Greg Watanabe Movies
- 2006
Writer-director Eric Byler adapted his ensemble comedy-drama Americanese from Shawn Wong's bestselling 1995 roman American Knees. The film, like the novel, dramatizes the seriocomic, day-to-day experiences of a number of Asian American immigrants in the City of Angels. At the story's center is milquetoast-dull, middle-aged college professor and divorcé Raymond Ding (Chris Tashima) - so ineffectual that he barely seems to have control over the events that befall him, and so emotionally distant in his relationship with live-in lover, the Japanese-American photojournalist Aurora (Allison Sie), that his inaccessibility destroys their union. Forced to move out of their house, Raymond instead rooms with his aging father, Wood (Sab Shimono), making periodic, unannounced visits back to Aurora's home when she is absent. While Aurora kindles her own romance with American Steve (Ben Shenkman), Raymond moves into his own apartment and takes up with Vietnamese-American Betty (Joan Chen) - a university associate plagued by deep-seated emotional and mental problems.
~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chris Tashima, Allison Sie, (more)
Asian-American playwright Philip Kan Gotanda made his directorial debut with this unusual crime drama. When two San Francisco police detectives find a very dead body in an abandoned car, a bit of digging reveals the man was minor-league criminal Harry Sado (Sab Shimono), who left behind his story in his own words -- on tape. Harry's troubles began when he discovered his partner, Mr. Jones (Philip Kan Gotanda), was ripping him off. Harry's logical response was to start ripping off his partner, which led him to hide out in San Francisco. There Harry tied to reunite with his children, which proved to be more trouble than it was worth, and met a mysterious woman who once lived in the apartment Harry had rented. Once Mr. Jones tracked Harry down, though, a confrontation between these two bad men was inevitable. Life Tastes Good was shown as part of the American Spectrum series at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sab Shimono, Julia Nickson, (more)
