HUNDRED PERCENT (1997)
Rating: 3 stars (out of 4.0) ******************************** Key to rating system: 2.0 stars - Debatable 2.5 stars - Some people may like it 3.0 stars - I liked it 3.5 stars - I am biased in favor of the movie 4.0 stars - I felt the movie's impact personally or it stood out ********************************* A Movie Review by David Sunga
Directed by: Eric Koyanagi
Written by: Eric Koyanagi
Ingredients: Three Asian American guys, romance, danger
Starring: Garrett Wang, Tamlyn Tomita, Dustin Nguyen, Lindsay Price, Darion Basco, Keiko Agena
Synopsis/Opinion: As I write this first draft, I'm sitting in a small auditorium at the Art Institute Film Center in Chicago, scribbling my notes on a piece of newspaper. An event called the Third Annual Chicago Asian American Showcase is taking place. Right now actor Garrett Wang (from STAR TREK: VOYAGER) is on stage, as is director Eric Koyanagi, some producers, and the cinematographer. The men all seem to be cordial, laid back professionals. They're here to field questions on HUNDRED PERCENT, the new movie written and directed by Koyanagi which has just been shown. At this time HUNDRED PERCENT has not yet been widely released, but it has opened to enthusiastic responses at a Harvard test screening as well as here in Chicago.
I saw the movie. HUNDRED PERCENT is one of those slice-of-life movies, the kind that usually have names like MYSTIC PIZZA, the film about three gal waitresses in a pizza parlor in Connecticut, and a two-season slice of the girls' romance lives. HUNDRED PERCENT is a little like that, except it's three Asian American guys in Venice Beach, and not necessarily romance.
Actually HUNDRED PERCENT is three stories in one, an independent film done up as a PULP FICTION-like collage of interwoven mini-episodes. In the opening scene, a Star Trek debate in the middle of a dominoes game involving the three Southern California guys quickly turns into a flashback review of their recent experiences. Each man is a twenty-something Asian American. Isaac (Dustin Nguyen) is an average Joe who works behind the counter of a coffee bar. Isaac's story is a romance: he meets and falls in love with a mysterious sexy woman dressed in black (Tamlyn Tomita) who's on the run from a guy with a gun. Slim (Darion Basco) is a dreadlock-wearing wannabe rasta man who is supposed to take good care of a vicious gangster's favorite car, but is afraid of what might happen when he must face the gangster to tell him the car is missing. Troy (Garrett Wang) is an aspiring actor who finds that he doesn't agree with the racist caricatures he is forced to play. He must decide whether to kiss butt or give up his dream.
I felt a little peculiar after watching HUNDRED PERCENT, because I knew the movie had made a statement, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what statement had been made. The answer was both obvious and hidden at the same time, because I was looking for a statement made by the plot, but the statement was made by the movie itself.
Let me explain. In Hollywood, Asian American actors get short shrift. With few exceptions, there are really only three types of roles Asian Americans ever get: the nerdy studious geek, the kung fu man, or the jabbering guy with a funny, unintelligible accent. And any national 'racial' debate is always silent on Asian Americans: even Tiger Woods and Andrew Cunanan are not portrayed as Asian Americans. Let's face it: 70% of the roles offered to Asian Americans in 1998 are hackneyed stereotypes. So the odd thing about HUNDRED PERCENT is that it's chock full of Asian American actors and actresses who go about playing their roles as if it's entirely normal for them to go about playing their roles. I find this to be a very profound, even revolutionary message, as well as the reason why one of the mini-stories involves an Asian American actor making tough choices, and why the ending involves a fortune cookie message for the three Asian Americans.
Getting back to the film, the cinematography in HUNDRED PERCENT is interesting in that it's filmed wider than most normal films, giving the Venice Beach setting a quaint, yet larger than life feel. HUNDRED PERCENT also sports an all star cast. You may recognize Nguyen from 21 JUMPSTREET, Tomita from THE JOY LUCK CLUB, and Troy's girlfriend Cleveland (Lindsay Price) from THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL. Two of the plots have unexpected endings, and the romance has a typical ending, but Dustin Nguyen sparkles in his role as romantic lead.
Reviewed by David Sunga March 21, 1998
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