Chinese Dream

Chinese Dream is an intriguing award-winning short film by writer-director Victor Quinaz. The film was named the best short film at the 2004 San Francisco International Film Festival, the 2003 Gen Art Miami "Shorts in the Park" festival, and the 2004 Ashland Independent Film Festival, as well as receiving notice at the Los Angeles Film Festival, the Miami International Film Festival, and the Gen Art New York Film Festival. It also marks an interesting new twist in film most famously represented by Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ: a "foreign language" film made by an American director.

The film tracks the story of Country Boy (Qix Chen), a young Chinese dishwasher trapped in a subterranean kitchen and indentured to the "boss" of the restaurant (Evan Lai). Each day blurs into another, as each reflects the same mundane existence: work in the kitchen and sleep in a tiny room above the restaurant, where he and two other co-workers share the cramped quarters. In the kitchen, the camera keeps the action tight, further developing the sense of repressed tension and the seemingly inevitable shadow of impending violence. Quinaz and his crew do an excellent job of creating a world that is both simple and familiar and yet simultaneously alien: the kitchen here, despite its recognizable qualities, is as distant and remote as an alien landscape. It's almost as if we're lost in space or on another planet, trapped in some sort of twilight existence in the heart of a Chinese food version of The Matrix.

Country Boy's boss holds absolute power over the lives of his employees: it quickly becomes apparent that they do not leave the kitchen (except to sleep in their broom closet of a bedroom upstairs) and they know nothing of the world outside. One can only assume that they are illegal immigrants or the like, smuggled into the country with the promise of a better future but with the requirement that they work off their travel-related "debt" before they can go anywhere. Despite his clear authority, "The Boss" seems fair enough as long as the work gets done: after another hard day of work, he asks the employees if there's anything they need; in general, their needs boil down to food, cigarettes, and porn.

One night, however, Country Boy watches a travel program on television and sees a segment on New York City. The sights and sounds intrigue him and capture his imagination. He ends up asking The Boss for a book about New York City, and while The Boss is initially reluctant the boy's earnest pleading wears him down. Country Boy spends countless hours pouring over the pictures in the book; while he can't read, these images aren't just worth a thousand words, they also cross all known language barriers.

Article Author: Bill Wallo

Bill Wallo is a book and movie junkie.

Visit Bill Wallo's author page — Bill Wallo's Blog