With his 1982 indie breakthrough CHAN IS MISSING—a noir-inflected comic mystery set in San Francisco’s Chinatown—Wayne Wang became the first Asian American director to achieve widespread critical recognition, paving the way for a pioneering and eclectic career that helped introduce Chinese American stories to mainstream cinema. Exploring issues of assimilation, identity, and generational conflict, this trio of playful, insightful films from Wang’s extraordinary 1980s output overflow with both tender humor and deep emotion, drawing on influences ranging from the French New Wave and Yasujiro Ozu to old-fashioned Hollywood musicals and romantic comedies in order to capture a wide variety of immigrant experiences.
This conversation between director Wayne Wang and critic and programmer Dennis Lim was filmed in 2021.
Directed by Wayne Wang • 1982 • United States
Starring Wood Moy, Marc Hayashi, Laureen Chew
A mystery man, a murder, and a wad of missing cash—in his wryly offbeat breakthrough, Wayne Wang updates the ingredients of classic film noir for the streets of contemporary San Francisco’s Chinatown. Whe...
Directed by Wayne Wang • 1985 • United States
Starring Laureen Chew, Kim Chew, Victor Wong
Wayne Wang celebrates Chinese American food, family, and culture in this bittersweet portrait of a widowed mother (Kim Chew) living in San Francisco. After a fortune teller predicts her imminent death, she...