Ang Lee’s Film: Pushing Hands 父亲三部曲之一《推手》

Pushing Hands is a film directed by Ang Lee.Actually, it is a name for two-person training routines practiced in internal Chinese martial artsin Chinese,we say 推手(tuī shǒu) in Chinese. Released in 1992, it was Lee’s first feature film. Together with Ang Lee’s two following films, The Wedding Banquet (1993) and Eat Drink Man Woman (1994), it forms his “Father Knows Best” trilogy, each of which deals with conflicts between an older and more traditional generation and their children as they confront a world of change.
《推手》是李安运用近代家庭变迁搭配细腻描述亲情互动，因而享誉国际的‘父亲三部曲’之第一部曲。1992年上映，是李安第一部特色电影。
The story is about an elderly Chinese t’ai chi ch’uan teacher and grandfather who emigrates from Beijing to live with his son, American daughter-in-law, and grandson in a New York City suburb. The grandfather is increasingly distanced from the family as a “fish out of water” in Western culture. The film shows the contrast between traditional Chinese ideas of Confucian relationships within a family and the much more informal Western emphasis on the individual. The friction in the family caused by these differing expectations eventually leads to the grandfather moving out of the family home (something very alien to traditional expectations), and in the process he learns lessons (some comical, some poignant) about how he must adapt to his new surroundings before he comes to terms with his new life.
从小习太极拳的朱老，退休后被在美国任电脑工程的独子朱晓生从大陆接去，原本以为可从此安享晚年，可是语言不通，生活习惯不同，离开了儿子家就会迷路的朱老，只能整日在家中练习太极，媳妇玛莎则正为创作苦恼，整天面对无法对话的中国公公更觉得莫明的压力从四处袭来。朱老先生是北京太极拳总教练，因与儿媳妇玛莎不和而离家出走。一次偶然的机会，朱老先生不凡的太极拳功底被发现，立即成为美国头条新闻。当儿子朱晓生从警察局领回父亲时，玛莎也有愧疚之意，最后朱老先生也没有回儿子家住，而是回到了自己的简陋住所安度晚年。
The title of the film refers to the pushing hands training that is part of the grandfather’s t’ai chi routine. Pushing hands is a two person training which teaches t’ai chi students to yield in the face of brute force. T’ai chi ch’uan teachers were persecuted in China during the Cultural Revolution, and the grandfather’s family was broken up as a result. He sent his son to the West several years earlier and when he could he came to live with his family with the expectation of picking up where they left off, but he was unprepared for the very different atmosphere of the West. “Pushing Hands” thereby alludes to the process of adaptation to culture shock felt by a traditional teacher in moving to the United States.
标题《推手》是太极拳的双人徒手对抗练习名称。《推手》围绕一个移民美国家庭发生的一系列故事，表现了传统的中国文化与美国的风土人情之间的冲突。中西文化的背景是不同的，美国是青年人的天堂，老年人是坟墓，富裕的物质能够保障老年人的生活，然而，儿女的温情却不像中国人，美国人很难接受，上一代人与自己同住。在美国的法律中，儿女是自系亲属，生儿育女的父母却不列为自系亲属。这对传统的孝子贤孙报亲恩的中国老人来说，简直是可怕的。
Pushing Hands (1992) was a success in Taiwan both among critics and at the box office. It received eight nominations in the Golden Horse Film Festival, Taiwan’s premier film festival.
《推手》是奠定李安导演地位的处女作，也是奠定了其在台湾新生代导演地位的影片。影片一经推出便获得了极大的轰动。《推手》获1991年台湾金马奖八项提名，最终夺得最佳男主角、最佳女主角及最有潜力新导演“评审团特别奖”，此外，该片还获得1992年亚太影展最佳影片奖。

A Dialogue in China Town of New York