Double Happiness (film)

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Double Happiness
Double happiness ver1.jpg
Promotional movie poster
Directed by Mina Shum
Written byMina Shum
Produced by Stephen Hegyes
Rose Lam
Starring Sandra Oh
Callum Keith Rennie
Cinematography Peter Wunstorf
Edited byAlison Grace
Music by Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet
Mina Shum
Harley McCanley
Distributed by Fine Line Features
Release dates
  • September 7, 1994 (1994-09-07)(TIFF)
  • July 28, 1995 (1995-07-28)(U.S.)
Running time
87 minutes [1]
Country Canada
Languages English
Cantonese
Box office$759,393 (U.S.) [2]

Double Happiness is a 1994 Canadian drama film directed by Mina Shum, co-produced by the National Film Board of Canada. The film stars Sandra Oh as Jade Li, an actress struggling to assert her independence from the expectations of her Chinese Canadian family. Callum Keith Rennie also stars as Mark, Jade's love interest.

Contents

The film was the first feature directed by a Chinese Canadian woman to be given a wide release. [3] It was also one of Oh's earliest performances; she received critical acclaim for her performance, [4] [5] and won the Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role for the film.

Plot

Jade Li is a feisty Chinese-Canadian aspiring actress who lives at home with her traditional Chinese family, which includes her strict father, her dutiful mother, and younger sister Pearl. Jade and Pearl's older brother, Winston, has been disowned—a fate Jade is not eager to share, both for her own sake and to spare her family pain.

Her family tries to put on the perfect public persona at all costs so as to maintain their dignity as well as uphold their traditional Chinese values. One primary part of this persona is prosperity. Jade's father hopes that true financial prosperity will become reality through penny stocks. Jade, meanwhile, tries to achieve that happy medium between giving in to her parents' wishes and fulfilling her own needs and desires - double happiness. Therefore, although she manages to land a few bit parts on camera, Jade spends most of her time working in the shop owned by a family friend, performing the duties of a respectful daughter and suffering through arranged dates with prosperous young Chinese men (Including one who is gay). An adept cultural chameleon, though, she also leads a double life, hanging out with best friend Lisa.

When her father's childhood friend arrives for a visit, Jade must juggle her competing identities even more carefully than usual, lest her choice of professions—and boyfriends—shame her father. Because of its instability, Jade's parents don't understand or widely publicize Jade's aspirations to be an actress. Their main want for Jade is to date and marry a nice Chinese boy, a goal for which Jade's extended family also strives as they are always trying to introduce her to Chinese boys. Initially, they believe that the boy is Andrew, with who Jade even agrees to go out. But Jade, beyond wanting to be an actress, wishes her family had more western sensibilities. She is attracted to a slightly awkward but persistent Caucasian English graduate student named Mark. Jade has to figure out how to both please her family, who would not approve of her dating a Caucasian, and be true to herself. Her older brother is already out of the picture for that very reason. Naturally, something must give sooner or later, and the facade of the perfect Chinese daughter soon begins to crumble.

Cast

Critical reception

On review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, Double Happiness has an approval rating of 73% based on 11 reviews. [6]

Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and wrote director Mina Shum "establishes a chatty, confiding tone right at the top and follows through, like a long letter from a good friend. By the end, she has told a story that has been told uncounted times for centuries on this continent, which was settled by people who left home and yet tried to bring it with them. What she brings to it is sweetness and style, and she gets a warm performance from Sandra Oh". [4] Marjorie Baumgarten of The Austin Chronicle wrote the film "comes as close to the expression of multiculturalism as anything I've seen in a long time" and added, "As Jade, actress Sandra Oh gives a rich performance that conveys a satisfying sense of the character's dilemmas, passions, cheekiness, and talent." [7] Baumgarten gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and concluded, "Everywhere one turns in Double Happiness there is evidence of cultural differences and cognitive dissonance. The triumph of Double Happiness is in hearing laughter and sweetness in the sounds of dissonance." [7]

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryRecipientResult
1994 Genie Awards [8] [9] Best Motion Picture Double HappinessNominated
Best Direction Mina Shum Nominated
Best Actress in a Leading Role Sandra Oh Won
Best Actor in a Supporting Role Callum Keith Rennie Nominated
Best Original Screenplay Mina ShumNominated
Best Cinematography Peter Wunstorf Nominated
Best Editing Alison GraceWon

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References

  1. ↑ "Double Happiness". Vancouver Asian Film Festival . Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  2. ↑ "Double Happiness (1995)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  3. ↑ Jaksic, Vanja Mutabdzija (June 8, 2020). "How Sandra Oh and Mina Shum's palpable chemistry generated lasting cinematic classics". CBC News . Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  4. 1 2 Ebert, Roger (August 25, 1995). "Double Happiness". The Chicago Sun-Times . Retrieved April 17, 2016.
  5. ↑ Maslin, Janet (July 28, 1995). "FILM REVIEW; A Delicate Asian Flower In a Motorcycle Jacket". The New York Times . Retrieved April 16, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Double Happiness". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  7. 1 2 Baumgarten, Marjorie (October 13, 1995). "Double Happiness". Austin Chronicle . Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Canadian Film Encyclopedia - Double Happiness". cfe.tiff.net. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  9. ↑ "The 1994 Genie nominees". Playback . November 7, 1994. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
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