Asian Heritage Month-CFACI | Virtual Museum of Asian Canadian Cultural Heritage (VMACCH)


Asian Film: Drama

Below is a listing of drama films

Chinese Chocolate (1996)
90 min. Drama, Colour
Language(s):English
Director/Filmmaker:Yan Cui and Qi Chang (Canada)
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Setting:Canada
Summary:Searching for love abroad, two very different Chinese women, a dancer and a doctor, follow their dreams and journey west to Canada. (IMDB)

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Freshmen (1998)
130 min. Drama, Colour
Language(s):English
Director/Filmmaker:Tom Huang (United States)
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Summary:The award-winning Freshmen follows the lives of four incoming freshmen from different backgrounds and different journeys: San Ling, a Chinese-American who is obsessed with pop-icon Billy Joel and loathes his Chinese side; Tonisha Watkins, an inner-city prodigy who struggles between being a pre-med student and paying the family bills; Rick Kennedy, a conservative East Coast transplant who wrestles with multi-cultural university life and dealing with a career choice that he doesn’t want anymore; and Judy Oz, a free-spirited party girl who takes on the college social scene until it spirals out of her control. We follow the four as they meet and interact in a history discussion class as well as watching their stories as they continue, with and without each other, outside the classroom. (Tom Huang)

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Hundred Percent (1998)
102 min. Drama, Colour
Language(s):English
Director/Filmmaker:Eric Koyanagi (United States)
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Setting:United States
Summary:Three Asian men live in Los Angeles. Isaac is a romantic coffee shop worker, who waits for the woman of his dreams, and loses his balance after meeting a femme fatale called Thaise. Slim, a Rastafarian who is constantly smoking pot, is trying to elude a local mobster. Troy is an actor who has to choose between his career and his girlfriend. (IMDB)

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Love Story (1997)
20 min. Drama, Black & White
Language(s):English
Director/Filmmaker:Ayana Osada (United States)
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Setting:United States
Summary:Boy meets girl. Girl meets boy. Boy meets boy. A love triangle set in New York City’s Chinatown. (Asian American Film Database)

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Motel Cactus (1997)
91 min. Drama, Colour
Language(s):Korean
Director/Filmmaker:Park Ki-Yong (Korea)
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Setting:Korea
Summary:‘Motel Cactus’ consists of four episodes, all of which take place in Room 407 of Motel Cactus, a love hotel in Seoul: (1) A girl celebrates her birthday with her boyfriend, because it is the only place she feels entirely secure with him. (2) A student has rented Room 407 for several hours to shoot a scene with a girl for his video film, a college project. (3) A salesman meets a woman in a bar. Both very drunk, they arrive in Room 407. Afterwards he is back in the room, alone. (4) He is soon joined by his old love from his college days. Both are vaguely hoping to rekindle their old relationship. (IMDB, Ralph Lange)

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Shopping for Fangs (1997)
18 min. Drama, Colour
Language(s):English
Director/Filmmaker:Quentin Lee and Justin Lin (Canada)
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Summary:A married woman, who has been receiving seductive phone calls from a lesbian, and a man, who believes he might be a werewolf, are about to find out who they deep down really are. (Reel Asian)

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Standard Deviation (1998)
87 min. Drama, Black & White
Language(s):English
Director/Filmmaker:Samuel K. Lee (Canada)
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Summary:‘Standard Deviation’ follows a maze of twists and turns created by five shady characters, all trying to outwit one another to gain the winning numbers for the next big city lottery draw. (Reel Asian)

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The Day a Pig Fell into the Well (1996)
115 min. Drama, Colour
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Director/Filmmaker:Hung Sang-soo (Korea)
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Summary:Tong-u, a plain married man in his thirties, visits Chônju (four-hour bus ride from Seoul) on a business trip. After endless incidents of waiting, his purpose continually frustrated, he has to spend the night in this strange place and has a disengaging encounter with a prostitute that leaves him with ‘consequences’ due to a ruptured condom. (IMDB)

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The Longest Summer (1998)
128 min. Drama, Colour
Language(s):Cantonese
Director/Filmmaker:Fruit Chan (China)
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Summary:It is July 1, 1997, and Hong Kong is bright in celebration. The United Kingdom handover of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China leaves Ga Yin, and his fellow soldiers, without work. This leads them to find employment and money in any way they can get it. Without much success, Ga Yin decides to join his brother Ga Suen in the triad gang world. (IMDB), Jason Gervais

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The Power of Kangwon Province (1998)
110 min. Drama, Colour
Language(s):Korean (English subtitles)
Director/Filmmaker:Hung Sang-soo (Korea)
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Summary:Filmed by one of Korea’s leading directors, Hong Sang-soo, Jisook joins two of her girlfriends for a holiday in Korea’s Kangwon Province. But in an eerie twist of fate, her former lover, Sangkwon, plans a getaway for the same destination, where tragedy brings them together once again. (IMDB)

The Virtual Museum of Asian Canadian Cultural Heritage (VMAACH) was made possible with the support of the Department of Canadian Heritage through the Canadian Culture Online Strategy.