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December 24, 2005
Double Happiness
I missed the first two minutes of the film because I was figuring out what to watch while making breakfast. It took me awhile to start cooking because the movie is just fascinating. And since it is in English and Cantonese, it's a little difficult to turn away from the screen.
Perhaps because I missed those first two minutes, I didn't realize it is set in Vancouver. In a pleasant twist of fate, I've been wondering recently what else Sandra Oh has been in besides Sideways, Under the Tuscan Sun, and Grey's Anatomy. Turns out, this is one of her first works, from 1994.
I enjoyed the slice of life look at a Chinese-Canadian family, dealing with the tensions between traditional parents and Westernized children. It reminded me of this chick-lit book I read about a Korean woman and her family, In Full Bloom, by Caroline Hwang. And I kept thinking during the movie that I thought Sandra Oh was Korean, not Chinese. (Turns out she is Korean and there's this little thing called acting which allows an actor to sound believable even when speaking a foreign language.)
There's nothing particularly deep about the film, although it does perceptively portray the difficulty of being an Asian woman trying to succeed as an actress in North America. Its themes are universal - we all try to please our parents and find our own happiness, and sometimes we're able to maintain double happiness, and sometimes we can't.
I enjoyed the movie and hope more people can catch it on HBO soon (or rent it). In case you're wondering, I am trying to fulfill the Jewish stereotype of watching tons of movies during my Christmas break. I'm off work till Tuesday, January 3. Go me.
More info:
IMDB page
Roger Ebert's plot summary
Posted by cj at December 24, 2005 02:29 PM