OCR by LoudCrazyHeart
-[birds chirping] -[children shouting in distance]
[sighs]
[sewing machine whirring]
[parakeet chirping]
[people chattering in distance]
[seagulls calling]
-[jazz playing on speaker] - [ humming]
[clicks tongue, sighs]
[humming continues]
-[coins rattling] -[murmurs]
Mmm?
[chuckles]
[sniffs]
[jazz continues playing]
[in Cantonese] Well, brother-in-law, did you get everything?
[speaks Cantonese]
Ah.
[sighs] It’s so nice outside.
You shouldn’t stay indoor all the time.
[sighs]
[in Cantonese] Another family moved out here from Chinatown.
[in English] How do you know?
[in Cantonese] Look at the plum blossoms in their window.
-[people chattering] -[car horns honking]
Hey, Geraldine, you want some of this?
No, thanks.
[chuckles] I bought it at the new store down the street.
Okay. Get some later.
Oh. Okay.
[grunts]
[grunts] Okay.
- [grunts] -Oh.
[in Cantonese] Very heavy. [grunts]
That’s it.
You get it.
Up and away.
[announcer on radio] It's rolling to Brown at third base, who picks it up.
No throw. Eveiybodys safe.
The bases are loaded for Pedro Guerrero.
That was a shot that hit Riley.
-[tool clatters] - in the foot.
So Brewer moves to third. Sax to second.
Gary Lacirii out of the Giants dugout.
So too is Danny Ozark.
wanting to check on Riley. who is in pain.
[speaks Cantonese]
[announcer] But. uh. Riley's gonna stay in and he ‘s gonna face Gueirero.
[groans]
With the bases loaded arid two out.
Oh, Geraldine over there, huh?
She’s, uh, helping me modernize the place.
Taking out all the records.
-Even Iron Butterfly. -Hey, that’s my favorite.
-[bartender] Oh, me too. -[both chuckle]
[sewing machine whirring]
-Hey, Mom. -Hi.
[paper rustling]
[envelope opening]
[in Cantonese] Your dinner’s ready.
I’ll heat it up for you.
[switch clicks]
[whirring subsides]
[speaks Cantonese]
[in Cantonese] My arm has been bothering me.
-Did you take your pills? -Yeah.
[chirping]
[all cheering]
[all speaking Cantonese]
[in Cantonese] Here’s the lucky money.
[in English] This is the best baby.
-Ooh. -Thank you.
- [exclaims] -[Geraldine chuckles]
-Wow. Oh, yeah, oh, yeah. -[chuckles]
-[speaks Cantonese] -Okay.
Uh, I brought some lucky money, too. One for everyone.
-Ah. Mmm. -Eliza.
-And mommy. -Thank you.
Linda.
And Kevin.
Oh, we still get one too, huh? Can you afford this?
Yeah, Uncle, you are a stingy one.
[all laughing]
-Yep, there’s a quarter in mine! -Oh!
Actually, he doesn’t have to give us anything. He’s not married.
-[Kevin] Oh. -[Eliza’s mother] Aw.
[in Cantonese] Come on. Come on. Everybody, eat.
-Okay. -[Uncle] Yeah, yeah.
-Yeah, let’s eat. -Looks good.
Look at this stuff, though. At least Dad used to cook a ham.
[Uncle groans]
- Kevin. -[all laughing]
Everybody eats two bowl of rice. Two.
That’s right. Eliza, you have to eat two bowls of rice, okay?
Eliza, you have to every grain of your rice.
If you don’t, you’ll marry someone with a smallpox face.
[speaks Cantonese]
[all laughing]
[Eliza] Who is that?
[laughing intensifies]
[Linda in Cantonese] Give Grandma a kiss.
[in English] Bye.
-Goodbye. -Yeah, we’ll go now.
-We have a long drive home. -Yeah.
-Okay, bye. -Bye-bye.
[child] Bye.
[in Cantonese] Don’t forget Uncle’s birthday.
[in English] Oh, yeah, Uncle’s birthday. We’ll see what we can do about it, okay?
-[in English] Yeah. All right. -Ready to go?
-[Uncle] Yeah, yeah. -We gotta get the show on the road.
Thank you, thank you.
-[in Cantonese] You staying here tonight? -No, no.
-I go back to the bar to blow firecracker... -Oh.
-...and scare away the evil spirits. -Okay.
