Crazy Rich Asians - Mahjong Scene [Official HD]

The Mahjong scene from Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

EXPLANATION:
This scene is the climax of the movie, where Rachel (Constance Wu) squares off against Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh) over Nick (Henry Golding). The rules of Mahjong are similar to Poker and "Go Fish" where a player tries to make a winning hand from drawing a tile or consuming someone else's discard tile. The loser (the one who pays money) is the person who discards the winning tile to the winner.

In this scene, Eleanor explains that she does not approve of Rachel because as an American, Rachel can only think about herself and not about family. Rachel then reveals that she turned down Nick's proposal and offer to walk away from his family, to which Eleanor responds, "Only a fool folds a winning hand." But Rachel responds that she did this because it would tear him away from his mother and ultimately make him sad. As she does this, she draws the winning tile for her hand, but also knows that it is the tile Eleanor needs to win. She discards her tile to which Eleanor takes to win. Then Rachel reveals her tiles to show that she did in fact, fold the winning hand, showing Eleanor that when she looks back years from now, she'll know that she only has the winning hand (Nick) because Rachel made the sacrifice to give him up.

CAST:
Constance Wu ... Rachel Chu
Henry Golding Henry Golding ... Nick Young
Michelle Yeoh Michelle Yeoh ... Eleanor Young
Gemma Chan Gemma Chan ... Astrid Young Teo
Lisa Lu Lisa Lu ... Ah Ma
Awkwafina Awkwafina ... Peik Lin Goh
Harry Shum Jr. Harry Shum Jr. ... Charlie Wu
Ken Jeong Ken Jeong ... Wye Mun Goh
Sonoya Mizuno Sonoya Mizuno ... Araminta Lee
Chris Pang Chris Pang ... Colin Khoo
Jimmy O. Yang Jimmy O. Yang ... Bernard Tai
Ronny Chieng Ronny Chieng ... Eddie Cheng
Remy Hii Remy Hii ... Alistair Cheng
Nico Santos Nico Santos ... Oliver T'sien
Jing Lusi Jing Lusi ... Amanda Ling
Carmen Soo Carmen Soo ... Francesca
Pierre Png Pierre Png ... Michael Teo
Fiona Xie Fiona Xie ... Kitty Pong
Victoria Loke Victoria Loke ... Fiona Cheng
Janice Koh Janice Koh ... Felicity Young

#TRENDING #crazyrichasians

[johnneira]

Her look at 4:36. " My daughter won't abandon me like your son is willing to abandon you."

[MrsBlack]

I know Rachel's mom has a relatively small role in this movie, but that look that she gives Eleanor never fails to shake me. It's something you can't quite articulate, but in that moment Rachel leaves with her head held high, yet her mother turns to spare a look at the woman who destroyed her daughters' spirit and holds her gaze, wearing all the pain and anger and pride she must have been feeling. Even though no words passed between them Rachel's mother is the one in power here despite her low social standing and broken family, because while Eleanor may have her reputation intact, her relationship with her son is damaged, while Rachel and her mother leave with a strengthened love that surpasses the material lifestyle and wealth that the Youngs have amassed and sacrificed everything--even happiness--for.

[JustforNow]

Mom had her back! That look was EVERYTHING!

[heystobit]

the “a poor, raised by a single mother, low class immigrant nobody” and then her slamming down her hand just makes me smile so much. rachel could’ve won but she let eleanor win. just like how she let eleanor have nick. it’s so powerful!

[theworldexplorer]

I wonder if anyone ever knows how significant the scene at 4:31 is. It gives me tears every time I watch it. The young girl that you torture and humiliate is actually someone’s daughter, someone’s most cherished child. When you face with her mother, how can you not be ashamed of all the things that you said to her, when you project all the humiliation that you received from your mother-in-law onto this girl that your son loves and who is also loved by many?

[brandonchew]

