Canada | 1994 | 100 minutes | 14A
Jade Li (Sandra Oh) is an independent 22-year-old Chinese-Canadian struggling to live the life she wants while not disappointing her traditional Chinese parents. In an effort to encourage their daughter to start a family, Jade’s parents set her up on a series of dates with nice, traditional Chinese boys, but Jade is not interested. When she meets a Caucasian grad student named Mark (Callum Rennie), she has to decide how much her own happiness is worth.
Director: Mina Shum
Cast: Sandra Oh, Alannah Ong, Callum Keith Rennie
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DETAILS
Groundbreaking both in front of and behind the camera, Double Happiness marked the start of filmmaker Mina Shum’s ongoing partnership with future Emmy nominee Sandra Oh (see also: Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity; and Meditation Park). Shum’s feature directorial debut follows up-and-coming actor Jade Li (Oh), a twenty something torn between her Chinese-Canadian identity and her desire to carve out her own as she attempts to make it in showbiz while also dating a white man (Callum Keith Rennie as Mark).
Written and directed by Shum based on her own life, Double Happiness confronts and subverts stereotypes at every turn, the scene of Jade being asked to do “an accent” (and not a French one) during an audition, sadly, still extremely relevant today. The perfect mix of funny and emotional, Double Happiness deserves to be treated with as much reverence as recent, similarly themed films like Turning Red (also starring Oh) and Everything Everywhere All at Once, with Shum being the first Chinese-Canadian woman to direct a widely released feature film in Canada. – EMILY GAGNE & DANITA STEINBERG
This Screening Is Generously Sponsored by HOLLYWOOD SUITE.
Doors Open 30 Minutes Before Showtime.
PRICING
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