-Kevin’s gonna take me home. -All right.
Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo. [cooing]
[car horn honking]
-You gonna come with me now? -[both laughing]
Yeah! Oh, you better stay with your mom. All right. Take care.
[in Cantonese] Come here. I’ll fix your hair.
Oh, Mom, her hair is not messy. It’s curly.
Just like fat-choy, huh?
Yeah.
Well, we better go. We gotta get you to dance class.
[footsteps departing]
[neighbor] Happy new year. [speaking Cantonese]
[mother in Cantonese] Happy New Year, Auntie Mary.
How was your New Year’s dinner?
[in Cantonese] Mei-Mei and Joan never agree. She’s driving me crazy!
[in English] Even if they want to get married,
they don’t want to give a banquet.
[speaks Cantonese]
Kids today! Where do they get their strange ideas?
[continuing in Cantonese]
They just want to party in the park.
They call it an “open air” wedding.
Where people just wander around back and forth.
[in Cantonese] The young don’t understand the importance of a proper wedding.
[sighs]
It’s such a bad feeling to argue in a new year.
[in Cantonese] How was your New Year’s dinner?
[in Cantonese] Just as usual. Kevin’s whole family came back.
And Amy was here, of course.
Everybody ate, and everybody left.
[sighs, speaks Cantonese]
[in English] Everybody is busy. Everybody has important things to do.
[vacuum cleaner whirring]
[whirring stops]
[in Cantonese] This year I took Polaroids.
See? Just like the real thing.
Write your name on the bottom.
It will be yours.
[mother continues in Cantonese]
This one’s for Amy.
[speaks Cantonese]
[children shouting in distance]
[Uncle muttering]
[in Cantonese] Lots of thirsty customers at the bar?
[in English] Oh, we did okay.
[muttering]
[in Cantonese] Isn’t this number funny?
[chuckling]
[in English] I...I thought we made more last month.
[in Cantonese] You must have given free drinks to your friends every day.
[chuckling]
[in Cantonese] You’re giving away our ice too?
Mmm.
[sighs]
[snoring]
Oh. Geraldine. [clears throat]
So, you must be tired after a long day.
-I went to the travel agency. -Oh?
-China tour. -This is a good tour.
You’re having your finals then, aren’t you?
Your orals?
Your mother’s just like those old people in Chinatown.
Thinks she has to go to China to pay her last respects.
[chuckles]
She showed me her jewelry again.
She’s not going to show it to me again. Gives me the willies.
This year she even has Polaroids.
-You’re kidding. -Mm-mmm.
[speaking Cantonese]
[in English] Ooh. Here’s a good tour.
Look.
[Uncle speaks Cantonese]
[in English] And I can go with you then, see?
[in Cantonese] It’s too early. I have to pass my test first.
[scoffs]
[in English] You’ve been here 40 years.
Now you have to hurry to become an American citizen?
[Geraldine] Mom, you don’t have to do that to go back to China.
[in English] No. I go back, I want to be American.
[chuckles]
[tea decanting]
[speaks Cantonese]
[in English] They’re going to ask you in English.
-[in English] Yeah. I study all day. -Okay.
Who was the first president of the United States?
What?
[in Cantonese] Say it again.
[in English] The first president of the United States. Who was he?
What?
[in Cantonese] You are not asking it correctly.
[in English] Ma, that’s the easiest one.
[in Cantonese] What does it say in the book?
[speaks Cantonese] president of the United States...”
[speaks Cantonese] George Washington!
[laughs] [in English] Okay. Very good.
-[in English] Here. You take it in, Mom. -[in Cantonese] You carry it out.
[in English] No, I don’t wanna take it in. They’re gonna ask me the same old thing.
“When are you gonna get married?”
[in Cantonese] Oh, no. They wouldn’t!
[Mary, in English] Where are you? Let’s play.
[speaks Cantonese]
[Mary] Ah. Oh.
Congratulations.
Yes, this is a congratulations cake to Mom.
[players speaking Cantonese]
[in English] When we eat your cake? Huh, Geraldine?
Well, don’t you like this cake?
No, Geraldine.
We want your wedding cake.
The one that smells so good and make your mama so happy.
Well, would you like me to cut this cake now?
No, no, not now. We haven’t finished our game.
Okay. I’m just going to leave it on the table.
-Good luck, everyone. -Thank you.
