Lucy Liu’s New Film ‘Rosemead’ Confronts Mental Health Stigma

Rosemead, the new film starring and produced by Lucy Liu, is a dramatic turn for the actress that’s getting some serious attention for its dialogue about a topic often shrouded in silence: mental health stigma in immigrant families.

In the film, set in the Chinese American community of Rosemead in the San Gabriel Valley, Liu portrays Irene, a mother dealing with both her own terminal illness and her teenage son Joe's diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Liu opened up about the heart of the movie in an interview on NPR’s Morning Edition with A Martínez. She explained that in many immigrant cultures, there's a tradition of bottling things up, a protective measure that sadly often means "we don't necessarily unpack our feelings in real time." She describes this silence as "very heavy," and Rosemead shows just how crushing that weight can be.

Based on a heartbreaking true story (originally documented in an investigative Los Angeles Times piece), the film follows Irene as she desperately tries to secure a future for Joe. The community stigma, combined with her fear of his worsening symptoms and the American health system's complexities, drives her to take tragic, irreversible actions. Liu highlighted the immense pressure her character faces, saying, "It's a very big cultural shift to ask her to do, especially when she's doing it on her own and trying to run a business and then, at the same time, grieve."

Liu hopes Rosemead acts as a catalyst for change. She pointed out that in many communities, "People seem to highlight excellence, not so much anything else, and that's what people brag about." She argues that there needs to be "a lot more discussion about just everything. There should be more visibility about just living and surviving, and not so much just excelling only."

To hear more about the film directly from Lucy Liu and the full story behind the production, check out find the NPR interview below.

Photo Courtesy Vertical