Not just another Taiwanese green-card movie. Despite the participation of both Ang Lee (producer) and James Schamus, Sylvia Chang manages to avoid the pratfalls of the genre. The relationship that develops between Mario (an aging American writer) and Xiao Yu (recently arrived from China with her boyfriend) seems fresh, honest, and refreshingly free of the cross-cultural hangups that marked films like _The Wedding Banquet_ and _Farewell China_. Ang Lee's work might be more polished, more finely crafted, but Sylvia Chang takes this movie deeper. SIAO YU's emotional sophistication is supported by a fine Taiwanese and American cast. Daniel Travanti gives a nicely nuanced performance (when he doesn't overact), Liu Joyin (aka Rene Lau Yuek-Ying, on the Rock Records home page) makes an impressive debut as Xiao Yu.