#asian american film

[cinemacentral666]

American Fusion (2005)

Movie #1,041 • WELL, HONG? CH. 3

Welcome to WELL, HONG? my A-Z filmography series focusing on the complete works of actor JAMES HONG...

[ Ed. Note: This is the first WELL, HONG? installment on CC666 - for the first two chapters, visit moviejeff.com: Adventures of Johnny Tao (2007) and Airplane! (1980) ]

Well, there it is in all its wackadoodle glory: Hong's only scene in this hard to find '05 comedy (I had to rent it on Amazon for $4.25 lol). In and out (and stoned out of his mind) in under 90 seconds. American Fusion had to crawl so that Crazy Rich Asians could walk? No can't print that…

Moving on.

I actually was mildly into this one for the first act or so. The humor was pretty broad and weird (as you can see from the above "sea otter nipples" riff + look at that movie poster!). But it descended into sappy schlock unfortunately.

Some highlights include:

An early Randall Park appearance as the son of the lead actress who wishes he was black (he's legit funny doing AAVE)

All the family's interactions with the black doctor (played by character actor de jour Tom Wright), especially when they bring him gifts which include a basketball and Popeye's chicken. (The commentary is obvious but effective: minorities stereotype other minorities just as often)

Fabio cameo

Weirdly, character actor Joel McKinnon Miller had a fairly significant scene as a plumber but he is not listed anywhere in the IMDB cast? Hmm.

And the great Pat Morita, who looks like this for some reason…

It was competent and fairly funny for a little bit... I swear! Oh well.

SCORE: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️¼

[imanisays]

Dante Basco and Tatyana Ali in Fakin Da Funk (1997)

[artfilmfan]

Past Lives (Celine Song, 2023)

[selfieignite]

Representation matters. #StarringJohnCho posters by William Yu started in 2016. This began a discussion about Asian Americans in leading roles in Hollywood, which inspired others to create their own stories and will continue to inspire future generations.

Jon M. Chu: #StarringJohnCho Movement Pushed Me To Make 'Crazy Rich Asians'

‘Everything Everywhere’ Star Ke Huy Quan on How ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Gave Him FOMO and Inspired His Return to Movies

Oscar Wins By Film: ‘EEAAO’ Leads With 7 Statues (11 Oscar nominations)

[x]

[splinteredsoul]

Past Lives (2023)

dir. Celine Song

[driveintheaterofthemind]

Anna May Wong

Art by Alejandro Mogollo

[misspeppermint2003]

⭐️ Weekly Fandom Vote (Round 21) ⭐️

[rickchung]

Dìdi (弟弟, dir. Sean Wang).

Set in the recent past of the summer of 2008 in the Bay Area, [the] Oscar-nominated Taiwanese-American first-time filmmaker [...] takes his own experiences growing up to tell a tender coming-of-age story. Wang's small-scale, semi-autobiographical indie drama is rich with details of its time period featuring juvenile humour about friendship, crushes, and fitting as the son of an immigrant mother.

[lalacarmiexo]

digi film🎞️🎞️🎞️

[cinemaronin]

[film-classics]

Anna May Wong - The First Asian American Hollywood Star

Wong Liu Tsong (born January 3, 1905 in Los Angeles), known professionally as Anna May Wong, was an American actress, considered "The First Asian American Hollywood Star" who helped humanize Chinese Americans to mainstream American audiences during a period of intense racism and discrimination.

Born to second-generation Taishanese American parents, Wong decided at an early age to become an actress. She was working at Hollywood's Ville de Paris department store when Metro Pictures needed 300 female extras in 1919.

Finding it difficult to keep up with her schoolwork, Wong dropped out of Los Angeles High School in 1921 to pursue a full-time acting career. The following year, she played her first leading role, in the two-color Technicolor movie The Toll of the Sea (1922), earning her critical acclaim. Nonetheless, Hollywood was reluctant to create starring roles for her; her ethnicity prevented filmmakers from seeing her as a leading lady. She spent the next few years in supporting roles providing "exotic atmosphere," such as a scheming Mongol slave in The Thief of Bagdad (1924).

Tired of being both typecast and passed over for lead Asian roles in favor of non-Asian actresses, Wong left Hollywood in 1928 for Europe, where she became a sensation. She returned to Hollywood with a Paramount contract in the 1930s and became more outspoken in her advocacy for better film roles for Chinese Americans and  support of the Chinese struggle against Japan. Embarking on a year-long tour of China in 1936 to explore her roots and learn about Chinese theater, she chronicled her experience in a series of newspaper articles, which was later broadcast on television in the 1950s and included her narration.

