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This is the latest instalment in a feature series reflecting on instances of East meets West in world cinema, including China-US co-productions.<\/em><\/p>\n After the death of founding member Suyuan (Kieu Chinh), her daughter June (Ming-Na Wen) is invited to take her place.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were worried,\u201d June says of her aunties. \u201cIn me, they see their own daughters: just as ignorant of all the hopes and dreams our mothers brought to this country.\u201d<\/p>\n What follows is a complex tale of intergenerational trauma, in which we witness each mother\u2019s struggles growing up in China and the subsequent impact on their American offspring.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nWhen Wayne Wang<\/span>\u2019s The Joy Luck Club<\/em> was released in 1993, it stood as only the second Hollywood film ever to tell a contemporary story with a majority Asian cast \u2013 the first, Flower Drum Song<\/em><\/span>, had arrived 32 years prior.<\/div>\nBased on the bestselling 1989 novel by Amy Tan<\/span>, it tells of four Chinese mothers and their daughters in San Francisco. They play a regular mahjong game, calling themselves The Joy Luck Club.<\/div>\n