05-11-2022, 09:59 PM
An early film codirected by Justin Lin and the debut performance of John Cho. It’s somewhat of a cult favorite, considered the start of the generasian movement. It’s one of those films that I had to have seen but hadn’t until now. It was pioneering when it released because the cast is mostly Asian, which was rare for Hollywood… still is. There are some fine Asianamerican moments and I would’ve been so delighted with the almost all Asian cast back in the late 90s. I was watching a lot of Hong Kong movies that year which skewed my take on representation.
It’s rough, low budget like a student film. Lighting is bad - lots of over exposed shots. The sound is noisy - always street sounds and sirens in the background it perhaps this was intentional.
The acting is amateur although Cho is decent - like a diamond in the rough. He’s a subsidiary gay character, not the lead but significant. The lead actress Jeanne Chin is good but her performance didn’t grab me until the big Mcguffin (which totally caught me by surprise even though it was obvious from the start). The lead actor Radmar Jao isn’t that good but his storyline is charming. It’s fundamentally several intertwined story arcs with Jao and Chin’s tales being the most central.
The stories didn’t engage me until a little after the halfway point when several arcs came together and revealed themselves in a then novel way. In the end, it all comes together nicely.
I could see some of the nascent style of Lin’s, that focus on fine details of light and shadow, along with some of the ways that his camera moved.
Overall enjoyable for me. Glad to have seen it. Not sure the rest of youse would relate - so not D00M recommended.
It’s rough, low budget like a student film. Lighting is bad - lots of over exposed shots. The sound is noisy - always street sounds and sirens in the background it perhaps this was intentional.
The acting is amateur although Cho is decent - like a diamond in the rough. He’s a subsidiary gay character, not the lead but significant. The lead actress Jeanne Chin is good but her performance didn’t grab me until the big Mcguffin (which totally caught me by surprise even though it was obvious from the start). The lead actor Radmar Jao isn’t that good but his storyline is charming. It’s fundamentally several intertwined story arcs with Jao and Chin’s tales being the most central.
The stories didn’t engage me until a little after the halfway point when several arcs came together and revealed themselves in a then novel way. In the end, it all comes together nicely.
I could see some of the nascent style of Lin’s, that focus on fine details of light and shadow, along with some of the ways that his camera moved.
Overall enjoyable for me. Glad to have seen it. Not sure the rest of youse would relate - so not D00M recommended.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse