen of Vulcan Productions. It was directed by Academy Award nominee Richard E. Robbins and features narration by Anne Hathaway, Cate Blanchett, Selena Gomez, Liam Neeson, Sushmita Sen, Priyanka Chopra, Chloë Grace Moretz, Freida Pinto, Salma Hayek, Meryl Streep, Alicia Keys and Kerry Washington.

<i>The Problem with Apu</i> 2017 American documentary film

The Problem with Apu is a 2017 American documentary film written by and starring comedian Hari Kondabolu and produced and directed by Michael Melamedoff. It focuses on the character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, an Indian immigrant in the animated sitcom The Simpsons who, for a period, was the only figure of Indian heritage to appear regularly on mainstream U.S. television. The film explores encounters with negative stereotypes, minstrelsy, racial microaggressions, and slurs against people of Indian and South Asian heritage.

<i>Mercy Black</i> 2019 American film

Mercy Black is a 2019 American horror film written and directed by Owen Egerton. It stars Daniella Pineda as a woman who is released from a psychiatric hospital 15 years after stabbing a classmate because of an urban legend about a ghost known as Mercy Black. After her nephew Bryce becomes obsessed with the same ghost, she comes to believe the ghost may be real. Austin Amelio and Janeane Garofalo appear in supporting roles. The film was released to Netflix on March 31, 2019, with no prior announcement.

<i>On the Record</i> (film) 2020 documentary film

On the Record is a 2020 American documentary film directed by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering. It centers on allegations of sexual abuse and harassment against hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons. Executive producer Oprah Winfrey publicly withdrew from the film shortly before it was released, citing "creative differences", severing a production deal with Apple TV+. The film premiered at Sundance on January 25, 2020, and was acquired by HBO Max, which released it digitally on May 27, 2020.

<i>Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami</i> 2017 "`UNIQ--templatestyles-00000003-QINU`" film

Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami is a 2017 biographical documentary film about Jamaican singer Grace Jones, directed by Sophie Fiennes. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and subsequently met with generally favorable reviews.

References

  1. Kam, Nadine (2002-11-14). "Exploring 'Grace' land". Honolulu Star-Bulletin . Retrieved 2014-10-04.
  2. Krinsky, Tamara. "Hello, My Name is Grace Lee". International Documentary Association . Retrieved 2014-10-04.
  3. "The Grace Lee Project (2005)". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved 2023-02-12.
  4. "The Grace Lee Project". Metacritic . Retrieved 2014-10-04.
  5. Harvey, Dennis (2005-04-12). "Review: 'The Grace Lee Project'". Variety . Retrieved 2014-10-04.
  6. Anderson, John (2006-03-31). "'Grace Lee' and company". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2014-10-04.
  7. Holden, Stephen (2005-12-14). "Who Can Grace Lee Be? Personalities Behind a Name". The New York Times . Retrieved 2014-10-04.
  8. Murray, Noel (2005-12-14). "The Grace Lee Project". The A.V. Club . Retrieved 2014-10-04.