Shopping for Fangs | |
---|---|
![]() DVD cover | |
Directed by | Quentin Lee Justin Lin |
Written by | Dan Alvarado Justin Lin Quentin Lee |
Produced by | Quentin Lee |
Starring | Radmar Agana Jao |
Cinematography | Lisa Wiegand |
Edited by | Justin Lin Quentin Lee Sean Yeo |
Music by | Steven Pranato |
Distributed by | Margin Films |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
Countries | United States Canada |
Language | English |
Shopping for Fangs is a 1997 American-Canadian black comedy [1] film directed by Quentin Lee and Justin Lin, starring Radmar Agana Jao. The film marks the debut of actor John Cho.
Housewife Katherine loses consciousness and loses her cell phone as a result. Lesbian waitress Trinh sends her sexually suggestive messages and pictures. Katherine's husband works with a man by the name of Phil. [2]
Payroll clerk Phil, who is confused about his sexuality, thinks that he is transforming into a werewolf because his hair grows so quickly that he has to shave every hour, he gorges on raw meat, and he is uninjured after being struck by a car. [3]
The film's budget was less than $100,000 and had a filming schedule of 21 days in Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley. [4] [5] The film was partially funded with a Canada Council grant. [5] Lee and Lin separated the filming between themselves, with Lee filming the part with Katherine and Lin filming the part with Phil. [4] The term "GenerAsian X" may have been coined because of this film's release, with the X later being removed. [6]
Lee said in a 2012 interview, "Shopping for Fangs is about finding connections, which is a theme that threads through all my movies." He also said, "It’s hard to quantify cultural impact, but certainly years after, scholars and critics are still talking about Shopping for Fangs." [7] He added, "In our culture now we tend to think of people as having fixed identities. We tried to use the myths in the film to make these identities fluid again and make us question what we’re really about." [5]
The film premiered at the 1997 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (CAAMFest) on March 7, 1997. [8] [9] It also screened at the 1997 Toronto International Film Festival. [5] The film was distributed by Lin's company Margin Films. [10] [5]
J.R. Jones of the Chicago Reader commented, "Like so many other indie releases of its time, this 1997 comedy is a knockoff of Pulp Fiction , with oddball characters, intersecting story lines, and plenty of B-movie flash. But it’s got real energy, and its solid grounding in LA’s Asian community gives the laughs a genuine cultural point of view." [11]
David Noh, writing for Film Journal , said, "Under the circumstances, the actors manage to do rather nicely." [12] Edward Guthmann, of San Francisco Chronicle , wrote, "Despite some fresh ideas, attractive actors and a sly, surprising performance by Chin as the disaffected Katherine, this is a rough first effort." [13]
The film was released on DVD on October 6, 2009 by Pathfinder Home Entertainment. [14]
The Tango Lesson is a 1997 drama film written and directed by Sally Potter. It is a semi-autobiographical film starring Potter and Pablo Verón, about Argentinian Tango.
When We Were Kings is a 1996 American documentary film directed by Leon Gast about the "Rumble in the Jungle" heavyweight championship boxing match that was held on October 30, 1974, in Zaire between world heavyweight champion George Foreman and Muhammad Ali. It features archival footage of celebrities, including James Brown, B.B. King, and promoter Don King, in the lead-up to the fight and accompanying Zaire 74 music festival, alongside interview footage of Norman Mailer, George Plimpton, Spike Lee and Thomas Hauser from the 1990s.
John Cho is an American actor known for his roles as Harold Lee in the Harold & Kumar films, and Hikaru Sulu in the Star Trek rebooted film series.
Freida Lee Mock is an American filmmaker, director, screenwriter and producer. She is a co-founder of the American Film Foundation with Terry Sanders. Her documentary, Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision (1994) won an Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary in 1995.