-[Mary sighs] -[speaks Cantonese]
[Mary speaks Cantonese]
[in English] All boys all girls. [speaks Cantonese]
[in English] You can’t force them on anything.
They even get married at their own pace.
[speaks Cantonese]
Everything is freedom, freedom, freedom.
[in Cantonese] You can’t rush, rush, rush, rush them anymore.
[players speaking Cantonese]
[in Cantonese] In America, anything is possible.
[player, in English] I won. Give me my money!
[in Cantonese] How the hell did you win?
I had the best hand!
You’re so busy rush, rush, rushing. You rushed your good hand away.
Why didn’t you tell me? We should help each other out.
Shut up! Give me your money!
[all speaking Cantonese]
Let’s push these piles a little faster, ladies.
And turn 'em over.
-Oh. -[all groan]
[Geraldine] Oh, my God! No potato chips in the game!
-Get that out of there! -[all laughing]
Hey, I like them Venetian blinds you got on there, girl.
You’re the one who gave them to me!
I go like this. [imitates blinds opening]
[imitates squeegee]
Okay, back to business! Let’s play or eat.
[players] Let’s eat.
Where are you guys going to dinner tonight?
Some place where Max can eat a lot.
So you like Max better than Henry?
Well, look at it this way.
Max is not Chinese.
Chinese men are too sei baan.
- Sei baan? -Yeah, sei baan.
You know, deadwood, dead board.
-“Deadhead.” -Deadhead.
You know, Chinese men are real deadwoods when they’re married to Chinese women.
All they care about is their sons and which movies to Betamax.
Well, go tell Mom and Auntie Mary.
[lock clicks]
-Hi, Auntie Mary. -Hello.
I made some chiuchow un today.
[in Cantonese] I want you to try my good cooking.
-Have you eaten yet? -Yes, I have.
Have a cup of tea. Sit down.
[in English] No, I can’t. It’s time for Dynasty.
Geraldine, I just told your Mom
Mimi and her boyfriend have decided to get married
right after the new year.
It’s going to be the leap year next year.
It’s a good time for marriages.
It’s the best.
[in Cantonese] Leap year will give you great prosperity.
[in English] Well, that’s good. So what is it now? Twelve down and three to go?
[scoffs]
[in English] I have six married children out of my house,
and that’s enough.
I have been a good mother.
They’re going to move to New York.
They’re going to buy a $200000 condo. One bedroom.
Oh, kids have a lot of money these days.
[in Cantonese] The house cost too much.
[in Cantonese] Congratulations!
[speaks Cantonese]
[in Cantonese] Auntie Lee gave me this.
[in English] But I don’t drink.
[in Cantonese] Why don’t you keep it?
[mother, in Cantonese] I don’t drink either.
You give it to somebody.
[in Cantonese] No, you pass it to somebody!
[Mary, in English] I have a closet full of presents like that.
[in Cantonese] The whole cabinet is filled with such gifts.
[in Cantonese] We all have.
You should see the oranges Mr. Woo just gave us.
It looks like they’ve been passed around for five years.
[Mary chuckles]
[in English] Well, it’s time to see what Alexis is up to.
[mother, in Cantonese] Your rice cooker is fixed.
I’ll get it for you.
[Mary, in English] Ah, don’t worry. I’ll get it tomorrow.
Actually, your Mom should see Dynasty too.
It’s a lot of fun.
It’s just like the Chinese soap opera.
Sex, love and money.
The house seems so big when the children are married and gone.
It’s too big for me now.
Auntie Mary, you have a daughter that lives around the corner
and another one that just lives two blocks away.
Oh, sure, so they can come over faster when I start to die.
Ah!
I hate those bugs.
-[keys jingle] -[lock clicks]
Thank you, Geraldine.
You are a good girl.
You are the best Chinese daughter to take such good care of your mother.
-Good night. -Night.
[footsteps departing]
[parakeet chirping]
[Geraldine] You know.
mom took out those two dresses from Hong Kong the other day.
The white one for my wedding
and that brown one she wants to be builed in.
It’s so morbid,
Mom talking about the house
and going to China to pay her last respects.
-Yeah. -She’s preparing herself to die.
Definitely wasn’t a good way to start the new year.
But you know why she’s doing it, though?
She’s gonna be 62 this year.
Yeah. The fortune teller.
That’s when he predicted that she was gonna die.
