Yu Ming Is Ainm Dom (2003) User Reviews

Brilliant!

[karenhenry-1 · 9/10 · 27 January 2005]

Ended up seeing "Yu Ming" when went to see "In America" and it made the trip to the cinema that night worthwhile. It was so much better than the main film and all I could talk about the next day. It makes you realise how defunct the Irish language really is, even though it's supposed to be our national language, but does so in a humorous and original way. The sequence where Yu Ming imitated Robert DeNiro in Irish had the whole cinema in stitches, and when he arrives here you really feel for him as nobody understands him after all his efforts at learning the language, especially when the barmen assume he's speaking in Chinese. On the whole I think this is one of the best shorts I have ever seen and know that next it's on TV I'll make an effort not to miss it.

Very simple and clever concept

[gjung01 · 9/10 · 2 August 2006]

"Yu Ming is Anim Dom" ("Yu Ming is my Name") is an extremely clever short film that speaks volumes with a very simple, straightforward narrative. The film follows young Yu Ming, a young Chinese man, who is bored with his life working in shop for his family. A dreamer, he randomly picks a spot on a spinning globe to move to and comes up with Ireland. Checking out a book in the library, he learns all he can about Ireland and sees that Gaelic is their official language. Yu Ming then sets out to teach himself the language. Upon moving to Dublin, Yu Ming finds that no one can understand him. Because of this he feels as though he is not speaking it correctly and does not understand that most of the people can only speak English and they mistakenly think he's speaking Chinese. Although comical, it is sad at the same time and shows an outsider more interested and knowledgeable in the Irish culture than the natives themselves. It shows a loss of cultural identity that may or may not be reversable after so many years. I have to say that the film inspired me to learn more about Gaelic as well: GJUNG is Anam Dom. : )

Delightful

[john-k-1 · 9/10 · 20 June 2006]

I had heard about this short film but only saw it for the first time on Sunday last. It is, I think, unrealistic in this respect: although most Irish people may not be able to speak Irish fluently I believe most would recognize the language, especially when enunciated as clearly as by the character in the film. I doubt many would mistake it for Chinese.

But that is a minor reservation. It is a delightful film. The main character beautifully expressed the bewilderment at discovering that the language he had learned was not spoken much in Ireland's capital. and I loved the ending. A little gem of a film!

Cutting Satire

[lynchboy2001 · 10/10 · 26 July 2004]

It's a sad fact that in modern Ireland, our own language is a virtual non-entity, kept alive by the government, with it's status as the nation's official language, and in pockets of the west of Ireland. This situation is satirized brilliantly with this film, about a young Chinese boy who, wishing to escape his humdrum life in China, decides to go to Ireland, so studies the Irish language in the mistaken belief that we speak it! When he gets over no-one understands him, thinking he's speaking Chinese. Unfortunately this would be a realistic conclusion. This is certainly a fantastic short & is so simple in it's storytelling that you could be forgiven for not noticing the subplot, that as a nation we must get a little of our culture back before our language dies completely. A must for short film fans.

great short

[georgiafyke · 19 February 2005]

I'm not really from Ireland; I'm from Jackson, Mississippi, USA, but I'm studying here for a year at the University of Limerick. I'm taking beginners Irish and we watched this short at the end of last semester. I almost cried to be honest. I don't have Irish by any means, and, realistically, I probably never will. I do, for whatever reason, really love the language and feel a real sense of loss because of its state in Ireland right. I think Yu Ming is Ainm Dom really highlights how tragic (I don't mean to be melodramatic, I really feel it is tragic) the loss of Irish is to Ireland and her people. Hats off to Daniel O'Hara for not being afraid to be bitterly honest.

Is grá liom Yu Ming!

[nospam78 · 10/10 · 27 September 2008]

My only complaint about this movie is that it is too short! It is a little gem, and you don't have to speak Irish to enjoy it. But if you are familiar with situation in Ireland, where the language is rapidly dying out and most people don't speak a word of it, even after spending years in school learning it - in fact many people have a violent antipathy toward it - the film will be all the richer for you.

Anyway, Daniel Wu's performance is comedy gold. I was in stitches when he did his impression of Robert De Niro speaking Irish. I also liked the perky but clueless Australian hostel attendant.

The basic premise of the movie is not as far-fetched as you might think. Some years ago I met a guy from a Caribbean island who now works as a chef in the Aran Islands and speaks fluent Irish. And with the booming Irish economy attracting people from all over the world, you can go into even the smallest village and are as likely to find yourself dealing with Ethiopians, Estonians and Ecuadorians (to mention just the E's) as with native-born Irish people.

Anyway, you can watch this movie for free on the web so if you are at all intrigued, do a google or youtube search and enjoy!

A very fun and clever satire on Ireland's policy towards the Irish language

[GusF · 9/10 · 31 August 2015]

This is an extremely enjoyable Irish short film, the title of which translates as "My name is Yu Ming." It stars Daniel Wu as the title character, a young Chinese man who is sick of his dead end job and decides to move to Ireland after spinning a globe and landing his finger on my native country. After discovering that Irish is the official language, he spends six months learning it. When he arrives in Dublin, however, he finds that no one can understand a word that he is saying and some even assume that he is speaking Mandarin! The misunderstanding is cleared up by a Gaeilgeoir (native speaker) bar patron named Paddy, played by the always wonderful Frank Kelly, who is astonished to find a Chinese person speaking his language fluently. Yu Ming eventually gets a job as a bartender in Connemara, one of the Gaeltacht regions where Irish is primarily spoken, and presumably lives happily ever after.