I give you guys a brief explanation why this mahjong scene is powerful:-
1. But first off, let's start with some basics of mahjong. To win mahjong, you would need to reach certain combinations before other player does. You will always have 13th tiles, but you would need to pick up the 14th tile to win. Think of it as a poker, or more accurately gin rummy, except you have to create your own combination. You can have three simplified combinations that can help you to win the game:-
I. Chow: having three tiles of sequential number sequence of the same suite (ex: 2 bamboo, 3 bamboo, 4 bamboo is consider a chow)
II. Pong - Basically three of a kind. You must shout "Pong" when someone discards the tile that you want, and then you have to show everyone that you actually have the initial two of the same tiles by laying three of it flat.
III. Kong- Basically four of a kind, same mechanics as Pong, but you also draw a tile from the wall.
Eye- basically a pair.
To win, you would need either 4 Pong/Chow and an eye, or 3 Kong and an eye, or any combination above that fits within the 14th tile framework. You must always have an eye to win (the basic way, of course. There's also special variations of creating your 14th tile combinations, but let's stick to the basic for now).
2. In mahjong, there are four sitting positions: North, East, South, West. At the start of the scene, Rachel offers Eleanor to sit at the East seat, which is practically the dealer seat, while Rachel sat at the West seat. This is important as both of them are representing themselves of where they come from, Eleanor from Asia (East) and Rachel from America (West).
3. At the start, Eleanor started out with a Pong (three of a kind). She is showing to Rachel that she intends to win the game by having multiple Pong and an eye. Then during one of their conversation, Eleanor highlights the difference between the Western and Eastern, saying that despite American Asian look Asian, they are still American at heart. And then Eleanor explained the meaning of kaki lang, in Hokkien which means to say "one of us", and telling Rachel that she was not one of us. Note that she was also trying to Pong her way to victory, and Pong are all the same kind.
4. Then, Rachel drop the bomb onto Eleanor, saying that Nick actually proposed to her, where he was dead set on running away with her and away from his family. Right as she was saying this, Rachel draws one of the most important tile in this particular game: a bamboo of eight. To us Chinese, number 8 represents fortune, and it's considered a sign of wealth, prosperity, and happiness. However, an eight doesn't have any special value in mahjong, but the eight of bamboo was the one tile important for Rachel to complete her hand, winning the game. However, being a professor of game theory, she noted that this tile was also Eleanor's winning tile to complete her hand.
5. Rachel then told Eleanor that she turn Nick's proposal down, and to which Eleanor replied, "Only a fool folds a winning hand." THIS PART IS VERY CRITICAL, as in earlier first scenes of the movie, Rachel demonstrated that to be successful in a game where psychology and choice are the factors, you can't play with a "not to lose" mentality, but rather play to win.
6. Rachel then retorts back, saying that Eleanor has guaranteed there's no winning in any outcome when it comes to her marrying Nick. Nick choosing Rachel will cause Nick to lose his mother and his family. Nick choosing his family will result in Nick resenting his mother, where both are lose-lose situations. This is where Rachel decided to choose for him by declining his proposal. Of course she does not want to do it without Eleanor knowing, and what she is giving up to make this possible, hence this meeting.
7.With this, Rachel discarded her eight of bamboo, her symbol of happiness and her chance of winning the game, knowing that Eleanor will pick it up to win.
8. Rachel told Eleanor that she knows Nick will eventually find someone else that his family would approve of. While her heart will be broken, she is willing to suffer if it means Nick will keep the thing that is at the heart of all Asian cultures, and of his story: his family. She also elaborates that when Nick does find someone that the family approves, it will be because of a "poor, raised by a single mother, low-class immigrant nobody" who made it all possible. After that, she show her hand before walking away, making it clear to Eleanor that she could have won the game.
In short, Rachel show Eleanor that she understands the concept of putting family first over everything else, and is also showing that she is as strong willed as Eleanor, which completely overwhelm Eleanor's cruel remarks of Rachel being "never good enough" for Nick.
This is as good as Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows chess scene, except chess is more well known than mahjong, so explaining the symbolism behind it is tough. Hope it helps!
Edit: My reference mostly came from Vox if you want read more about it.
Edit edit: About it being brief, sorry about that. It was brief when I was thinking about it (not to mention the reference obtained from Vox). It somewhat exploded in my write-up itself. Sorry about that.

[urangawakbujj]

Her mom's look at the end is as strong as Molly Weasley curse when Bellatrix try to jinx Ginny

[intldawn]

I was really confused by this scene because I don’t understand mahjong but my friend who is Chinese explained it to me. When I watched it again, I absolutely burst into tears. What a beautifully constructed scene and I really respect that they didn’t dilute for someone like me to immediately understand. I had to gain some cultural competence to understand the subtext and it’s just beautiful

[levelheaded]

This is one of the most badass scenes in cinematic history. You don't need guns, explosions, or muscled men. All you need is smart writing, good editing, and actors who know exactly who their characters are

[atiqahdiyana]

Rachel’s mom being there and both of them walking out hand in hand was so important because it showed Eleanor that she might have built “things that last” by sacrificing happiness. But Rachel and her mom showing that them having each other was enough to make them happy and their relationship IS something that will last for them in the long run, just proves Eleanor wrong in so many ways

Even showing Eleanor what she’s truly giving up. That relationship with her son that she will never truly have

[Kennclarete]

Can we also talk about game theory here? She is also an Economics professor.

[britg]

The mom forgot that her son's girlfriend is a professor

[alexia-mariechan]

basically this is a brief explanation: each player has a deck and you can discard a piece into the middle from your deck and then someone else can take it from the middle so u can win. Rachel had a winning deck, but she handed the piece over into the middle then to Eleanor so Eleanor won. She couldn’t have won without Rachel ie she couldn’t have nick back without Rachel’s help
Hope this makes sense lol

[juliaaz]

I love how Rachel proves Eleanor wrong. she says “all Americans (Rachel) think about is themselves” but Rachel putting Nick’s family first and making that decision for him by turning his proposal down is the most selfless act

[aldantimj]

I just love Nick so much.. So I just wanted you to know that one day, when he marries another lucky girl who is enough for you, and you're playing with your grandkids while the Tan Hua's are blooming and the birds are chirping.. that it was because of me.

A poor, raised by a single mother, low class, immigrant nobody.

[asaimegumi]

This scene makes me cry every single time because it is a reminder that my mom is always going to stand by me.

[Jessi-]

The symbolism of this scene is so cultural that it flew over most non-Chinese viewers heads...

[MassDynamic]

"my mama don't like you and she likes everyone" XD

[chrisparkes]

Michelle Yeoh is one of cinemas very best actors. I don’t think there is anything she cannot do.

[kit]

The stare down between Eleanor and Rachel’s mom is so powerful. Eleanor’s stare says “you must be so proud to have raised such an honorable woman” and Rachel’s mom’s stare says “can’t say the same about your mother”