The story of a Chinese-American family experiencing transition. The father retires, the three daughters make changes in their lives, and the entire family begins to discover their true selves and what truly matters - family and love.Some of the descriptions call this family bizarrely dysfunctional - but really there is nothing outlandish or extremely unusual going on. Just people finding their way.The dinner scenes made me wish I was there - so much yummy food prepared lovingly by a caring mother. People from large families that eat together in a traditional way might take it for granted. But those of us whose families never sat and ate together, long for that kind of togetherness (and home-cooked food).

Budding auteur Georgia Lee, Harvard educated of Chinese ancestry, wrote and directed 'Red Doors.' Only one red door (actually a double entrance door) is actually featured, at the home of the featured family. It seems that red has meanings of joy and happiness.Here we have what at first seems like a typical Chinese-American family. Dad is 60 and has just retired. Mom stays at home. Oldest daughter is a successful business person, middle daughter is a medical school student doing well, and youngest daughter is in high school, bent on doing her own thing. The oldest daughter is living with a Caucasian boyfriend and is planning her wedding which is scheduled soon.While the movie is pleasant and told in a pleasant manner, the main themes are broadly hinted at early so it is no surprise when they develop that way. That isn't all bad, but I was hoping for more subtlety. Not all the acting is convincing, and some of the transitions are abrupt. Still, an overall enjoyable movie.SPOILERS. Dad seems depressed, by his account has tried suicide at least 30 times. "What happened?", asks the shrink. "I was always interrupted." So he sees a Buddist monastery in a leaflet and leaves home to hang out with the monks, with no word to his family. Oldest daughter is planning the wedding but feels that it may not be right. Almost at the last minute tells her fiancée' that she is not ready, gives his ring back. Middle daughter finds herself attracted to a pretty actress who is doing research at the hospital for a movie role. They become a couple. Dad finally comes home, youngest daughter gets a boyfriend, the red doors bring happiness.

It was so nice to see a movie that was not the standard crap that so often comes out of Hollywood. This film was very funny and very moving.Coming from a family with 3 daughters and a father who often was left in a daze by the constant chaos around him, I really felt a connection with this movie.The cast was awesome and really delivered great performances. The story was credible, entertaining, and filled with humor at just the right times. This is without a doubt a film I would go to see again in a heart beat.I would definitely recommend it!

"Red Doors" starts out looking like a re-tread of early Ang Lee movies, but quickly adds a charmingly unique cross-generational element as three sisters and their father are at crossroads in their lives from retirement to career and romantic choices to literally explosive teen rebellion.Each of the Chinese-American daughters has a relationship with a Caucasian, but inter-ethnic issues are less of a concern than human issues of self-realization, as the characters end up drawing strength from their cultural context as they deal with the pressures of being "the model minority." While the writing is stronger than the directing as there's some drag, particularly during the middle daughter's seemingly endless and petty travails, writer/director Georgia Lee makes the best use of actual home movies - her family's -- since "Capturing the Friedmans," for bringing memories to life. We are actually seeing her sister's, lively co-star Kathy Shao-Lin Lee's, childhood as the family members take turns digitizing home movies.As is usual in first timer's ethnic coming-of-age movies there's a bit of a stereotyped emphasis on art vs. commerce career choices and high school memories that are doubtless a filmmaker's autobiographical resonances. But each character is very much an individual, including having their own musical themes, from hip hop to mopey singer-songwriter tunes. The teen ager is an original spark plug of comic relief even as the family members' relationships aren't all resolved sit com style.I particularly liked how the acculturated oldest sister pushes the depressed dad (a marvelous Tzi Ma) to see a shrink but he wisely finds a more traditional healing process that's the opposite of talk therapy and a touching contrast to the similar emotional crisis in "About Schmidt." The title was explained in an off-hand remark at the end, a reference to the tradition of painting one's front doors red to bring good luck, and not all the audience caught the meaning, though we all appreciated the red doors pins that were distributed after the screening at the Tribeca Film Festival. It was also nice of the director to give up some of her allotment of tickets to people on the long line hoping to get in, which included many Chinese-American women from around the New York metropolitan area who had heard about the film through word of mouth.The potential audience may be confused by the time this film is generally released with "Saving Face" that is being distributed earlier, as they share a few plot points, including parental conflict and a lesbian daughter, but on its own it is a lovely, sweet film.