''Americanese'' is a 2006 American

romantic drama Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

film directed by

Eric Byler Eric Byler (born January 15, 1972) is an American film director, screenwriter and political activist. Personal life Byler identifies as hapa biracial, born to a Chinese American mother and a white American father. He grew up in Virginia, Hawa ...

and starring

Chris Tashima Christopher Inadomi Tashima (born March 24, 1960) is a Japanese American actor and director. He is co-founder of the entertainment company Cedar Grove Productions and Artistic Director of its Asian American theatre company, Cedar Grove OnStage. T ...

, Allison Sie,

Kelly Hu Kelly Ann Hu (born February 13, 1968 ) is an American actress, voice artist, former fashion model and beauty queen who was Miss Teen USA 1985 and Miss Hawaii USA 1993. Hu starred as Dr. Rae Chang on the American television soap opera '' Sunset ...

Ben Shenkman Benjamin Shenkman (born September 26, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the comedy-drama series ''Royal Pains'' and the acclaimed HBO miniseries ''Angels in America'', which earned him both Primetime Emmy Award and Golden Gl ...

Autumn Reeser Autumn Reeser (born September 21, 1980) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Taylor Townsend on the Fox series ''The O.C.'', Lizzie Grant on HBO's ''Entourage'', Katie Andrews on ABC's ''No Ordinary Family'', and Leslie Bellcamp ...

, and

Joan Chen Joan Chen (born April 26, 1961) is a Chinese-American actress and film director. In China, she performed in the 1979 film and came to the attention of American audiences for her performance in the 1987 film ''The Last Emperor''. She is also ...

. It is based on the novel ''

American Knees ''American Knees'' is a novel written by Shawn Wong, first published in 1995 by Simon & Schuster, and currently published by the University of Washington Press (2005). Conceived as a cultural response to Amy Tan's novel ''The Joy Luck Club (novel ...

'' by

Shawn Wong Shawn K. Wong is a Chinese American author and scholar. He has served as the Professor of English, Director of the University Honors Program (2003–06), Chair of the Department of English (1997–2002), and Director of the Creative Writing Program ...

, concerning the relationships of a man and woman of East Asian descent in the United States.

Background

The film was written and directed by

, adapted from the novel, "

," by

. It was produced by

Lisa Onodera Lisa Onodera is an American independent film producer, of such noted films as '' Picture Bride'', '' The Debut'' and '' Americanese''. She grew up in Berkeley, California, and attended UCLA where she received a degree from the School of Motion P ...

, who optioned the book when it was first published in 1995. The film had its world premiere at the

South by Southwest Film Festival South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, T ...

(SXSW) in 2006, where it won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature and a Special Jury Prize for Outstanding

Ensemble Cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to ...

.Americanese wins at SXSW
on

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...

In October 2006,

IFC Films IFC Films is an American film production and distribution company based in New York. It is an offshoot of IFC owned by AMC Networks. It distributes mainly independent films under its own name, select foreign films and documentaries under its S ...

acquired the film for distribution, under their IFC First Take distribution arm, which will release the film on a "day-and-date" platform, which will include a limited theatrical release accompanied simultaneously with a

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

(V.O.D.) broadcast premiere on

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

cable.

Premise

Raymond Ding, a middle-aged

Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...

college professor, and Aurora Crane, his younger ''

Hapa Hapa is a Hawaiian word for someone of multiracial ancestry. In Hawaii, the word refers to any person of mixed ethnic heritage, regardless of the specific mixture.: "Thus, for locals in Hawai’i, both hapa or hapa haole are used to depict p ...

'' (half East Asian) girlfriend, have just split, but continue to drift in and out of each other's lives. Unable to fully let go, Raymond visits the apartment they once shared, during the day while Aurora is away. Aurora is haunted by flash-backs of moments from their relationship. Encouraged by their best friends to move on, Raymond and Aurora each begin new relationships. Aurora dates Steve, a white man closer to her age (and also her best friend's former boyfriend). Raymond dates Betty, a

Vietnamese American Vietnamese Americans ( vi, Người Mỹ gốc Việt, lit=Viet-origin American people) are Americans of Vietnamese ancestry. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest Asian American ethnic group after Chinese ...

colleague, who he soon discovers is haunted by her own past. Race and identity issues begin to surface as Raymond and Aurora try to start new lives, but remain drawn to their past.

