By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
"ROSEMEAD" CONFRONTS MENTAL HEALTH AND CULTURAL SILENCE
It's understandable to do a double-take while watching Lucy Liu in the haunting and deeply affecting family drama
"Rosemead."
Best known for her early comedic and action-driven roles in "Ally McBeal", "Charlie's Angels," and "Kill Bill, Liu delivers one of the most transformative performances of her career.
She portrays a widowed Chinese immigrant mother, physically ailing yet emotionally relentless, trying to care for her schizophrenic son, Joe. As his obsessions darken and time begins to slip away, she is confronted with impossible choices such as how far she will go, and what she is willing to sacrifice, to protect him.
Set against the simmering tensions of a Chinese American community, in Southern California's San Gabriel Valley, "Rosemead" is a gripping and unsettling portrait of a family pushed to the edge.
The film marks the directorial debut of co-writer
Erin Lin ("The Exploding Girl," and "The Sound of Silence"), and is inspired by a traumatic true story adapted from a
2017 award-winning Los Angeles Times article by Frank Shyong.
Lin approaches the material with restraint and compassion, resisting sensationalism in favor of quiet dread and emotional realism. The result is a film that slowly tightens its grip, allowing the audience to sit with the discomfort, fear, and isolation that define this family's experience.
While "Rosemead" is a universal story about a mother trying to protect her child, it is also an especially urgent film for the AAPI community. Lin states in the film's press notes, that Asian American experiences are still rarely centered in feature films.
"Rosemead" stands apart. It's made entirely by an above-the-line creative team of Asian Americans. That authenticity resonates deeply on screen. In addition, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Asian Americans are the least likely demographic to seek mental health treatment, often due to stigma, cultural pressure, and fear of shame. Lawrence Shou, in a striking and emotionally fearless debut as Joe, embodies this painful reality with remarkable nuance.
His performance is grounded, unsettling, and deeply human, capturing the quiet unraveling of a young man whose suffering is hidden rather than treated.
Lucy Liu matches Shou's intensity with a performance defined by exhaustion, desperation, and fierce maternal devotion. Her character's isolation feels suffocating, compounded by cultural expectations and a lack of accessible support.
Producer
Mynette Louie--an Independent Spirit Award winner and Emmy-and
Critics Choice-nominated filmmaker known for "I Carry You With Me," "Swallow," "The Tale," and "Land Ho!”--brings a careful, empathetic hand to the storytelling. Together, the creative team ensures that "Rosemead" never exploits its subject matter and instead honors the lived experiences it reflects.
Lin also added that he felt compelled to tell stories that bring audiences into the lives of those who are marginalized--or worse, vilified--and "Rosemead" succeeds with devastating clarity.
It shows us the danger of what happens when people feel forced to hide their truth, and when they believe society cannot help them. Quiet, unsettling, and profoundly resonant, "Rosemead" offers no easy answers--but it delivers something far more important: understanding, empathy, and an urgent call to confront the silence surrounding mental health before it's too late.
Editor's Note: Be sure to catch my N2Entertainment.net movie talk segment on the Kitty O'Neal Show Fridays at 5:17 p.m. and 6:47 p.m. on radio station KFBK 93.1 FM and 1530 AM.
Check Out This Trailer For
"ROSEMEAD"
Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA), The American Film Institute (AFI), and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.
