In her latest film, Confetti, writer-director Ann Hu dramatizes her own difficulties as a bright girl who was born with a learning disorder. Strong performances and the clearly personal connection elevate the script above its predictable tropes.
Zhu Zhu stars as Lan, who’s worried when her nine-year-old daughter Meimei (Harmonie He) struggles in school, unable to learn to read or write. Despite falling helplessly behind her classmates, Meimei quickly picks up on visual cues that are beyond her peers. It turns out that Meimei suffers from dyslexia, and in their small town in China, there aren’t any educational programs for children like her. So Zhu Zhu takes a huge leap and brings Meimei to New York City, where they stay with wheelchair-bound Helen (Amy Irving). Helen, who has been working hard on a writing project, is reluctant to play host to this desperate family, but she’s eventually won over by the precocious child and her mother, and does all she can to get the girl the specialized education she needs.
On paper, and sometimes on screen, Confetti seems like a slick movie-of-the-week that introduces its noble cause and runs through the familiar paces of conflict on the way to an instructional, happy conclusion. And naturally, end titles explain that one in 10 people suffer from dyslexia, the learning disorder’s ranks including such legends as Beethoven and Tom Cruise. But the nature of the condition taps at something profound: In a world that bombards us with text wherever we look, what would it be like to be unable to read? This horror is made visible through Zhu Zhu’s eyes when we learn that she, too, is dyslexic, and we watch as the words she sees around the already overwhelming vista of Manhattan become meaningless jumbles.
This is only the third film Hu has directed since her 2000 debut Shadow Magic, and the autobiographical film hits touching notes in what feels like a by-the-numbers structure. But the strong cast sells the material. Naïve and determined, Zhu Zhu evokes all the shame and frustration of her own condition, one that she’s desperate to spare her daughter. He is believable as the gifted child bewildered by her condition but confident once she finds her voice. Finally, Irving’s role is a vaguely familiar variety of Helpful Outsider Who Learns How to Give, but the veteran actress gives shape to Helen’s ambivalence and ultimate persistence.
This talent thrives under Hu’s direction. Hu pushes her leads into uncomfortable closeups that force them to play an intimate game; this is particularly true with Irving, who more than pulls her emotional weight when the camera gets right in her face. It’s been nearly 40 years since she earned an Oscar nom for Yentl, and you imagine that if somebody gave her the right meaty role, she’d get another.
While much of the film follows a standard template, a third-act visual shift sums up the story in a startling visual form that suits Hu’s theme; after all, might dyslexia just be another way to see the world? The title Confetti from an image Meimei returns to throughout the film: random colors and shapes color come together in a beautiful design that at once conveys chaos and structure. The movie may have a little too much structure; but it’s still a small delight.
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