I am extremely happy that Iris Chang's story will be told in a Canadian production. Unlike their neighbors to the south, filmmakers in Canada aren't required to either: a) have a car chase, explosion or gun battle every six minutes or b) romanticize the subject of the film so she is unrecognizable or c) follow a predetermined and rigorously enforced story "arc" or d) explain things simply enough so that twelve year old brain-dead glue sniffers won't have to think too much or e) all of the above.
I first encountered the Korean/Canadian actress Sandra Oh in Double Happiness, a Canadian film that I thought was delightful.
It was a lovely introduction to Canadian movies--as opposed to U.S. films shot in Toronto or Vancouver.
Given a choice regarding a biopic of Iris Chang among a film made in Canada, no film at all or a film made in Hollywood, that would be my order of preference.
While I can bemoan the
overall state of Canadian cinema, we do produce some gems up here, even if they are about people who aren't necessarily Canadian, like Chang. DOUBLE HAPPINESS, though, was a great film, and if you liked it, you might try and hunt down LONG LIFE, HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY (2002), and even better film from the same director and also starring Sandra Oh, as well as some of the best Chinese-Canadian actors we have. It's a wonderfully sensitive, modestlly witty take on the clash of old-world traditions and new world progress as seen from the vantage point of a 12-year-old Canadian-born Chinese girl who's probably more traditional than many of the immigrant grown-ups around her. It really is the kind of ethnicly-tinted but culturally-specific (to Canada, that is) film that American producers have yet to make with any sincerity outside of, say, THE JOY LUCK CLUB, probably because it has no box office "grab"—car chases, two-dimensional ethnic stereotypes, three-act structure, "star" performances, unrealistic toilet humour, etc., essentially the cliches you mention in your post. I'm always amazed that director Mina Shum hasn't had a stronger career in features here or abroad (she largely works in TV nowadays) but that's Canada for you!
http://www.filmmovement.com/filmcatalog ... ndiseID=14
While I have to admit to liking my fair share of American cinema for precisely the cliches you point out, Ed, as I get older and my tastes broaden (oh, the expense!), I realize that the lack of those things (sometimes for better, sometimes for worse) really is what sets a lot of Canadian cinema apart. Canadian movies should be an actor's dream, since they're not burdened with the need for "action" to spice things up, but I guess we just don't have enough of an industry to keep everyone employed on a regular basis. For it all, though, our movies are often regarded the same way we are: rather nice and rather toothless.
But if you dig deep enough, and actually avoid too much of the arthouse snoozers that we seem to be known for up here, there's much to enjoy.
Ironically, one of the best Canadian films of recent vintage is a French-Canadian film from last year called BON COP, BAD COP, which took a total Hollywood cliche—the love-hate buddy cop comedy—gave it a uniquely Canadian twist (one cop's from Quebec, the other from Ontario, the dead body that sets off the action is found atop the sign noting the provincial border!), then gave the whole package a hollywood gloss—gunfights, explosions, car chases, the whole lot! Damned thing became the biggest hit this country's ever seen (although in American dollars, it's $12 million take may seem pretty paltry, remember we've got one-TENTH the population of the states). So I guess we've discovered some truth in the old adage "If you can't beat 'em, rip 'em off!"
http://www.cinoche.com/trailers/1939/1988
Perhaps now that it's out on DVD it might be worth a rental.
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