Justin Lin is a Taiwanese American film and television director, producer, and screenwriter. His films have grossed over $3 billion USD worldwide as of March 2017. He is best known for his directorial work on Better Luck Tomorrow (2002), the Fast & Furious franchise from The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) to Fast & Furious 6 (2013) and F9 (2021), and Star Trek Beyond (2016). He is also known for his work on television programs like Community, and the second season of True Detective.
The San Francisco International Film Festival, organized by the San Francisco Film Society, is held each spring for two weeks, presenting around 200 films from over 50 countries. The festival highlights current trends in international film and video production with an emphasis on work that has not yet secured U.S. distribution. In 2009, it served around 82,000 patrons, with screenings held in San Francisco and Berkeley.
AsianWeek was America's first and largest English-language print and on-line publication serving East Asian Americans. The news organization played an important role nationally and in the San Francisco Bay Area as the “Voice of Asian America”. It provided news coverage across all East Asian ethnicities.
The San Diego Asian Film Festival (SDAFF) is an annual event organized by Pacific Arts Movement that takes place every November in San Diego, California.
Quentin Lee is a Hong Kong-born Canadian-American film writer, director, and producer. He is most notable for the television series Comedy InvAsian and feature films The People I've Slept With (2009), Ethan Mao (2004), and Shopping for Fangs (1997), which he co-directed with Justin Lin.
Finishing the Game is a 2007 mockumentary film directed by Justin Lin focusing on Bruce Lee's final movie Game of Death (1972), which was unfinished at the time of his death. Shot in 18 days,Finishing the Game comically satirizes the 1972 production—which used body doubles and clips from other Lee movies—and addresses racial stereotypes on the Asian community.
Chris Chan Lee is an American filmmaker.
Yellow is an American 1997 comedy drama film directed by Chris Chan Lee. The film follows eight Korean–American youths in Los Angeles over the course of a wild night before their high school graduation. The film stars an ensemble cast including Michael Chung, John Cho, Burt Bulos, Jason Tobin, and Lela Lee. The film had its world premiere at the 15th CAAMFest in San Francisco in 1997.
Chin Yang Lee was a Chinese American author best known for his 1957 novel The Flower Drum Song, which inspired the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Flower Drum Song and the eponymous 1961 film which was nominated for five Academy Awards.
The Shangri-la Cafe is a 2000 short film written and directed by Lily Mariye. The film is about a Japanese American family who conceal their heritage and reluctantly adopt discriminatory practices in order to operate a Chinese restaurant in Las Vegas in the late 1950s. The Los Angeles Times calls the film well-reviewed, and it won awards at festivals such as the Brussels Independent Film Festival and Nashville Independent Film Festival.
Hurlyburly is a 1998 independent comedy-drama film directed by Anthony Drazan and based on the 1984 play of the same name by David Rabe, who adapted the screenplay. The film is about the intersecting lives of several Hollywood players and wannabes. Rabe condensed the action of his three-hour plus play into two hours and updated the setting from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s.
Kelvin Han Yee is an American actor of Asian descent. His career spans over 30 years of film, television and theater.
White Frog is a 2012 American comedy-drama film directed by Quentin Lee and written by Fabienne Wen. The film's plot follows neglected 16-year-old Nick Young, played by Booboo Stewart, a teenager with autism spectrum disorder whose life is changed forever when tragedy strikes him and his family. The film also stars Harry Shum, Jr., B.D. Wong, Joan Chen, Gregg Sulkin, and Tyler Posey.
Phil Yu, also known as Angry Asian Man, is a Korean-American blogger.
Asian Garden Mall, known in Vietnamese as Phước Lộc Thọ, is a shopping center in Westminster, California. Opened in 1987, Asian Garden Mall is the first and largest Vietnamese-American shopping mall and is seen as a symbol of the community. The mall is located at 9200 Bolsa Avenue, serving as the focal point of Little Saigon in Orange County and is the site of many cultural and political events in the Vietnamese-American community.
This Asian-American dark comedy of pop culture features a frigid wife, an acerbic waitress, and a werewolf disguised as a payroll clerk, while referencing the best of America's recent crop of independent filmmakers.