Bu jian bu san

I'm definitely not what you might call a flag-waving, patriotic American, but this movie managed to offend me on numerous occasions with its exaggerated portrayals of American cruelty and depravity. Nearly every American--with the exception of the LA police (ha!)--is a criminal, pervert, or jerk, and the Chinese main characters are more or less the only sane ones. First, the innocent Beijing girl (Fan Xu) gets robbed and tied to a chair by thugs. Later, she and her friend enter a restaurant which happens to be in the process of being burgled. The mean American criminals in the restaurant single out our Chinese male protagonist (You Ge) because he doesn't have money in his wallet and they pistol whip him. And America isn't just portrayed as full of thugs, but perverts, too. While in the police station, You Ge is pinched on the ass by--horror of horrors!--a transvestite.

I have no problem with the main premise of the movie--namely, that immigration to America is difficult and the picture-perfect society foisted on the world by Hollywood is far from reality. But that doesn't mean that the US is solely made up of criminals and good people are extinct. I have great respect for Chinese culture, but this movie mostly serves to show the "bad side" of America, while holding China up as a symbol of harmony. Don't even get me started on the cheesy love story.

Or maybe I'm wrong, and I just need to spend more time in LA.

This is a nice movie but there are a lot of racial undertones in it. Every scene with an "American" depicts them as stupid or violent. It's true that many American films have given little respect to Asian people. It's true that the roles of Asian actors in American films are usually limited to "Chinese delivery boy" and "nerd".

But Bu Jian Bu San seems to serve as a payback for all the injustice done to Asians in American film. It's interesting how the filmmakers pull it off. It's carried out in a way that's culturally Asian; indirect. The subliminal American stereotypes are intricately woven into the story line. One scene, you see the van pull away while the camera fixes its focus on an overweight white woman on a payphone. Another scene, the main characters are talking about how cops in America will shoot you and the girl replies in fear "why?!".

Other than all of this crap, the story is nice.

I've seen this movie at the new year's day of 1999. Actually it is a quite good funny and happy movie, but of course with lots of shortage. I can't see any reason why the two people begin to love each other, seems only for lonely? Everything is just surface, no deep idea in it. But the screenplay is good, so I give it 7.

This isn't your typical romance movie - it deals with the ups and downs of a romance between two Chinese expatriates living in the USA. Unlike the typical Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan movie, the viewer is left guessing as to whether or not the two lovers will get together. A very touching ending.

Bu jian bu san: 7.5/10

The English title for this Chinese movie is "Be There or Be Square". It covers the lives of two Chinese immigants to the USA, how they struggle to fit in the new culture, with more passive violence and the like. The two get separated several times, and it's hard to tell if they'll ever become romantically involved. The movie goes to and from being a comedy, with the man responsible for most comedic parts, but it stays true to the romance theme. This is a simple movie, but the acting of both leads is tremendous and this has the typically patient build of Asian romances, and is in no way predictable. Good stuff.