A sweet but slight portrait of Chinese-Canadian community outside Vancouver, Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity benefits from two wonderful leads Sandra Oh and Valerie Tian but comes out a bit short everywhere else. Oh (who is really Korean-Canadian, but who's counting) plays the harried single mother of Mindy (Tian), an adorably geeky twelve year-old. Mindy is desperate to fix her mom up with an eligible bachelor (Russell Yuen) who works with her at a Chinese restaurant, and turns to Chinese traditional medicine and Taoist magic. In the meantime, other members of the community struggle with family strife, economic hardship, and conflicting values. Only the romantic mother-daughter story, and a story about a son who turns to religion rather than working in the family butcher shop, are really interesting. The rest is kind of a muddle interesting in its way, but failing to contribute to the plot.
Because of Sandra Oh's recent high-profile appearances in Sideways and Grey's Anatomy this might get improved distribution on DVD. I got it through the filmmovement.com series.
Because of Sandra Oh's recent high-profile appearances in Sideways and Grey's Anatomy this might get improved distribution on DVD. I got it through the filmmovement.com series.