Rice Rhapsody (2004)

This film had some potential. The premise was reasonably interesting - a mother with two grown sons who are both gay wants grandchildren and tries to ensure that her third son, a high school student, doesn't turn out gay too. It's the kind of thing that might make for a good sitcom. The main actors, Sylvia Chang and Martin Yan, carry the weight of the story easily. Chang is an accomplished actor, and Yan has a good comedic streak. The cinematography and editing are professional, although one wonders why more wasn't made of Singapore as a background. All we see are the old shophouses of Singapore's Chinatown and some parkland; there are a lot more locations that could have given the film more visual interest.The real drags on the film were the script and a number of the actors. The sons were wooden. This was particularly unfortunate in the case of the youngest son, who played an important role in the film. The actor added nothing to the part. The son who worked for an airline was even worse. Mélanie Laurent, playing the girl from France who was going to change everything, had some excellent moments when she was being playful and teasing, but overall the script didn't give her enough opportunities.The script allowed several good scenes, but generally it was poorly done. Where can one begin? The son is asked to show the girl, who has just arrived in Singapore, the nightlife for young people. He takes her to a cemetery. Yes, I know, he did not want to take her anywhere, but taking her to a cemetery is just silly and implausible. He is a total jerk for the entire movie, yet when the girl falls off her bicycle and is nearly hit by a car, the boy helps her up - and this is enough for her to invite him into her bed that night. Completely implausible, except perhaps if you take the racist view that French girls have no morals and give out sex as a reward, like candy to babies. She was a university student, he was still in high school, he had a repulsive personality with no interests except bicycle racing - it's inconceivable that she would fall for him. At one point she is found staring at water going down a drain; when asked, she remarks that it swirls in the opposite direction than in France. The point is that she is an educated, intelligent girl. Much later in the movie she confesses that she had lied about the water going down the drain. I don't know what the point of that was. (In fact, water does swirl in different directions above and below the equator.) The climax of the movie takes place in a cooking competition, where Martin Yan unaccountably lets the boy stand in for him to compete against his own mother. Silly, silly, stupid plotting. Almost the entire last hour of the film is filler; it should have been cut to about 15-20 minutes.I enjoyed the first half hour or so and was expecting to be mildly entertained, but by the end, some of the acting and the stupidity piled upon stupidity of the script spoiled it all for me. I've given it a rating of only 3.

Aptly called 'Rice Rhapsody' in Australia, this comedy is not very funny nor very satisfying. The basic plot is a single mother and restaurant owner has raised three sons all by her lonesome. Two of them are gay, and she fears the youngest may also be that way inclined. So, she comes up with a plan to hook him up with a sexy French student named Sabine.All in all, this film just doesn't work and the chemistry between Sabine and Leo doesn't gel. The film seems indecisive in which direction it wants to go, and the male lead is rather unpleasant throughout the whole movie. And, why the heck was one character called "Batman"? This is quite a lazy comment, but 90 or so minutes really dragged for me- especially towards the end.**1/2 out of *****!

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 and 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.)

Translated literally to English as Hainan Chicken Rice, or South Sea Chicken Rice, Kenneth Bi's 2004 polish galore rides the food angle in a manner a bit too reminiscent of Ang Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman, with the two having more than culinary delights in common. The newer release likewise wants to hop on the bandwagon by way of presenting international spectators with a pleasant premise where everyone's friendly and cheerful, and everything looks brightly colorful as if fresh out of an Ikea catalog.Not necessarily major faults, but if in the market for hard-hitting content, look elsewhere, let alone since Rice Rhapsody does attempt a dabble in the more controversial, namely homosexuality, but stops short of genuinely addressing issues of any meaningful disposition. At least it does reasonably well in the political correctness department, touching on the topic matter-of-factly and without prejudice or sensationalism. It also features auteur Sylvia Chang, director of notable flicks Princess D and 20-30-40, in one of her better performances. In addition, through the introduction of a Western exchange student into proceedings, the film engages viewers in multicultural interaction of a variety less stereotypical than usual, a substantial plus right there. However, despite these pros Rice Rhapsody in the end culminates in a flat, unremarkable experience that won't stay with you very long, unlike other products in its range, like excellently emotional Yi Yi (2000). Furthermore, the decision to make this into a Singapore-based item seems random and bizarre, especially since the main character and star obviously insist on reverting to what sounds suspiciously akin to Taiwanese (Chang's from Taiwan in case you were wondering).For her part, she does pretty well as restaurant owner Jen, straddled with three successful sons whose sexual orientation and lifestyle she reluctantly accepts. Her greatest hope lies with youngest offspring Leo (Lepham Tan), a student on his way to finding a path through life. Things go more or less as per normal for the family and Jen's rival-would-be-lover Kim Chui (Martin Yan), a fellow eatery proprietor competing with her titular signature dish, Hainan Chicken Rice (his version has duck instead). Normal, that is, until Jen's worries over the kids all playing for the same team begin to encroach, and she enlists Kim Chui's help in saving the day. This he attains, or deigns to, by shacking up French intellectual traveler Sabine (Melanie Laurent) with Jen and last bird in the nest Leo, hoping the two will strike up a relationship that'll bring the lad back from the brink. The ensuing plot involves a little bit of several themes, most memorable of these the existential discourse between Sabine and Leo, parts of which take place in a cemetery for sheer effect. Naturally, the plan goes slightly awry, with Sabine not always playing along the script and generally showing more overt interest in simply making the most of her Singapore jaunt instead of catering to Jen and her matchmaking schemes. She also never really signs up for classes, official reason for being in the city state to begin with. While on the Singapore front, save for a few glimpses of Tiger Beer you'd be hard pressed to even notice the seldom-used locale, opposite of what we've come to expect from Hong Kong, for example. There's one ambient highlight, though, with hottie Maggie Q stepping in as starlet Gigi, an underutilized extra idling screen time chomping on entrees instead of enlightening Leo with her obvious allure. And although Sabine's incapable of using chopsticks (laugh at the "foreigners" again, why not), overall one must assert Rice Rhapsody really doesn't try to cash in on any Asian vs. Western tripe, nor does it make a big deal of cross-cultural love affairs. In fact, it makes a big deal of nothing at all, opting for a smiles-all-around, friendly approach that borders on a somewhat unwanted, and largely ineffective, comedic angle. Suffice to say the greatest moment of tension throughout comes at a cooking contest towards the end, and let us tell you it ain't no Iron Chef at that.But at least you have Sylvia Chang pulling off a manifold, believable depiction of basically her own self, and a film devoid of absolutely any disturbing or otherwise risky aspects.For those on a mission to watch as many movies from the greater China region as possible (sounds familiar), Rice Rhapsody probably makes for a decent companion to stuff like Pushing Hands et al. It's also the first of JCE Productions' international iterations, marking the beginnings of Jackie Chan's endeavors as world-hugging producer on the global stage through is own outfit.Probably more than the above, though, Rice Rhapsody comes in handy for watching with your mom or sisters during one of those family afternoons we get once in a while. Have fun and try to take it seriously: this one won't do that for you.Rating: * * *