2000

June 19, 2004
DVD
USA
English / Tagalog
88 minutes

One Night Can Change A Lifetime -- THE DEBUT.

Perhaps over-heralded as the first mainstream Filipino-American film. The acting and story are nothing special. It's the little touches that hit home and made me laugh in recognition of my Filipino In-Laws. The story revolves around a high school graduate who is headed not to medical school like his father wants (or insists), but to art school where his heart lies. He has mostly white and latin friends, is considered a "coconut" by his contemporaries. His sister is having sort of a debutante ball and birthday party, but he would rather be at a white kid's house party.

There's a hot love interest that causes him to see his culture in a different way.
There are pseudo-gangbangers with tricked out Civics.
There is a brutal pick-up basketball game.
There is a drunk white girl who actually calls our hero a "chink", even though they both attend high school in Orange County. I found this impossible to believe. His response: "I'm not Chinese".
There is the inevitable line dancing at the party.
There is the stern grandfather, in town for the party.
There is a "you got served" dance-off.
There is mid-sentence language switching.
There is the paranoid guy (sort of a Filipino Spike Lee Furious Styles type).
There is a white husband who tries to explain that we say "asian" not "oriental".
There is a guy who after all this time living in So Cal, still mixes up his "Ps" and "Fs". "It wouldn't be a pair pight."
There are kitchens full of "aunties", which is something with which I'm quite familiar.

And there is food. Holy cow is there food.

But if these characters were white, there would be no film.

If you are Filipino or know Filipinos, you should see this film simply to support the idea of making another, better, film about the experience of not exactly belonging in either American or Filipino culture.

A funny DVD extra is the student film of the writer which is a mockumentary about a Filipino gang. At the park, while playing Mai Jong, one doo-ragged guy slaps down a tile yelling "Domino, Motherfucker!" in true Ice Cube style. "You've got the wrong game, bro" says another player.

*** Ebert
** Guthmann