[“Hun Ying Jiu Meng” playing]
[people chattering]
-[no audible dialogue] -[“Hun Ying Jiu Meng” continues playing]
-[film advance turning] -[shutter clicks]
Oh.
-[in Cantonese] What is this? -[in Cantonese] Your birthday present.
Oh. [chuckling] [in English] Thank you.
What a surprise.
Wow.
[chuckles]
My favorite kind.
What’s this?
This look like the bottle I gave to George for Christmas.
See?
By the secret marking on the label.
Where did you get this? [repeats in Cantonese]
[in Cantonese] Auntie Mary, I think.
You don’t like it?
-I’ll take it back! -[in English] Oh, no, no! [chuckles]
I told you this is my favorite.
-[Uncle clears throat] -[in Cantonese] So this year you’re 59.
[in English] Yeah. Fifty-nine years old.
Next year, well, I have my grand celebration.
Mmm.
[in Cantonese] Thank you for all these years you’ve taken care of our family.
Oh. [chuckles]
I think, uh, you and me should get married.
[in Cantonese] Let’s complete our journey together.
Huh?
[in Cantonese] What are you saying? You’re old enough to know better.
[speaks Cantonese]
[in English] This is gonna help Geraldine too, to decide,
if she know that someone gonna come
and take care of you for the rest of your life...
Hmm?
-No, no. [speaks Cantonese] -No, no, no, no, no.
It will free her to get married with Richard and move down to LA.
It would be good for all of us.
[speaks Cantonese phrase] It’s like a old Japanese movie
where the widow parent pretend to get remarried
so the daughter won’t have to keep sacrificing herself.
[in Cantonese] That’s how it should be.
-Huh? -[in Cantonese] Kevin will be here soon.
I want to finish my cooking.
[exclaims, clicks tongue]
[sighs]
[Kevin mumbles]
[Geraldine] Guess what, Uncle Tam?
I saw the movie You Can’t Take It with You last night with Jimmy Stewart.
Oh, what a wonderful movie that was.
-[Kevin] Yeah, it was pretty good. -Oh.
Gushy. What’s so wonderful about it?
There was Lionel Barrymore, the father, and Jimmy Stewart.
-Yeah, so? There was a lot of people. -Jean Arthur and
What a wonderful family it was.
-I mean, people who was laughing... -What’s so wonderful about it?
...and hugging each other and loving each other?
-You liked it? -Yeah.
Because in Chinatown life wasn’t like that.
It just opened my eyes.
Like a duck, you know, when they peck out of the shell,
the first thing they see, they think its mother.
- Mm-hmm. -My mother was the movies.
[laughing]
Oh, but the older folks like your father, you know, they never went to the movies.
-They didn’t know -They can’t understand the language.
[stammers] They just never went there.
So when we went there, we just looked into the movies and the
-American culture for the people. -Oh, saw something for the first time.
- Happy birthday to me - [family] Happy birthday to you
-Should I blow it out? -Yeah, make a wish, make a wish.
Oh, make a wish? [mumbling]
[laughs]
Okay.
-Come on, hey. Blow ‘em out. -Come on. Make a wish!
[all laughing]
[Uncle Tam] I wish your mother weren’t so Chinese.
You know, we should get her drunk sometimes. [laughs]
Mom’s Chinese when she needs to be.
She gets what she wants, and she’s not going to change much either.
[Uncle Tam chuckles] Mmm.
[Uncle Tam sighs]
[speaks Cantonese, chuckles]
Those old Confucius ways don’t work anymore, you know?
Things can’t stay the same.
Something happens here Whoosh! It changes.
You can only keep what you can use.
Like what?
Food.
Now, huh? Uh...
[in Cantonese] Duck won ton...
Bird’s nest soup...
Pork in shrimp sauce...
[in English] Now, that’s worth keeping. [chuckles]
Mmm.
-[bottle thuds] -Oh, give me a drink too.
[grunts]
[liquid decanting]
[speaks Cantonese]
[sighs]
[exhales]
[Chuckling]
[sighs]
[in Cantonese] Geraldine, Julia is here.
[Geraldine] Okay, I’m coming.
[Mrs. Tam speaking Cantonese] Julia, you look prettier.
[laughs]
-[speaking Cantonese] -[in Cantonese] No, I’m just fatter!
Fatter is better.
How is your mother?
You know... she’s old.
