Customer Reviews

Double Happiness [VHS]

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Double Happiness is another movie about second-generation children seeking their own lives. This is a theme we have seen before, but this cast creates a thoughtful and enjoyable movie. This family has the predictable stern father and unquestioningly obedient mother, on the surface, but the film maker is able to get through the outside shell and show them as people with thier own fears and concerns.

Sandra Oh, as Jade Li, gives her character real personality as she struggles to break into the world of acting. Not only is she a Chinese woman breaking into a western film but there are problems with her even making it into a Chinese film. Her family are desperate for her to settle down and get married and become a responsible child, but Jade isn't ready yet. There are a few plot twists as arranged matches go off the rails in her parents quest for her. Jade makes her own decisions as to romance and this leads to problems.

This is not a story of love triumphing over adversity. It is a story of love and adversity living side by side. It does not have a romantic conclusion but ends on a thoughtful and wondering note. This is not The Brady Bunch with subtitles.

The casting for this film was excellent. The cast works well together and is quite believeable. The setting is also excellent. I was able to get more invovled with the film as I recognized some of the sites in the film from previous stays in Vancouver, BC. So for me, this was an advantage in appreciating the film.

Over all, this is a well made film that works well. It is a pleasure to watch. I recommend it to all.

This is the story of a brief period in the life of Jade Li, a Chinese-Canadian woman in her early 20's living at home in a suburban Vancouver neighborhood with her strictly traditional father, sympathetically traditional mother and spunky younger sister Pearl. Jade has been successfully maintaining a dual life -- dutiful and obedient daughter on one hand, who comes home, prepares her father's tea and massages his shoulders; and on the other a hip, modern young adult sneaking home through the bedroom window after a night on the town.

But there are cracks in the facade. Jade dreams of becoming an actress (not exactly 'respectable' to traditional Chinese), and is trying out for small roles, while her parents want her to study something 'sensible', like business, and eventually take over the shop where she works for a family friend. She begins to fall for a young white man, Mark, a part of her 'other life' -- while her parents keep fixing her up with suitable young Chinese men. A few seeming accidents begin to expose her separate, modern, pursuits.

Eventually, the tension between these two worlds becomes unbearable for Jade. When she reaches her snapping point, it would have been easy for the film to end with a saccharine, all-is-well resolution, everything neatly wrapped up. Instead, the ending is tough and realistic, less a resolution than a new step in the continuing evolution of her life. With bright promise, it's the beginning of the real story for her. She's out of her holding pattern and on a vector ... to who knows where. It leaves me wanting to see a sequel exploring what's happened to Jade and the entire cast of characters in the ensuing decade.

Sandra Oh is a standout as Jade Li, and Frances You (in seemingly her only role) makes an engaging Pearl. The other major roles are well cast also, with Callum Rennie a believably sweet and geeky Mark, Donald Fong (?) as Mr. Li's visiting childhood friend, and nicely nuanced performances by Stephen Chang and Alannah Ong as the parents.

Viewers interested in this film might also enjoy the Faye Myenne Ng's novel "Bone" and Claire Chow's study "Leaving Deep Water".
Two asides:
First, this film is often compared to 1993's "Joy Luck Club". This is really like trying to compare a string quartet with a symphony. They can both be equally good, just different. JLC, like a symphony, is grandiose and complex (with a budget to match). "Double Happiness" tells the story of a few weeks in the life of a young woman, her small family and a handful of friends. JLC tries to encompass the history of four families, over five generations and much of a century; it is also the story of China and Chinese immigration to America, not just one family. I find "Double Happiness" more universal in that it is less complex and overtly dramatic.

Second, a lot is said in film and literature about the difficulties of being an Asian-American daughter. It would be nice to see a film or two about the difficulties their gender bestows on Asian/Asian-American sons, in addition to the privileges; being "eldest brother" can be a fearsome and repressive responsibility, and when it comes to the dating game, young Asian males frequently feel left out, stereotyped as undesirable nerds, compared to their sisters who are seen as exotic 'prizes'.

I first saw this movie at the Seattle International Film Festival. Too bad you can't see it that way now. It's really beautifully crafted. You can see that everyone worked hard to make this more than just the conflict of modern & traditional, but the age old struggle of parent learning to let child go. Please see it.

