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Information
- Year
- 1982
- Runtime
- 80 min.
- Director
- Wayne Wang
- Genres
- Drama, Mystery
- Rating *
- 7.1
- Votes *
- 799
- Checks
- 432
- Favs
- 18
- Dislikes
- 8
- Favs/checks
- 4.2% (1:24)
- Favs/dislikes
- 2:1
Top comments
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Siskoid
A very indie black and white mystery (that ironically is not at all black and white, which is to say cut and dried) Wayne Wang's Chan Is Missing uses the mystery elements as a kind of excuse to take a whirlwind tour of the Asian-American experience in San Francisco's Chinatown.Some characters are played by actors, some by themselves, and some even probably thought they were in a documentary. Two cab drivers are looking for their never-seen partner Chan who has disappeared, and no one seems able to given them the same answer. There's an early bit about how Chinese languages (and therefore, thought) work, which isn't just extremely interesting, but is also the decoder ring to the film. Chinese thinking is oblique and prefers context to straight facts, and so we have a detective story that is more about context and understanding the why of the mystery, more than solving it per se. It meanders with purpose. I respect it for that, even if (and this may be my Occidental brain talking despite its relatively high consumption of Asian content) it didn't always successfully engage me. 7 months 3 weeks ago -
Withnail33
Probably one of the very few films that presents a truly unique and realistic look at the Asian American experience. One of my favorite AA films and highly recommended for those interested in Asian American cinema. 11 years 9 months ago -
Friends
Login to see which of your friends have seen this movie!In 4 official lists
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This movie ranks #17 in BFI's 100 American Independent Films
BFI's 100 American Indep…
17 -
This movie ranks #145 in The New York Times's Book of Movies
The New York Times's Boo…
145 -
This movie ranks #181 in Library of Congress's National Film Registry
Library of Congress's Na…
181 -
This movie ranks #1365 in The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection
1365