Chan is Missing (USA, 1982) 80 min. B&W DIR-PROD-EDIT: Wayne Wang. SCR: Wayne Wang, Isaac Cronin. DOP: Michael Chin. CAST: Wood Moy, Marc Hayashi, Laureen Chew, Peter Wang. (New Yorker VHS)
The first Asian-American feature film to get shown out much, made cheaper than cheap but with a sense of mission that befits its success: Wang’s main theme is diversity within his community. The absconding middleman who floats Godot-like above the narrative occasions a series of investigative interrogations, in which actual locals drop little clues to Moy’s cabbie while holding forth disarmingly. The meat is stronger than the bones – Wang imposes just enough plot to motivate a vivid backstage tour of San Francisco’s Chinatown. The dialogue usually sounds semi-improvised, and when it doesn’t there can be problems – Moy is steadfast, but youthful sidekick Hayashi looks more comfortable winging it than throwing on-the-nose tantrums about the movie’s themes or petitioning the cinephile audience with Charlie Chan references. The Asian community felt at the time that it was more about than for them, and they were right. But at my remove it’s not just priceless but effortless, an easy, engrossing watch.
JC Culp
JC Culp is a collage filmmaker and the founder of Unpopular Arts, which provides media production, preservation and presentation.