Come See the Paradise (1990)

The passionate romance between an Irish-American man and a Japanese-American woman is threatened when the Pearl Harbor attacks happen and the woman is forced into a prison camp because of her ethnicity.

Director:

Alan Parker

Writer:

Alan Parker

Stars:

Dennis Quaid, Tamlyn Tomita, Sab Shimono

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dennis Quaid	...	Jack McGurn
Tamlyn Tomita	...	Lily Yuriko Kawamura / McGann
Sab Shimono	...	Hiroshi Kawamura
Shizuko Hoshi	...	Mrs. Kawamura
Stan Egi	...	Charlie Kawamura
Ronald Yamamoto	...	Harry Kawamura
Akemi Nishino	...	Dulcie Kawamura
Naomi Nakano	...	Joyce Kawamura
Brady Tsurutani	...	Frankie Kawamura
Elizabeth Gilliam	...	Younger Mini McGann
Shyree Mezick	...	Middle Mini McGann
Caroline Junko King	...	Older Mini McGann
Pruitt Taylor Vince	...	Augie Farrell
Colm Meaney	...	Gerry McGurn
Becky Ann Baker	...	Marge McGurn

Storyline

Portraying one of the shadier details of American history, this is the story of Jack McGurn, who comes to Los Angeles in 1936. He gets a job at a movie theatre in Little Tokyo and falls in love with the boss's daughter, Lily Kawamura. When her father finds out, he is fired and forbidden ever to see her again. But together they escape to Seattle. When the war breaks out, the authorities decide that the Japanese immigrants must live in camps like war prisoners.

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Plot Keywords:

relocation | train | atomic bomb | racism | racial prejudice | 

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Taglines:

In 1942, over 100,000 Americans were interned in prison camps.....In America.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | War

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Japanese

Release Date:

January 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bienvenue au paradis

Filming Locations:

The Clinton Street Theater, Portland, Oregon, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$17,500,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$847,306

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

138 min 133 min (FMC Library Print)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was selected to screen in competition for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1990.

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Goofs

During the destroying Japanese businesses scene, one of the broken windows is made from safety glass.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Older Mini McGann: Why are we so early?
Lily Yuriko Kawamura: It's good to be early.
Older Mini McGann: Do you ever worry that you won't recognize him, Mama?
Lily Yuriko Kawamura: You recognize me, don't you?
Older Mini McGann: Well, he might have grown a beard or a moustache or something. And I was so little. I only think I remember him. Do you think he'll remember me?
Lily Yuriko Kawamura: Well, he has all your photographs and all the letters you wrote him, and he has all your school reports
Older Mini McGann: You sent him my school reports?
Lily Yuriko Kawamura: Of course I did. I wanted to let him know how well you were doing. Come on, ...
[...]

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Connections

Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Green Card/Almost an Angel/Hamlet/Come See the Paradise/Alice (1990)

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Soundtracks

I've Been Feeling Lethargic Lately
Written and Arranged by Masao Koga
Lyrics by Takahashi
Performed by Noriko Awaya

User Reviews

not bad melodrama, good performances, decent substance

Of all places, I remember seeing this film in an English class in senior year of High School (something to do with civil rights, not really to do with the quality of writing per-say), to give all the sides to the problems of equality in the American experience. Come See the Paradise does chronicle a crucial blunder during the second world war- the kind of lesson to be learned from it that does need to be learned in regards to the present- though I could imagine a better film being made at some point on the subject. This is the big chunk of it, anyway, the one that would get spoken of if passed along to someone as a one-line note. But there's also a romantic plot to it, relating the experience so that it's personal and not just an abstract form of a nightmarish reality.

Dennis Quaid and Tamlyn Tomita play the romantic interest of the picture, Quaid playing a regular Joe who comes to work at a movie theater in Little Tokyo, meets the boss's daughter played by Tomita, and soon they fall for each other quite deeply. But as it's forbidden by the girl's father, they still try and sneak away anyway to have their love. Then come the internment camps, the camps created as a homegrown quasi concentration camp for the Japanese, where in Lily is once again with her family, away from her great love. It isn't exactly the most sunny of entertainments, and Alan Parker's writing is nowhere near the level of finesse and maturity his direction has, but there could be a lot worse as far as bludgeoning-over-the-head movie-making. I can also see, from my recollection, that it is understandably one of the least seen of Parker's films.