CHAN IS MISSINg (1982)
The Movie
Released in June 1982, Chan Is Missing was a ground-breaking independent movie that gave American audiences for the first time a fascinating insight into the diverse Chinese/Asian-American community of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Working with a meager budget of $22,500 - grants from the NEA and AFI - youthful film major Wayne Wang crafted a noirish mystery story about a missing person, the search for whom cleverly paralleling the search for Chinese American identity. The movie’s cinema verite style adds realism to its location-rich narrative. While the main characters were professional actors with the Asian American Theater Company in San Francisco, others in the cast were ordinary residents often simply ad-libbing as themselves. When completed, Chan Is Missing was rejected by the San Francisco International Film Festival before being accepted by a festival in New York. After the New York Times film critic Vincent Canby gave it a glowing review it was picked up for distribution, gradually gaining widespread popularity and recognition as a pioneer within its genre. Wang went on to achieve a very successful directorial career embracing a diversity of movie styles including major Hollywood productions such as The Joy Luck Club, Maid In Manhattan and Smoke. In 2018, the San Francisco International Film Festival finally and farsightedly corrected its shortsighted rejection of Chan Is Missing with a retrospective of Wang‘s career.
The Story
Cab drivers Jo (Wood Moy) and his nephew Steve (Marc Hayashi) have entrusted $4,000 to Jo’s friend Chan Hung to buy them a cab license so they can become independent drivers. But Chan and the money have gone missing and nobody in Chinatown knows where he is. They set out to find him, along the way encountering several of his friends and colleagues whose recollections of him paint a far different person than the one they thought they knew. As the film progresses viewers may find themselves wondering if Chan is real or if perhaps he is a representation of the diversity of Chinatown’s immigrant and American-born denizens.
The Locations
Where is Chan? Buddha Lounge, 901 Grant Avenue —- Grant Avenue at Clay —- Kaye’s Footwear, 1043 Grant Avenue —- Grant Avenue at Pacific, Chinatown —- 416 20th Avenue, Richmond
Chester’s Cafe Chester’s Fine Foods, 1269 Mason at Jackson, Nob Hill/Chinatown
Hotel St. Paul Hotel St. Paul, 935 Kearny, Manilatown/Chinatown
Henry The Cook Golden Dragon restaurant, 816 Washington Street, Chinatown —- Ruby Palace restaurant, 631 Kearny Street, Chinatown
Ross Alley Ross Alley, between Jackson and Washington, Chinatown
Manilatown Senior Center 636 Clay Street, Chinatown
Jo Is Puzzled Stockton Street Tunnel, Stockton at Bush, Union Square — 416 20th Avenue, Richmond —- Portsmouth Square “Bridge to nowhere”
Montage 1 900 Block of Kearny, Chinatown —- 900 block of Grant Avenue, Chinatown —- 815 Clay Street, Chinatown —- New Maxim’s Bakery, 1249 Stockton Street, Chinatown
Chan Is Married Interior, Hotel St. Paul, 935 Kearny, Chinatown —- 416 20th Avenue, Richmond —- South view along Mason from Jackson, Nob Hill/Chinatown
Mr. Woo and Apple Pie, Chinese Style Grant Ave at Clay Street, Chinatown —- Newcomer’s Language School at Resources Development Center, 915 Grant Avenue, 4th Floor, Chinatown
Jenny In The Richmond 325 7th Avenue near Clement, Inner Richmond
Mr. Lee 917 Grant Avenue Room 1, Chinatown
Montage 2 Hang Ah Tearoom, 1 Pagoda Place —- 29 and 39 Waverly Place —- 745 Grant Avenue —- Grant Avenue view from Pacific to California
Jo’s Apartment Kearny Street Under the Portsmouth Square Bridge, Chinatown —- 2104 Larkin Street, Chinatown
The Other Woman 1385 VallejoStreet, Russian Hill —- 1117 Stockton Street (or 1251 Stockton Street), Chinatown
Paranoia In The Cab Dragon Gate, Grant Avenue and Bush Street, Chinatown —- Bow Hon restaurant, 850 Grant Avenue, Chinatown — Grant Avenue at California —- Empress Of China restaurant, 838 Grant Avenue, Chinatown —- Li Po bar, 916 Grant Avenue, Chinatown —- 133 Waverley Place, Chinatown
Paranoia On The Streets Bella Union Theatre, 825 Kearny Street, Chinatown —- 800 block of Kearny Street, Chinatown —- 900 block of Grant Avenue, Chinatown —- Washington Street at Waverly Place, Chinatown —- Southwest corner of Grant Avenue and Washington, Chinatown
Pier Pressure Aquatic Park, Fisherman’s Wharf
Jenny In Japantown 1705 Buchanan Street (Osaka Way), Japantown
Mr.Fong Brenham Place, now Walter U Lum Place, Chinatown —- Fort Point, the Presidio —- Chester’s Fine Foods, 1269 Mason at Jackson, Nob Hill/Chinatown
(More to come … )