A Thousand Years of Good Prayers

Boy! Just what we need more of in our world today! Such a thoughtful piece. I could almost want to watch it again, now that I'm more familiar with the story and the language barriers. It moves slowly and quietly, murmuring life along its way. I loved it! I don't want to say anything negative except that a couple of reviews were unduly critical and mean spirited.

This movie appears to have been made on a shoestring budget. The script is poor, the dialog seemingly improvised, and the acting , profoundly amateurish. While the original story might have had some merit, the movie destroys that completely. It has none! There are so many dead ends in the movie that one struggles to make sense of exactly what the message is supposed to be. It's just a totally pointless movie, and a huge waste of time to watch! If streaming sites were not so desperate for content, this movie would take its rightful and well deserved place in oblivion.

1000 years is a small film built on a simple premise: a Chinese father visits his daughter. He is nearing the end of life and the film is at all times reflective and quiet. His daughter is recovering from a bad divorce and they have never felt close. He arrives in America feeling alienated and the film centers around themes of reaching out and alienation. He makes friends in the park with an Farsi woman - they don't share language, but they share communication.

Of course, the journey they all take is in their conversations and silences is the film.

If that doesn't sound like your cup of tea then you won't enjoy this: however if you can let this wash over you it is surprisingly involving and beautifully rendered.

It is film for the mature, the small gestures and meanings of the words in different languages hold meanings within meaning but there is something implicitly human on display here.

Shot in natural tones with a washed out feel to it the cinematography lends much.

One to be savored and strongly reminiscent of Swedish cinema this is real film in one sense, but it fails in being too staged in places.

All in all a small film that will appeal to those who enjoy reality in film.

The retired rocket scientist Mr. Kun Shi (Henry O) arrives in the United States of America to visit his daughter Yilan (Feihong Yu), who moved twelve years ago from China to America with her husband Keming and now is divorced. Mr. Shi tries to approach to his estranged daughter and expect to help her to find another husband. Meanwhile he befriends an Iranian old lady (Vida Ghahremani) in a park, and despite their language barrier and difficulties, they meet each other everyday. When Mr. Shi sees his daughter with the Russian Boris (Pasha D. Lychnikoff) late night, they finally have a honest conversation with each other.

"A Thousand Years of Good Prayers" is a pointless family drama that goes nowhere. The story has a promising beginning with the encounter of an old Chinese with his estranged daughter and with an Iranian woman, but the plot and subplots are not well resolved and are cold and emotionless. Maybe if I had had a lesser expectation, I could have liked this little film more. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Mil Anos de Orações" ("A Thousand Years of Prayers")

It is so refreshing to see a director (Wayne Wang) so courageously has his audience go through watching and listening to conversations in mixed dialogues exploring the "human relationships and communications" that goes beyond common language! There is an understanding that masterfully is being established during the movie with the audience, interestingly enough, the old man (Henry O) fails to establish this with his daughter, but it is being established with the audience, "with subtitles at times." Then the climax, the scenes/conversations in the park between an Iranian old woman (Vida Ghahremani) and the Chinese old man (Henry O) in mixed languages, Mandarin, Farsi, and English, "with No sub titles!" which the audience has no problem understanding it and it is fluent, enticing and absolutely delightful. This is an amazingly smart and fascinating movie with masterful acting, specially the old couple, the Iranian old woman (Vida Ghahremani) and the Chinese old man (Henry O). Warning: if you are looking for an Action or Kong Fu movie, this may not be your top choice.