In 12 years of renting videos, this is the only one I own. Amazing performances by the main cast. The definitive Sandra Oh role; she is a genius in this film. The mom and dad roles are acted with depth and substance. Brilliantly casted all-around. Unique soundtrack by Canadian "not surf band" Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet; also including Sonic Youth. I highly recommend this film!

Let me say first that I have never seen an episode of `Grey's Anatomy', but I am a fan of Oh's in the event that everything I've seen her in she's been funny and charming and undeniably talented. Even here, in this lackluster coming-of-age story she is entertaining and certainly attention stealing, but sadly, even Oh's undeniable charm cannot save this movie from the depths of mediocrity.

`Double Happiness' is a sweet if not entirely predictable story about a young Chinese woman named Jade living in America with her family. She is desperately trying to please her hard to please parents while staying true to her own dreams and aspirations. She wants to be an actress and while her parents allow her to entertain the idea momentarily, they are wholly unsupportive and they make this very plain and clear. They want her to marry a nice Chinese boy, and so they make it a point to set her up with someone they think suitable, no mater how incompatible he really is with Jade. Jade on the other hand, has met a nice Caucasian man and has fallen in love with him behind her parents back. She fears pursuing the relationship because of her parent's inevitable reaction, but she knows that in her heart this is the course she needs to take.

Like I said, it's sweet, but it's not anything we haven't seen before.

Sandra Oh is a delight here, and she tries hard to elevate the materiel, but the material winds up holding her back. In fact, there isn't a single bad performance in the bunch, but nothing stands out as great because the script is so bland.

I was stunned by the fact that the film, while only encompassing a mere eighty-seven minutes or so, feels like it's a three hour epic. The film just has no sense of flow to it, in my opinion. It drags its feet, taking much too long to make its point and filling space with uninteresting and mind-numbing sequences of events. I expected a brisker walk, but this felt like a one-hundred-mile dash.

In the end I have to say that I was not satisfied as I thought I would be with `Double Happiness' and have to give it a final grade of a low C. I see that I am in the minority, for a lot of people appear to really enjoy this film. I can see why, if they are fans of Sandra Oh, for she is charming, and some of the dialog is truthful and earnest. I just feel that in the end the big picture is lost in translation, and the film ultimately fails to be anything special or noteworthy at all. It promises the viewer an extra helping of happiness, but it winds up leaving us with less than a single serving.

"Double Happiness" is not an earthshattering, groundbreaking film--but damn, it's good. Especially the wonderful Sandra Oh (Christine on "Grey's Anatomy"), who is a delight. She doesn't play a hardnosed, sharp-tongued character here--like she does very well on TV--instead she delivers a warm, appealing performance as a young woman caught between her family's strict values and her longing to break free and enjoy life. Not that she's miserable living at home with Mom and Dad and Sis--they have fun together--but she wants to be an Oscar-winning actress, and her parents don't see this as a proper career. All the actors are outstanding--and there are many great scenes--especially when the song "MacArthur Park" is unexpectedly introduced and also when Sandra discovers the truth about her handsome date. If you like Sandra Oh, you'll enjoy this film.

If you are tired of the smart-ass, unfunny garbage perfomances by Hollywood's leading ladies Sandra Oh in 2x :) is a welcome relief.

Wonderful film and story! An off beat comedy. Great acting by Sandra Oh, delightful acting by the entire cast. Speaks to the heart, but it is not a mushy film. Thought provoking and insightful. Deals with the complications of moving out of the nest, the cultural and generational differences between east and west, and the old ways verses the new. Good film for older teens on up (some bad language and a sexual interlude, no direct nudity).

Sandra Oh (as Jade Li) is quite marvelous in this little 1994 Canadian movie. There's nothing overly original in it that we haven't seen in 1993's Joy Luck Club but then that's the movie biz, eh? Sit back and enjoy the performances and wonderful interactions between characters. The interaction between Jade Li and her younger sister Pearl Li (played by Frances You) are some of the better moments in this film. Frances You, as the young spunky kid sister, nearly steals every scenes from Oh, who has gone on to bigger and better things in Hollywood.

Unlike the Joy Luck Club, this movie doesn't tie up the ending with a smarmy ending. There is no ending, really, as life has no ending, except in death.

I thought this movie was great! It was a wonderful movie on a young Chinease woman trying to become an actress. this appeled to me very much. It is funny, romantic, and sad all in one. Buy this movie right away.