‘Rosemead’ Review: Lucy Liu Dives Head First Into Overwhelming Misery

‘Rosemead’ Review: Lucy Liu Dives Head First Into Overwhelming Misery

Eric Lin’s “Rosemead” begins when Lucy Liu, playing a widow who runs a print shop in Southern California, coughs a little. So we immediately know she’s got terminal cancer. If you’re coughing in a movie and you’re not in a room full of smoke, and it’s not already established that you’ve got a cold, it means you’re dying from cancer. I don’t make the rules, I just know them by heart. It’s like when any woman throws up in a movie, and they’re not …

Rosemead Review — A Tragic True Story Falls into Melodrama

The difficulty of pulling off a cancer drama or a school shooting narrative stems from how many good versions of each story already exist. Many of the obvious moments to highlight have already been hit by other movies, making it difficult not to feel derivative. Rosemead, an indie starring vehicle for Lucy Liu, suffers from this very issue. While the mental health struggles of Asian-American families are often overlooked, the rest of the movie f…