其实flaw很多： 早期的filming技术，局限的angle使用，极度下手的acting，还有生涩僵硬的plot。。。 It's so perfect. But no seriously. It's these flaws that make it brilliant.
时代和文化的差异夹杂， 这部电影是一奇妙的综合体。
我看它一会儿像documentary，一会儿像stage production。 对于摄影角度的控制，还有冷漠的旁白模式，这部电影近似一部冰冷的纪录片。 而像话剧的部分，是一波三折剧情的突兀，还有人物关系的淡薄。 仿佛在做梦一样。。。眼前走来走去a floating crowd of people. But I guess that's the beauty of it.
贯穿整片，各式人物轮番登场，错综复杂地交织出三藩Chinatown的全貌： Female reporter. Henry the chef. The hotel neighbor (“I don’t want anything to do with Chinese!”) Chan’s daughter Jenny. Mr. Lee. The Chinese teacher. Scholar Fong. 每个角色却都仅仅是一个prop。 影片借助这些人的口讲述着，每一次只轻轻撕开中国城的一角。 文化，政治；内陆，台湾；西方，东方。
然而，最最奇怪的是， 那样的Chinatown，那样的中国人们， 我竟完完全全无法relate。 I don‘t think I knew the existence of this community before, OR... that it existed in such a queer form. 在观影笔记上我草草写下： “Ugh, I don't get their humor.” “Some of what they say do not make any sense!!”
是东西海岸的区别么？ 是age gap的差异么？ 是遥远年代的隔断么？ 是什么？！ 是什么。
一个关于寻人的故事，被寻找的主角Chan Hung却自始至终没有出现。 除了结尾那张模棱两可的polaroid黑白片。Chan站在黑影里，面容完全看不见。 Jo说：Here's a picture of Chan Hung — and I still can't see him. 我想，Chan Hung可能根本不是任何一个人。 他也可能是我们所有人。 从中国到美国，6911公里 ，为了膨胀的梦想，不断辗转挣扎着的, 我们每一个人。
Chinatown里的人们，人人都长着一张黄土之上烈日之下标准东方劳苦大众的脸， 却又在万般西式摩登的街道上，或匆忙走着，或呆傻地立着。 无以伦比的违和感。 It's like they are neither. It's like they're both.
Elizabeth是我Irene Ryan的表演教练， 第一项布置的任务就是要读David Henry Hwang的剧本。 她说Hwang是很厉害的Chinese playwright， 他的剧里也许有角色我可以identify，好用来audition。 可是刚读完F.O.B.我就无法再进行下去， 扔下书给Elizabeth写了长长的email,
“After finishing this first work of his, I was actually very disappointed and could not proceed... The plot did not flow effortlessly, it was rather forced. Hwang was almost pushing himself too hard to be "Oriental mysterious" so that his work would fit into an American stereotype... Coming from a Chinese background, I know very well the stories of Gwan Gung and Fa Mu Lan, which are nothing like what he wrote in the work!! He distorted the Chinese tales to an extent that made me uncomfortable: the concept of Gwan Gung being the GOD of worriers is just very Americanized and wrong; also, Fa Mu Lan does NOT go back home to the dead bodies of her entire family... it's so hysterical and pretentious...“
PSS: “You come all the way here, throw your everything away to start anew, and then, THIS. Maybe what you‘re looking for has been left behind all along.”
