Vicious Rants of an Angry Yellow Man

Recently my wife and I attended the San Diego Asian Film Festival. We took in 5 movies over a 2 day period. The films we saw, in the order we saw them were: " All About Dad", "The Real Shaolin", "Yang Yang", "Whatever It Takes", and "Shades of Ray". I will rate to a scale of up to 5 and comment on each one.

"All About Dad" is about a Vietnamese American family and is a familiar story of values of parents vs the dreams of children in an Asian immigrant family. For the most part it is a very funny movie. The audience laughed loudly throughout the movie. I like the movie a lot despite the fact the main character, the youngest son who just finished his first year in college, reminds my wife and I of our own youngest child. As usual the Dad is the bad guy. More about that later. I give this movie a 4.2 out of 5.

"The Real Shaolin" is an documentary about 4 people trying to master kung fu in one of the Shaolin schools in central China. The main characters were an American, a Frenchman, a Chinese fighter trying to make it in Sanda, a Chinese version of kickboxing, and a young orphan growing up in the temple trying to become a kung fu monk. It has a lot of funny scenes but also lots of heartbreaking events. I thought it was the best of the 5 movies I saw. I give it a 4.6.

"Yang Yang" is about a half Taiwanese, half French girl growing up in Taiwan with her mother, step father and half sister. She is a high school track star, coached by her step father. She falls in love with her half sister's boyfriend. The first half of the movie was decent as the tension of the love triangle builds. But ultimately the story went flat. It was the weakest of the five movies and I give it a 3.0.

"Whatever It Takes" is a story of a Chinese American business man, unfulfillled in his work, becomes a principal at a new South Bronx magnet high school. It shows him and some dedicated teachers trying to help minority students overcome odds to go to college. It is suppose to be a story of tough love but I find the main character bending over too much for the students. There was still some very poor discipline given that the students supposedly want to go there instead of their neighborhood school in order to better themselves. The main student the film followed was obviously smart but she flunk almost all of her classes because she never did her homework. Despite that she got into Dartmouth's summer program. There were some kids who did much better but were only mentioned in passing. I guessing showing someone who succeeded because he/she studied everyday was not as interesting as someone who worked very little but somehow got chosen by some ultra-liberal institution. I give this film a 3.7.

"Shades of Ray" is about a half Pakistani man who proposed to his white girlfriend but while he waited for her answer, falls in love with a half Pakistani woman his father had set up for him. This was supposed to be one the big film of the festival as it stars Zachary Levi, star of TV show "Chuck" and Brian George who played Babu in Seinfeld. It was very funny but I find it hard to believe that a Pakistani man who married a white woman would insist that his son marry a Pakistani woman. The same with the girl's father. Also while Levi was funny, he acts and sounds too much like Seinfeld. I never saw "Chuck" so I don't know how he usually acts. I like Seinfeld but I would not want him to play a romantic role. I give this film a 4.0.

Overall it was good to see many talented Asian actors, directors and producers show their stuff. It is very difficult for Asian actors to get roles in Hollywood, especially Asian males. Even in "Shades of Ray" both Levi and George are not South Asians. The director Jaffar Mahmoud was at the film festival and he explained that he interviewed every South Asian actor in LA to cast the main character. He just couldn't find the right person. I can accept his explanation that he had to find the best person for the role. But if a South Asian can't play the role of a South Asian, what can he possibly play? One of the actors in "All About Dad" say that there is no decent role for Asian males and that he is thankful he has an engineering degree from Michigan State.

Which brings up my final point. Why is it that the dad is always the bad guy in films of conflict within an Asian family? I am sure that there are dads who are prejudiced but I don't believe that if one is married to someone of another race that he would try everything he can to stop his son from doing the same. Why is it that when an Asian man tells his son that studying hard is more important than trying to make films as the dad in "All About Dad" did is old fashion. But when an Asian man tells his black students that in order to make it out of the slum they have to study hard, then he is a hero? The message is the same but if you deliver it to your own son, it makes you look bad. But if you deliver it to your minority students you look great. I am sure the actor that got his engineering degree is glad that he listened to his Asian dad!