It’s no big deal. Should be fine.
You should go back to Hong Kong and visit her more often.
It makes parents feel better.
- [Cantonese] -Ah.
-We have to go. -You’re leaving so soon?
Yes, we have an appointment. I’ll visit you next time.
Sure. Come visit me whenever you have time.
-[in English] Bye-bye. -[in English] Okay, goodbye.
Hey, um, I’m going to Reno this weekend with Max.
Wanna come?
With Max?
The low-fund banker with the pinstriped suit?
- Mm-hmm. -No, thank you.
Guy’s too strange.
Everything will be very proper, very up-and-up.
-Oh, I’m sure. -Except at the swimming pool...
-Yeah? he wants to stare at your feet.
-That’s what he does with me all the time. -You’re kidding.
How kinky.
[no audible dialogue]
Richard’s been a part of our family for so long,
when we get married, it would be like incest.
Our kids will probably look like Prince Charles.
I see five little cross-eyed kids
sitting on their grandma’s knee.
You know,
I want a daughter.
Are you serious?
Yeah.
I like Richard.
[PA announcer, indistinct]
[car horn honking]
-[Geraldine] Hey. There he is. -[passenger] That’s right.
[passengers chattering, exclaiming]
[Geraldine] Oh, hi, honey.
Aw. [chuckles]
[passengers chattering, laughing, exclaiming]
[Richard laughs]
[Geraldine exclaims] Don’t do that!
Stop tickling me! Cut it out! Please!
[screams] Stop tickling
Okay, Mommy. [grunts]
Here’s a little bit of dim sum.
A little bit of heart for the both of you. [laughs]
You get the hint?
Mmm.
Oh, you know what the name of this dim sum is?
Huh?
[speaking Cantonese]
You know what that means?
Several precious sons.
Several.
[both chuckle]
Being subtle, huh, Mom?
You’re lucky you have me here to decode for you.
Otherwise they won’t get your message.
So, when are you guys gonna get married?
When are you going to get married?
Yeah. When are you gonna tie the knot?
Well, don’t count me out.
I have my eyes on someone.
-[TV blaring] -[shouting, gunfire on TV]
[screams]
-You take the garbage out? -No. Not yet.
Well, I’m going to bed.
You can come up when Mom’s asleep.
[stairs creaking]
-[in Cantonese] Good morning. -[in Cantonese] Good morning!
You’re an early bird today!
Richard is visiting.
Oh, you don’t want to be a third wheel!
[in English] Let the kids be themselves, huh? [laughs]
Oh.
[in Cantonese] I’m letting them sleep in. So I came out to work in the yard.
[speaks Cantonese]
Ah.
[speaks Cantonese]
She should have knocked before she came in.
[Geraldine] Mmm.
How long does it take to get to the airport this time of the morning?
-[Geraldine mumbles] -What?
-Thirty minutes. -Mmm.
[parakeet chirping]
-[key rattles] -[lock clicks]
-[footsteps] -Hey, Morn.
It was a nice weekend, wasn’t it?
[footsteps]
Oh, Geraldine.
I was just getting rid of some of this old junk.
What’s new?
[Uncle Tam sighs]
I just took Richard to the airport.
Mom thinks she’s gonna die.
Oh, that fortune teller business. [sighs]
She’s really pushing Richard and me to get married.
Mmm.
You know, the thing that gets me
is that she doesn’t even care how I feel about this.
And when Dad died,
you know, I thought we’d become really close.
She’s going to be lonely, you know,
if you get married and move out.
And she’s been taught, you know, that she might have to suffer in life,
so she accepts things as they are.
[chuckles] Look at me.
I’m a similar casualty.
Don’t get so upset.
I’m not upset.
It’s just that I’m afraid I’m gonna do it.
I mean, if I don’t get married and she dies on me,
I’m going to have that with me for the rest of my life.
[chuckles]
A nice Jewish daughter. [laughing]
Oh, look at Inez.
The one with the big cantaloupes. [laughs]
That was when we used to have dancers downstairs.
Dancers?
Yeah, long ago your father and I.
You know, that was the only place
that, uh, a Chinese man could look at a white woman. [chuckles]
[imitating dancer’s music]
[chuckles] Oh, my.
-A real public service. -[both laughing]
Oh!
Thanks.
-Oh. -[Geraldine] Thank you.
-We’ll see you later. -Thanks. Bye.