The film is a very fun and clever satire on the Republic of Ireland's policy towards the Irish language. Constitutionally speaking, Irish is the national and first language of the country but this has always had far more to do with nationalism with reality, frankly. In practice, it is very much the second language and a very, very distant second at that. According to the 2011 census, only 77,185 people out of 4.5 million spoke it on a daily business outside of the education system and less than half of the population can speak it at all. Speaking of the Constitution, the status of Irish means that where there is a contradiction between the English and Irish versions thereof, the Irish one prevails in spite of the fact that it was written in English and then translated into Irish, a rather bizarre scenario which, given my legal training, I find more than a little silly. Some foreign people think that we all speak Irish as a first language. When I was in Edinburgh, I was told by a Polish girl that I spoke very good English! I took it in the spirit in which it was meant. It's all Greek to me. As regards my own attitude towards Irish, my enthusiasm for it knows bounds. However, I have been able to make my peace with it as, by mutual consent, we have agreed to give each other a wide berth in the future, this short film notwithstanding.

Watched it in class

[brookedsjones · 10/10 · 12 March 2021]

My whole year had to watch it in Irish class and we realized that their is no point in learning Irish because it's a dead language. But you Ming is fit so we will consider learning it

Yu ming is Ireland's best short fim

[stephanprause · 10/10 · 12 December 2022]

Ok, I'm learning Irish because of Yu Ming, I guess. He has demonstrated to the Asian-Irish community that anyone, regardless of ethnicity, can learn Irish.

Many people have and will continue to disagree with my claim that Yu Ming is the greatest short film ever made, but I stand by Yu Ming. I have a tremendous fixation with a Chinese-Irish man who speaks Irish, which many of my friends and professors find extraordinarily unusual (AHEM!). However, I have learnt from him that you can achieve anything in life if you put the time and heart into anything you do.

For many years to come, Yu Ming will continue to serve as an inspiration for myself and my community.

Cute and worth a watch

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 30 January 2008]

This is an odd and enjoyable little short, though I think it probably would be enjoyed more by someone from Ireland, China or perhaps Scotland and Wales (where they speak their own particular version of the Gaelic in a few isolated regions). The "joke" was pretty cute, but for Americans like me and other nationalities, I doubt if it would have the same impact.

Yu Ming is an odd man living in China. He wants a change and randomly chooses a new place to live. His finger falls upon Ireland on the globe and so he spends the next six months learning the language--only to arrive there and find that practically no one speaks Gaelic any more. However, this isn't the end of the film and where it goes next you'll have to see.

Overall, it was well made, watchable and a quality production.

I cannot get over how stupid the protagonist is

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 15 March 2016]

Okay, it may be difficult if you are from China to get information on what language is spoken where exactly in Europe, but it isn't like he went to the Baltic countries or something where it may be confusing. If you learn a language for six months, which is actually pretty thorough preparation, of course, you inform yourself and make sure it is the right language you are learning. "Yu Ming Is Ainm Dom" is an Irish 13-minute short film from 2003 and it relies a lot on the audience finding the protagonist likable. That was not the case for me though as I found him pretty stupid with how foolish he was. That is also why I did not like the film as a whole and it's even worse as I am generally interested in films with an Irish background. And lets be honest, this mishap from our "hero" is also not enough material to carry a movie alone, no matter if 13 or 130 minutes. I do not recommend it. Writer and director Daniel O'Hara could have gone with a better title too.

fine work

[Kirpianuscus · 12 March 2020]

For many reasons, it seems to me a sort of piece of porcelaine. For story and for performance, for loneliness of You Ming, for the decision to escape from a suffocated circle and for the impact with a world who , teoretical, is more than familiar but so- so different by his expectations. The basic virtue - it seems an adaptation of one of Jonathan Swift texts.

Great

[mxfilipe · 9/10 · 27 May 2005]

I found this short movie to be a perfect example of how language genocide can be a success. Today's Irish people think English, while believing there minds a souls, that there stories can be told with no subtitles. It's the image of the English linguistic imperialism at its best. Pipes, Bushmills, Guiness and a lady with no hair on her head. There used to be more Ireland beyond the shamrock. When one believes that a Chinese speaking one's national language, is just speaking Chinese... meaning not even the sound of it is no longer vaguely familiar, how sad can this be. this movie is more than just a movie,it is a sad story told in a amazingly light way, or just an outstanding in memoriam.

Iontach (Brilliant)

[Ethan_O_Mordha · 9/10 · 15 December 2021]

This is a very clever film, and as an Irish speaker, I know how few people in Ireland would have understood him circa 2003. It is very much enjoyable, and is worth having a look at on YouTube. Highly recommended.

Utterly charming and cosmopolitan

[morrisonhimself · 10/10 · 4 October 2017]

When a friend in India sent me a link to this movie on YouTube, I watched it just out of courtesy -- and because it had an Irish connection.

After just a very few seconds, I was totally captivated!

The story is cute and plausible but how it is performed and presented make it thoroughly enjoyable.

It was filmed in Dublin, so naturally the acting is first rate. (OK, maybe I'm prejudiced, but I do find the Irish natural actors and just the best in the world -- and of course NOT because I'm descended from County Sligo. Absolutely not.)

In addition to the charming story, the acting, directing, photography, and editing are all first rate.

This is a short, less than 15 minutes, but everyone involved should be encouraged to bring us full-length movies. In fact, this "Yu Ming" itself could be enhanced and easily turned into a feature film.

"My Name Is Yu Ming" is available in an excellent print at YouTube and I highly recommend it.