Writer/director Simon Chung, in his first major motion picture, shows evidence of a solid talent and promise that there are many fine films lurking about in his head. He has produced a story that is pertinent on many levels, addressing the questions of family bonding after transplantation to another country, sexual coming of age of a young lad without support systems, miscegenation of cultures at polar opposites, and how to cope in a strange land without adequate mental preparation.
Eric (Timothy Lee - a very promising, subtle young actor) and his sister, mother and father move from Hong Kong to Toronto, Canada to seek the wealth of their dream. Eric was in with the wrong crowd in Hong Kong and doesn't want to move to Canada, but his parents force the move to aid his education AND to find some success in business that eluded them in Hong Kong. The family moves in with relatives (Eric's very hunky cousin becomes the object of his sexual fantasies despite the fact that the cousin has a girlfriend) and slowly the family works into the atmosphere of Toronto. But Eric's parents show signs of breakup, a fact that actually occurs. Eric finds an older man who supplies his needs sexually and emotionally, but the man has a lover who returns form the Philippines to destroy the possibility of permanence. The mother opens a restaurant forcing Eric to work there, the only positive aspect of the job being Eric's friendship/potential love with one of the busboys who he decides to help make the crossing into New York. On a very brave venture Eric succeeds in getting his current amour into the city only to be deserted by him. The film slows and stops without resolution of Eric's needs.
And it is this ending that makes the impression. Life, Chung seems to be saying, is not a progressive series of culminating events, but is rather a potpourri of isolated incidents from which we learn and move on. The cast is uniformly fine, but the standouts are Eric's very handsome cousin who appears to have a solid career ahead of him, and Timothy Lee who brings compassion and very subtle acting to a difficult role. He is another actor to watch. Though being marketed as a gay film (and indeed it does deal with gay issues), the audience should be much larger, especially as we are constantly dealing with immigration issues today: this is another look and stance for a large problem and one about which we understand too little. Grady Harp
