Chan Is Missing

Wang. Director Wayne Wang; Producer Wayne Wang; Screenplay Wayne Wang, Isaac Cronin, Terrel Seltzer; Camera Michael Chin; Editor Wayne Wang; Music Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo

Marc Hayashi
Wood Moy
Laureen Chew
Judy Nihei
Peter Wang

Rather roughly lensed in b&w and 16mm tale traces the odyssey of two San Francisco Chinese taxi drivers as they search for an older partner who's vanished with their funds. As in Antonioni's L'Avventura, the object of their quest is never found, but suspense in this regard couldn't be further from the point.

Instead, Chan's relatives, local businessmen, politicos and citizens-at-large who are interviewed by the pair constitute a fascinating and often amusing gallery of portraits of contempo Chinese Americans.

Jo, the elder cabbie who serves as narrator, is like a solid working stiff of any race. His youthful cohort, Steve, seems to have fashioned his looks after Burt Reynolds, hiply speaks in a sort of black jive lingo and has little patience for the caution, moderation and discretion widely found in the older generations of Chinese immigrants.

Any filmmaker who can so thoroughly force the viewer to look at the world through his eyes possesses a talent to reckon with.

(B&W) Available on VHS. Extract of a review from 1982. Running time: 80 MIN.

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