Hainan ji fan (2004)

Director:

Kenneth Bi

Writer:

Kenneth Bi (writer)

Release Date:

20 January 2005 (China)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Fearing her son could be gay, a conservative mother takes in a French foreign exchange student, who ends up teaching the family a lot about life, acceptance, and love. |

Plot Keywords:

Chinese Restaurant | Cooking | Friendship Between Boys | Cycling | Au Pair

Awards:

3 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Sylvia Chang	...	Jen
Martin Yan	...	Kim Chui
Mélanie Laurent	...	Sabine
LePham Tan	...	Leo
Craig Toh	...	Harry
Alvin Chiang	...	Daniel
Maggie Q	...	Gigi
Ivy Ling Po	...	Grandma
Han Chin	...	Grandpa (as Ronald Bi)
Samuel Chong	...	Master of Ceremony
Steph Song	...	Jennifer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Garrett Hoo	...	Johnny
Andy Mok	...	Batman
Rick Tan	...	Gigi Manager
Allan Wu	...	Ronald

Also Known As:

Hainan Chicken Rice (Hong Kong: English title) (working title)
Rice Rhapsody (International: English title)

Runtime:

Hong Kong:106 min (DVD version)

Country:

Singapore | Hong Kong | Australia

Language:

English | Mandarin | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Taiwan:GP | Malaysia:18PL | Australia:PG | Singapore:M18 | Hong Kong:IIA

Filming Locations:

Singapore

Company:

Kenbiroli Films

Quotes:

Leo: Life first. Things second.

A chef, three gay sons, and a French foreign exchange student

Hainan ji fan (2004), shown in the U.S. with the title Rice Rhapsody, was written and directed by Kenneth Bi. It stars Sylvia Chang as Jen, the proprietor of a Chinese restaurant in Singapore.

Jen's professional life is going well, but she is depressed because her two older sons are gay, and she believes her youngest son may be gay as well. The script introduces an outside character--Sabine, played by Mélanie Laurent--who is a French foreign exchange student living with the family.

The plot is fairly predictable--the gay sons are very gay, the rival chef who wants to marry Jen is very persistent, and the exchange student is very sophisticated and very French. Unfortunately, the movie goes in several directions. When you read the promotional material, you expect Sabine's relationship to the family to be pivotal. Actually, her character sort of drifts in an out, making worldly and adorably French comments as she goes past. Without that plot anchor, the film more or less drifts aimlessly along to a Hollywood-style conclusion.

However, Singapore is--for me--an exotic and unknown location, and I enjoyed the fabulous views of the city. The cooking scenes were very well handled, and the acting was solid. Production values were high.

This film was shown as a 35mm print, which I think is the best way to see it. It will work on DVD, but not quite as well. It's not worth making a great effort to seek out the movie, but it's still worth seeing. (We saw it at the Rochester NY Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival.)