Who are they?
[both laughing]
-Want me to drive? -No, thanks.
-Tired, huh? -Yeah.
I’ll drive.
Turned out to be more like a family reunion, you know?
My brother flew back from Canada,
my sister came back from Paris.
We haven’t seen each other for years.
It was nice.
We sat around and we talked and we played cards
and we ate and... [chuckles]
Wow, fun.
Then we figured that our mother wasn’t going to die after all, so we left.
[all chattering]
Oh, these hamburgers are getting a little small.
-[chuckles] You take it. -No, no, you take that one.
-No, no, no, you. -Seriously. That’s That’s for
Oh.
-We are? -[people chuckling in distance]
[no audible dialogue]
My first American dream was to own a car...
Mmm.
-...and drive in it all the time. - Mm-hmm.
-Now I have a Mercedes. -[chuckles] Great car.
And one-fourth
No.
-One-eighth of a husband. -[chuckles]
An empty apartment.
My reality is bigger than my dream.
Aw. Dream a new dream.
-I can’t even sleep at night. -Mmm.
Can I have a Coke?
You know, one of those days,
I would like to have a red station wagon
filled with, um, kids.
We’ll sing songs,
and we’ll go to countryside and we’ll picnic.
[clicks tongue] That’s later.
[utensils clattering]
Julia.
[Julia sighs]
My mother died.
[sighs] She should have died when we were there.
She was stubborn.
Sh She always did as she pleased.
[sighs]
Now that she’s dead
She was alone when she died.
[sniffling]
Everyone seems so depressed up here.
It’s just going to Dad’s grave.
I can’t believe it’s been 15 years.
[in Cantonese] Geraldine, you and Richard should get married.
[speaks Cantonese]
[in English] I’m not ready yet.
[in Cantonese] You have been dating him for quite some time and you’re not young,
so you should get married.
You have to help me put my mind at ease.
So, I’ll know that my responsibility to you is over.
[in English] It’s really hard
‘cause I don’t know who’s gonna take care of you.
Kevin’s married and he has his own family.
And, you know, Amy...
I don’t know about Amy either.
I mean, I don’t want you to be alone.
[speaks Cantonese]
[in Cantonese] I’ll be lonely in the beginning,
but now your life comes first.
[water running]
[footsteps on stairs]
[Geraldine] Quiet, Uncle.
I don’t want Mom to know I’m moving out all this stuff.
[Uncle Tam sighs]
Um, remember our date Saturday, Mom. We’re going to the movies.
Okay.
Hey.
-[Uncle Tam sighs] -[door closes]
[footsteps outside]
[door opens, closes]
[Uncle Tam sighs]
[vehicle pulls away]
[in Cantonese] I didn’t sleep well last night.
Maybe I drank too much tea.
[sighs]
[speaks Cantonese]
[in English] Your daughter loves you very much.
It’s good now that you let her do what she wants to do.
Mmm.
You know, you realize you can’t force her to marry?
I always thought that, uh, your attitude toward her was inconsistent.
[in Cantonese] You want her to get married.
Yet you don’t want her to leave.
I’m doing what a mother has to do. And you say I’m inconsistent!
[in English] If you care about her, you know,
you have to let her decide, to let her be.
-[in Cantonese] Good morning. -[in Cantonese] Good morning.
[in English] I thought I saw Geraldine’s car up front this morning.
[in Cantonese] She brought me my groceries.
[in English] I suppose she’s fine.
[in Cantonese] Isn’t she staying with her best friend?
[in English] No problem, I suppose.
[in Cantonese] Well, you know Geraldine can’t cook.
She’s living on Cheez Whiz and vitamin pills.
I don’t know how kids survive these days.
[speaks Cantonese]
[in English] She will turn out okay.
[in Cantonese] And we’ll survive.
We are just.
[parakeet chirping]
[chattering, audience laughing on TV]
Is this it?
[speaks Cantonese]
Okay.
I’ll write out checks for all the bills, okay?
[Geraldine speaks Cantonese]
[in Cantonese] I wrote the checks already. It was easy.
[in English] Oh, good.
[sewing machine whirring]
Don’t work too late tonight, Mom.
I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?
I’ll lock the front door on the way out.
[door closes]
[people chattering in distance]
[PA announcer, indistinct]
Mr. Stu Fong. please call 255.
