By APA Staff

The 26th annual San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival isn't over yet, but here's our report on some of the Asian American titles screened thus far.

Planet B-Boy
dir: Benson Lee

Maybe it was the never-before-seen "power moves" and choreography that caused people to scream expletives of amazement at the screen. Perhaps it was the explosive layering of aesthetic graffiti art to detail the global movement of hip hop's resurrected 70s b-boy culture. Or was it the nonstop phat beats composed by Seriously's Woody Pak? In Planet B-Boy, noted Korean American director and producer Benson Lee intimately documents the dynamic and somewhat misunderstood hip-hop subculture of break dancing through the eyes of four international teams vying for recognition as the "Best in the World." The annual Battle of the Year competition has contestants quitting jobs and leaving families in pursuit of the break dancer's dream of a lifetime. Lee's documentary respectfully pays tribute to b-boy history, tracing its mixture of gymnastics, kung fu, and iconic James Brown moves, narrated by legendary b-boy Ken Swift. The documentary captures the personal side of b-boy culture to expose the frustrations for these dancers and their families -- a single parent reveals his disappointment as the camera pans to the b-boy dancing son sitting next to him. To capture these stories, the filmmakers go global, from Osaka's sidewalks, to the iconic backdrop of the Eiffel Tower, to the tourist crowds in Vegas, to the 38th Parallel demarcation line dividing North and South Korea. The creative showcase of human flexibility and dexterity with moves like the "human jump rope," "windmills," and dizzy "head spinning" is non-stop, but more inspiring is the powerful message the documentary delivers: b-boy culture has manifested into a lifestyle that is able to bridge differences as internationally diverse as ethnicity, culture, religion, and geography. So where's the respect?  --LiAnn Ishizuka

Amal
dir: Richie Mehta

Amal began as a short story and was transformed into a short film in 2004 by first-time director Richie Mehta. Now, he's decided to turn it into a 101-min. narrative feature. Amal (Rupinder Nagra) is a humble rickshaw driver who has a run-in with a belligerent old man (Naseeruddin Shah), who has given up and is lashing out at the world around him. Entirely jaded by the disingenuous cheats in his life, the old man, who turns out to be a dying millionaire, bestows his fortune on this stranger who kindly gave him cough drops when he was sick. Filmed in New Dehli, Amal follows two sets of characters from two very different worlds. Half the film follows this old millionaire's family members, who are furiously trying to keep their lawyer (Seema Biswas) from finding this rickshaw driver so they can keep their hands on their inheritance. The other half follows Amal, unaware of the money that is about to be awarded him, who has befriended a feisty young girl who can't afford a surgery that could save her life. Amal often feels like two different films: one shiny and glossy, the characters speaking in English, reminiscent of a heist film where you're not sure who you can trust; and then there's the other half, subtitled in Hindi, outdoors in natural lighting, with characters that are purely enriched by their day-to-day duties and interactions. It's a story about class, and while there is a deliberate fairy-tale contrast between the corrupt rich and the blissful poor, there's an underlying layer of Amal that hints at the inherent complications that arise when the gap between the privileged and the working class continues to be so wide. What are the social implications of a fairy tale ending? --Ada Tseng

Killing of a Chinese Cookie
dir: Derek Shimoda

In 2005, Derek Shimoda heard a news story that 110 Powerball players had correctly picked five out of the six possible numbers. It turns out that all the winners had gotten their numbers from the same culprit: a fortune cookie. The story, along with a chance conversation with his mother about the cookie's true origins, encouraged Shimoda to research and examines the conflicting origins of the Chinese fortune cookie. Did the fortune cook originate with the LA-based Hong Kong Needle Co in 1918? Or was it the invention of San Francisco baker Makoto Hagiwara in 1909? The search for the answer led Shimoda to interview subjects in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Japan. After many light hearted interviews and engaging anecdotes, Shimoda crafts a documentary treat that's every bit as entertaining as informative. When Shimoda conclusively proves the true origins of the fortune cookie in the first third of the documentary, the rest of his project examines how the fortune cookie has permeated itself into American culture. While researching the fortune cookie on the internet, Shimoda came across many stories and people linked to the treat. He humorously glances into the unique relationship between fortune cookie entrepreneur Steven Yang and his daughter Lisa. He also uncovers a group of visually impaired teenagers that have made a fortune writing their own Braille fortunes. The ubiquitous presence of fortune cookies in film, television, comics, and even space is touched upon with a great deal humor and insight. The film deviates at times with silly editing and irrelevant moments, such as erotic artist Sharon Leong's off topic ramblings that Shimoda hilariously opted to keep in. Any concerns that the documentary would get stale is quickly dismissed, as Shimoda has whipped up the winning ingredients for cooking up an engaging documentary that's surprisingly more insightful than your average fortune cookie.  --William Hong

Santa Mesa
dir: Ron Morales

Ron Morales' directorial debut Santa Mesa poignantly expresses the pain associated with loss and highlights the confusion of Filipino American ethnic identity set in the real-life Philippines railroad squatter slum of Santa Mesa. The 12 year-old Hector (Jacob Kiron Shalov) is faced with harrowing news: his mother is dead and he must now live with his Taglog-speaking grandmother (Angie Ferro) whom he has never met, in a country as foreign as the language. Lost in culture and language, Hector befriends a retired photographer Jose (Jaime Tirelli), who mentors Hector on focusing his camera lens on a new perspective in life. What enfolds is Jose's own forgotten past that comes to haunt him in the candid images from the portfolio Hector produces for his mentor. Director Morales' artistic eye for depth and color is apparent from his background as a photography graduate. The multifaceted narratives of a Filipino American identity give the story depth, while Morales' depictions of Santa Mesa points not just to poverty, but to hope.  --LiAnn Ishizuka

Kissing Cousins
dir: Amyn Kaderali

With apologies to Jaleel White, when Urkel showed up in the trailer for Kissing Cousins, I thought: this can't be a good sign. Add to that a main character who works as "a relationship termination specialist" and develops a crush on his hot cousin, and it seemed like gimmick after gimmick after gimmick. But then I remembered that these types of comedies often rely on gimmicks (overgrown boys crashing weddings, a 40-year-old virgin), and that the filmmaker's challenge is to take over-the-top situations and make the personal stories believable. With that in mind, Amyn Kaderali's Kissing Cousins is a charming and impressively well-executed film. Samrat Chakrabarti plays the leading man Amir, for whom breaking strangers' hearts is just a business service that he provides: nothing more, nothing less. Amir himself has been unreceptive to love for a while, not in a brooding, emotionally-unstable way, but in a practical, smartly-defensive way. Until, that is, a family Thanksgiving gathering introduces him to an attractive guest (Rebecca Hazelwood as Zara), who unfortunately turns out to be his long-lost cousin. It's a "relatively romantic comedy," as the tagline says, and despite the general cringeworthiness, it's this taboo that sets off an entertaining tug-of-war between the film and the audience. No, they're not really falling for each other. They're just being childish and playful. Right? The chemistry between Amir and Zara is just cute enough (and vague enough) to make it work. A strong supporting cast includes Amir's Caucasian new age friends obsessed with chakras and an orchestra of strong-willed family, the father played by Gary Bednob (Mooj from 40 Year Old Virgin). It's a mischievous film, and although it's hard to tie a story like this up in a little bow at the end, Kissing Cousins had enough laughs and took enough risks to earn its respect.  --Ada Tseng

SFIAAFF 2008: capsule reviews, Asian films
Ni Hao, Kai Lan!
PANEL Crossing Over: Asian Americans and Asia

Published: Friday, March 21, 2008