4/5 Charmed
  by Tom Long
Not a playful romp, but charming and sweet. If you're looking for something quiet, warm, and low stress with likable characters, check this one out. The emphasis is on the characters rather than the plot, but sometimes that is just what I want - especially when the characters are so engaging.

4/5 Valerie Tian uses Taoist magic on Sandra Oh
  by F. Lam (Castro Valley, CA USA)
This is a fun lighthearted charming piece that showed at the Asian Am. Film Fest in 02. I remember seeing this on the recently defunct AZNTV/Intl. Channel and felt this would be a great gift for Mother's Day. One of Sandra Oh's film debuts playing a single mom (dumped by her husband), struggles to carry on with her 12 yr. old daughter Mindy (Valerie Tian) working multiple jobs while Mindy tries casting Tao magic to bring love and good fortune to her mom and affects other Chinese Canadian residents with good and bad luck. We saw this dvd together and my mom thought it was really good. This movie may not be meant for everyone even if they can't stomach English subtitles or foreign films. Valerie Tian may have also appeared in "Juno" as a 'Pro-life'/Anti-abortion demonstrator. Look for her.


4/5 Great Chinese-immersion movie
  by Helen S. Lam
This is a charming and funny story and gives the audience a glimpse of Chinese life in Canada. The actress who plays Mindy steals the scenes. It does seem odd that they would cast Korean Sandra Oh in this Chinese movie. However, Oh did give a good performance as a lonely and overworked single mother.

5/5 What a lovely gem
  by Becky Rose (Los Angeles, CA)
I came across this lovely little dvd by chance and found it to be entertaining and different. It immediately submerses you into the small Chinese community in Vancouver being both dramatic and charming with quick bursts of humor. Mindy Lum is mesmerizing and you find yourself routing for her superstitious antics trying to win the lottery for her mother and finding her mother love. Sandra Oh is also a delight with a number of other wonderful actors. The ensemble cast acts out several storylines and keeps the audience entertained in a comforting family film way.

2/5 I like Sandra Oh, but...
  by J. Wong (San Francisco, California United States)
Did anyone else think this movie didn't make any sense? Why would an Asian woman with excellent English skills be working in a Chinatown restaurant kitchen? I get that not all Asians have to have college degrees and work as doctors or lawyers, but it doesn't make any sense that Sandra Oh's character would be doing a service job in Chinatown. It also didn't make any sense that the butcher wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. What Chinese immigrant goes to Canada or America so that his son or daughter becomes a butcher?

Could somebody please make a movie that reflects the real, contemporary Asian America/Canada? I'm so tired of watching movies that talk about "saving face." Yes, that's part of Chinese culture...but that theme has been done to death, and in more compelling films.