[sighs]
[“River of Love” playing]
[singing in Chinese]
[Uncle Tam] Mother to daughter, mother to daughter, mother to daughter.
Do you know how to make Chinese sausage?
-[Geraldine] Mm-mmm. -[Uncle Tam laughs]
Come to your time, you don’t know how to make it?
No more Chinese sausage.
[Uncle Tam clicks tongue, chuckles]
[person chattering on TV]
[Uncle Tam in Cantonese] Pork in shrimp sauce.
[in English] Your favorite dish.
No more.
[in Cantonese] Duck won ton.
[in English] No more.
[in Cantonese] No more roast duck!
Mmm.
No more shark’s fin soup.
[song ends]
[bed whirring]
[whirring stops]
[in Cantonese] My appetite’s back. I’d like some chicken.
[in English] Good.
[Cruching]
Mmm. [in Cantonese] Hospital food is terrible!
We’re both back home.
-Just like old times, huh, Ma? -Yeah.
[speaks Cantonese]
[speaking Cantonese]
It’s time for me to pay my respects to the homeland.
I want to take an earlier flight.
[in English] You want to go to China earlier?
-Is Uncle Tam going with you? -[in English] Maybe.
I want to [in Cantonese] go as soon as possible.
[Mary, in Cantonese] Make sure you return for Mei-Mei’s banquet.
[responds in Cantonese]
[in Cantonese] That little monkey changed her mind. She agreed to it.
[in English] I’m going to have 25 tables.
[speaking Cantonese]
[in Cantonese] If you’re not back, our celebration won’t be complete.
Congratulations.
Same to you.
Geraldine may invite me to her banquet soon.
Well, you never know these days.
See how well my flowers came out.
Oh, this is a good sign.
Well, the sun has been good here.
I might plant there later.
Maybe someday something will grow over there.
[ticket agent] Good morning.
-Canton is your final destination? -Yeah.
-Via Hong Kong? - Mm-hmm.
[keyboard typing]
-[birds chirping] -[children shouting in distance]
[waves cresting]
[Uncle Tam humming]
Mama has a specific way of cooking this for it to taste right, you know.
Oh, yeah, sure.
You know, I went to a demonstration one time, you know,
with this cook from Hong Kong.
Boy, he was so good.
I think it was at Victory Hall or something like that.
And, uh, in no time he had...
[sizzling]
you know, all this stuff.
And, uh...
-Yeah? -And let the audience come up and, uh
and eat the stuff.
And, uh Hoo-ya-ya-ya-ya.
[grunts]
Are you ready for this?
-[laughs] -It’s a disaster!
[laughing] What are we gonna do?
I’m gonna learn how to make dim sum.
Yeah?
Yeah, they give classes at the YW now.
I’m going to learn how to make the hardest one of them all.
[speaks Cantonese]
-Zhong? -Yeah.
[chuckling]
You know, every year during Dragon Boat Festival,
I used to think that I was going to learn how to make zhong.
Ooh, good.
But then every year I didn’t.
Why?
‘Cause I thought that if I didn’t learn how to do it,
then my mom would have to do it.
[chuckles]
-Then she couldn’t die on me. -[laughs]
You know, I thought at one time
that your mother and I were gonna get married.
Did you know that?
Well, she wouldn’t do it, though.
She’s old-fashioned that way.
Mmm.
It’s not like that in Florida.
They’re so far ahead, those senior citizens.
Uncle Tam?
Don’t be upset.
We’re similar casualties, remember?
-[key rattles] -[lock clicks]
[in Cantonese] What are you cooking?
[in English] I made you some soup.
[in Cantonese] It doesn’t smell quite right.
Huh? [chuckles]
[in Cantonese] The people in China are kind.
They cooked me lots of big dinners.
But I know they really don’t have that much.
But she didn’t tell me. She only told other people.
Over there they say it’s okay to be poor.
As long as, in your heart, you know what you want.
[in Cantonese] I have to tell you something.
[in English] Richard and I made some decisions while you were gone.
[in Cantonese] Remember the fortune teller?
I saw her again in my village.
She said my luck has changed.
She told me 60 years is one full cycle.
So I’m only two years old!
You don’t have to get married for a long time.
At least until I’m an adult!
[laughs]
Can you believe it? I’m only two! [laughs]
[toy squeaking]
[laughs]
[sighs]
[sniffles]
[parakeet chirping]