Later in life, Wong invested in real estate and owned a number of properties in Hollywood while also doing some guest spots on television series. At the age of 56, Wong died of a heart attack as she slept at home in Santa Monica, California, two days after her final appearance on television.

Legacy:

Won the Photoplay Awards - Best Performances of the Month in Feb 1923 and Oct 1929

Auctioned off her movie costumes and donated the money to the Chinese Benevolent Association of California to support Chinese refugees.

Wrote the preface to a cookbook entitled New Chinese Recipes, one of the first Chinese cookbooks, the proceeds of which she donated to United China Relief in 1942

Donated her salary from Bombs over Burma (1942) and Lady from Chungking (1942) to the then United China Relief

Was the first Asian American Actress to lead a TV series The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong, which was specifically written for her

Is the basis of the 1971 poem "The Death of Anna May Wong" by Jessica Hagedorn

Is the namesake for the Anna May Wong Award of Excellence, given yearly at the Asian-American Arts Awards, and the Anna May Wong Award, an annual award by the Asian Fashion Designers group since 1973

Commemorated by the country of Grenada with a stamp in 1992 in its USO 50th anniversary series

Featured in curated several retrospectives, such as A Touch of Class for BFI Southbank in 1995, Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend at the Museum of Modern Art in 2004, and Anna May Wong at the American Museum of the Moving Image in 2006

Is the subject of China Doll, The Imagined Life of an American Actress, an award-winning fictional play by Elizabeth Wong in 1995

Was given tribute by Lucy Liu who dedicated her Hollywood Walk of Fame speech to her in 2019

Is the basis of a series of persona poems in Sally Wen Mao's Oculus: Poems, published in 2019

Honored with a Google Doodle in 2020 on the 97th anniversary of the release of her first film that she plays the lead

Featured in several exhibits, including "Beyond the Icon: Anna May Wong" at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in 2021, "Anna May Wong Abroad" at Houghton Library in Harvard University in 2023, "Not Your China Doll: Art Inspired by Anna May Wong" at Chelsea Market in 2024, "Anna May Wong: Icon of the Silver Screen" at the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum in 2024 and “Unmasking Anna May Wong” at the Chinese American Museum in January 2025

Is the namesake of the Ballad of Anna May, a coffee shop in Singapore which opened in 2021 and the Anna May Bar & Lounge at Crustacean Beverly Hills, which opened in 2022

Depicted by the United States Mint on the reverse of the quarter coin as a part of the American Women quarters series, becoming the first Asian American on American coinage in 2022

Honored as Turner Classic Movies Star of the Month for April 2022

Commemorated by Mattel with the release of a Barbie doll modeled on Wong in honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in 2023

Honored by the Santa Monica City Council in 2023

Has a biopic from Working Title Films in development, with British actress Gemma Chan set as the lead

Has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1708 Vine Street for motion picture

[lejazznik]

I am a featured artist in the New York City exhibit NOT YOUR CHINA DOLL: ART INSPIRED BY ANNA MAY WONG curated by Katie Gee Salisbury, author of the new biography, “Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong.” Come see my ink and charcoal art during the entire month of May in celebration of AANHPI Heritage Month! Presented by Pearl River Mart, Chelsea Market and the Meatpacking District 🎥✨

On view May 1 to May 31 • Chelsea Market: the corridor gallery across from Amy’s Bread • 75 9th Ave

You can follow me on Instagram  / Twitter / Substack / Official Site

Buy prints: Shop

[selfieignite]

John Cho at 25 years old in 1997. Short film by Anna Kang at USC starring John and his girlfriend, Kerri Higuchi (now wife).

[x] [x]

[veravictorialee]

[8cfc00]

a couple days ago i was having lunch w my mother and there was this guy sitting next to us talking to his three sons about social media addiction referencing us having our headphones in while eating... never felt more embarrassed but also angry (i was on pinterest looking at images of old hollywood actresses and 1930s fashion) (also i could hear him cuz i literally was not listening to anything cuz i was reading the wikipedia page for anna may wong, chinese american actress considered the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood) (also he sounded very condescending) (in my defence when i hang w mother we usually dont talk that much)

[misspeppermint2003]

⭐️ Weekly Fandom Vote (Round 28) ⭐️