Catfish in Black Bean Sauce

I was positively charmed by this little flick. I'm not gonna re-hash the plot or anything. I'm just gonna say that this was a nice pic and I really enjoyed it. The lousy reviews it's gotten in the mainstream press are really unwarranted.

I watched this movie last night on the Black Stars channel, after being attracted to it by the story summary about two Vietnamese people being raised by a black couple.

I really did not expect a lot from the movie and had planned to switch channels after the first few minutes. Let me just say that I ended up not switching the channels at all.

I think that the director/writer has the role of the domineering Vietnamese mother down pat.

I felt that his "serious" storyline, the conflict that the Vietnamese brother and sister felt between the black couple who raised them and their newly found mother who abandoned them was great.

I felt that his "comedic" storyline, the Vietnamese brother trying to act like a "brother" and his roomate dating a transgender male was silly.

Overall, I think that this is a must see, especially for people who are from a different culture. It is important to see that if you are raised by loving and caring people, it does not matter if they look different from you.

ps. If you can understand Vietnamese, the movie is a whole lot funnier than the Vietnamese "brother" or transgender jokes.

Catfish is a delightful independent film that allows its audience to experience both emotional extremes from laughter to tears. The story is about a childless African American couple (Harold and Delores Williams) who have adopted and successfully reared two Vietnamese children. The couple wonderfully played by Mary Alice and Paul Winfield bring their many years of rich believable acting experience to the screen. The son Dwayne played by writer/director Chi Moui Lo has fully assimilated in the African American culture with his adoptive parents and is dating the lovely Nina played by Sanaa Lathan. The daughter Mai played by Lauren Tom has not assimilated and is seeking to fulfill her inner emptiness by finding her Vietnamese mother. The story line begins with Dwayne comedically trying to find a means to ask the beautiful but less than romantic Nina to marry him. During a cookout at his parents Dwayne fumbles through a public marriage proposal to Nina that is followed by Mai's announcement that she has found their birth mother and is bringing her to America. The plot thickens, as Delores Williams must come to grips with her motherhood as she faces the possibility of losing Mai whom she has never been emotionally close to as well as her beloved Dwayne.

Each character of the movie is poignantly forced to reexamine their own identity as well as his / her heartstring relationships with others when the Vietnamese birth mother Thanh played by Kieu Chinh brings her overbearing opinionated personality to the apparently stable extended family. Thanh basically steps in on anybody to gain the control of the motherhood to her children that she has lost the past 20 years. She seeks to win the affections of Dwayne as well as break off his engagement to Nina because she feels she has lost him both affectionately and culturally, but she disrespects and rudely ignores the needy Mai whom she feels she has already won over.

Choi as director somewhat effectively uses flash backs to the past and imaginary images of the future to bring us the audience into what is going on in his head. A weird comedic subplot is somewhat developed between Dwayne and his roommate who is dating a transsexual male. This and all of the other conflicts are drawn together into one big catfight between Thanh and Delores. Each person must choose sides or loyalties during and following the fight. The most touching moment for me in the film was the reconciliation between Delores and Mai which is precipitated through their mutual love for Harold and his well being. (A tearjerker moment) Alls well that ends well, each character handles their conflict and comes to grips with what true love and family is all about. Overall I must say that the movie was worth the $5.50 I paid. I didn't get bored or go to sleep even though the audience consisted of me and one other person. We both commented at the end that it was a pretty good movie.

For the, Sanaa Lathan fans, we again have her playing the girlfriend, of the main character and she does get respectable screen time. Nina the character she plays in this film does not have much depth or real earth shattering dialogue. Nevertheless Sanaa works with what she has very well. You get the down home naturally beautiful Sanaa that looks good in jeans and tennis shoes or anything else she chooses to wear, to me it always looks respectful and appropriate for her body style. She is tasked to play a hard working, not so touchy feely romantic but committed girlfriend for the self-esteem lacking Dwayne. He loves her but can't seem to understand what such a beautiful woman could want with a short man such as himself. (The farce is I was wondering the same thing) His self-doubt and conflicts with his mother leads him to break off the engagement with Nina. The breakup occurs as Nina has tried to adjust her romantic style and be more attentive to Dwayne based on a sly Thanh prompted remark made by Mai. Maybe it's the feistiness that she plays so well that I was looking for. Sanaa seems to have a lot of energy and passion; it appears to me that she never really personally connected with this character although she does not flub the role. Sanaa's strong black woman roles in the Love and Basketball, Best Man and even Drive in which she is not allowed to shed tears over a man (especially in his presence) on screen although her heart is visibly in conflict is a different type from this character. This character gets to cry on screen, which Sanaa handles immaculately but I just did not feel that can of passion that she can open up so well during those scenes. As always I enjoyed watching Sanaa on the big screen and when I get a chance I will go back to catch what I missed the first time about Catfish in Black Bean Sauce. 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

DLF

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, although I didn't come in with high expectations. I'm very surprised at the low rating it got I would definitely give this film a high 8.

This movie has all the spices required in making it an interesting, colorful and tasty story. It takes a humorous approach on cultural and gender differences without making you feel that it's "yesterday" story. Chi Muoi Lo did an excellent job for a first-timer. And I loved the chemistry between the African-American couple and between the entire cast in general. I was also impressed that the movie was filmed in a slightly different approach and conversations were cut off to keep the audience wondering what really did happened. Since some things weren't completely explained, it left the audience the chance to use their own reflections on what was going on between the people.... very intelligent. Not only was it dead serious at times but a cute comedy as well. I definitely would recommend you see it when you're in the mood to laugh and cry.

Paul Winfield and Mary Alice together -- what a pairing! That's worth the ticket already. Good for Chi Muoi Lo, thank goodness to his perseverance and passion, we get to see his fruit of labor and love: CATFISH IN BLACK BEAN SAUCE. The ingredients are strong emotional (and controversial) subjects. What an ensemble cast, including himself in the center of this multi-layered drama. It may feel like he packed it all in, yet we get to taste and soak it all.

Bold strokes for a first time filmmaker, Chi Muoi Lo, who produced (practically with the help of the whole Lo family as indicated in the credit roll), wrote the script, directed the film, and performed in it as the central character, the adopted Vietnamese son Dwayne. Wonderful strong cast with Mary Alice and Paul Winfield as Dolores and Harold, the kind-hearted adoptive couple who took in his sister along with Dwayne. Lauren Tom, as Dwayne's Vietnamese sister Mai, gave a steady restrained performance, especially a critical scene shared with Mary Alice -- the intensity, the dramatic charge built up between the two women -- sensitive anticipatory confrontation yet tear-jerking all together. Story is told in current times, fantasy-dream mode, and childhood flashbacks. At times scenes may seem like cliché, yet we laughed, we're anxious, we smiled with empathy, and we're hooked into the whirl of it all. There's also Sanaa Lathan (of "Love and Basketball" 2000) as Mia, the lovely yet hesitant girl friend whom Dwayne was courting -- yes, romance included.

It's a spicy dish -- a real mix of various types and levels of relationships: mother-son, mother-daughter, brother-sister, Asian-Black, husband-wife, roommates, in-laws, young loves -- diversity filled to the brim and steaming hot! Warmth and conflicts, misforgivings and forgivings, a lot of heart! See it to taste it.