DOUBLE HAPPINESS
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1995 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 8.8
Shown at the Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema Running Length: 1:40 MPAA Classification: Not Rated (Mature themes, sexual situations, profanity)
Cast: Sandra Oh, Alannah Ong, Stephen Chang, Frances You, Johnny Mah Director: Mina Shum Producers: Steve Hegyes and Rose Lam Waddell Screenplay: Mina Shum Cinematography: Peter Wunstorf Music: Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet U.S. Distributor: Fine Line Features In English and Cantonese with subtitles
With a style and tone reminiscent of Ang Lee's two most recent films (THE WEDDING BANQUET and EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN), Mina Shum's debut feature, DOUBLE HAPPINESS, chronicles the tribulations of one Chinese- Canadian young woman as she struggles to develop her own identity in a family where her parents are bound by traditions she views as outdated and short-sighted.
The comic tone of DOUBLE HAPPINESS has a unique flavor. Shum is clearly interested in making her points through laughter rather than tears. The film opens by introducing us to the protagonist, an unmarried twenty-ish woman named Jade, as she delivers a short monologue about what it was like being raised in her family. "I grew up wondering why we couldn't be the Brady Bunch," she confides, later adding that the Bradys never needed subtitles. During the course of the film, Jade isn't the only one who speaks directly to the camera. Among others, her grandmother, father, and a fen shwei master (a sort of soothsayer) are all given similar opportunities.
Jade, as played by actress Sandra Oh, is a wonderful character: likable, bubbly, optimistic, funny, and -- most important of all -- believable. She's the kind of person worth building a movie around, and that's exactly what has happened here. There are several subplots going on, but this is ultimately Jade's story. It tells of her growing dissatisfaction with her parents' restrictive rules, her desire to date non-Chinese men, her attempts to break into acting (a profession scorned by her parents), and her reluctance to hurt a mother and father she loves dearly. In the end, these wants become incompatible.
Like many of the best comedies, this one is funny because it deals with the realities of life and the human condition -- circumstances and situations that everyone can relate to, regardless of ethnic heritage. DOUBLE HAPPINESS is often as insightful as the most serious motion pictures, only it chooses a lighter tone to impart its message. There are moments of silliness here, as well, but they're not so extreme or out-of-place that they confuse the movie's primary itent.
What Mina Shum has achieved here is impressive for a first-time film maker. DOUBLE HAPPINESS has the look and feel of a seasoned director's work. It uses techniques rarely embraced by novices (such as unusual camera angles to advance the narrative), and the script is filmed with a delicacy of touch that makes the humor all the more effective. This is truly a wonderful motion picture, and an unexpected find.
- James Berardinelli (jberardinell@delphi.com)
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