Cast

as Raymond Ding * Allison Sie as Aurora Crane *

as Betty Nguyen *

as Brenda Nishitani *

as Steve * Sab Shimono as Wood Ding *

Michael Paul Chan Michael Paul Chan (born June 26, 1950) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Lieutenant Michael Tao on the TNT series ''The Closer'' and '' Major Crimes''. He also acted in '' U.S. Marshals'', playing an assassin. Biography Ch ...

as Jimmy Chan *

as Sylvia *

Ryan Cutrona Ryan Cutrona (born July 29, 1949) is an American actor. Career Ryan Cutrona is an American actor best known for playing gruff authority figures and military men in both dramatic and comedic roles in films and on television. The second son of ...

as Hank Crane *

Takayo Fischer Takayo Fischer (née Tsubouchi; born November 25, 1932) is an American stage, film and television actress, as well as voice actor, voice-over actress. Personal life Fischer was born in Hardwick, California, the youngest of four daughters of ''Iss ...

as Keiko Crane *

Annie Katsura Rollins Annie Katsura Rollins is an American artist, scenic designer, and puppeteer. She specializes in traditional Chinese shadow puppetry. Early life and education Rollins grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her mother is of Chinese and Japanese anc ...

as Julia Crane * Greg Watanabe as Young Wood * Stephen Bishop as Miles * Munda Razooki as Test Driver #1 * Nathaniel H. Taylor as Test Driver #2 * Tyler Hori as Little Raymond *

Michael Potter Michael Potter (born 24 September 1963) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the interim head coach of the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League, and a former professional rugby league football ...

as University Administrator * Carol Saraceno as Woman with Dog * Yuri Treschuck as Amerasian Youth at Bus Stop *

Jen Brown Jen is a feminineSebased on U.S. Social Security Records given name, frequently a shortened form (hypocorism) of Jennifer, and occasionally a surname. It may refer to: Given name People * Jen Adams (born 1979), Australian lacrosse coach and fo ...

as Rumana * Kayvon Esmaili as Brenda's Boyfriend at Party * Teddy Chen Culver as Rumana's Boyfriend * Pearl Wong as Helen Ding

Film festivals

2006

, in competition – Austin, TX * 24th

San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival CAAMFest, known prior to 2013 as the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), is presented every March in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States as the nation’s largest showcase for new Asian American and Asia ...

, Opening Night film – San Francisco, CA * 11th Chicago Asian American Showcase, Opening Night film – Chicago, IL * 22nd

VC FilmFest VC may refer to: Military decorations * Victoria Cross, a military decoration awarded by the United Kingdom and also by certain Commonwealth nations ** Victoria Cross for Australia ** Victoria Cross (Canada) ** Victoria Cross for New Zealand * Vic ...

, Closing Night film – Los Angeles, CA * 9th Aurora Asian Film Festival, Opening Night film – Aurora, CO * 32nd

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees. The SIFF runs for more th ...

– Seattle, WA * 7th DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival, Opening Night film – Washington, DC * 14th

Hamptons International Film Festival The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) is an international film festival founded in 1992, by Joyce Robinson. The festival has since taken place every year in East Hampton, New York. It is usually an annual five-day event in mid-October a ...

, in competition – East Hampton, NY * 26th

Hawaii International Film Festival The Hawai'i International Film Festival (HIFF) is an annual film festival held in the United States state of Hawaii. HIFF has a focus on Asian-Pacific cinema, education, and the work of new and emerging filmmakers. HIFF’s primary festival is h ...

– Honolulu, HI * 29th

Denver Film Festival The Denver Film Festival is held in November, primarily at the Denver Film Center/Colfax, in Denver, Colorado, now the Anna and John J. Sie FilmCenter (Sie FilmCenter). Premiere events are held in the Buell Theatre and Ellie Caulkins Opera House ...

– Denver, CO

2007

* 9th

Wisconsin Film Festival The Wisconsin Film Festival is an annual film festival, founded in 1999. The festival is held every April in Madison, Wisconsin, and has recently been expanded from five days to eights days. The Festival presents a broad range of independent Ameri ...

, Diaspora Melancholy: Asian American Films, co-presented by the Asian American Studies Program,

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

– Madison, WI

Critical reception

''Americanese'' was met with generally positive reviews. The film has a score of 67% with a certified "Fresh" rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 9 reviews. Acclaimed film critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

from the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' awarded the film 3 1/2 out of 4 stars and wrote of the film, saying "Byler deals with characters who have lived their years, learned from them, and try to apply their values to their lives. Their romances are not heedless but wary, and involve a lot of negotiation," and finished by calling the film "...uncommonly absorbing." Kevin Crust of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' in his review stated that ''Americanese'' had "fine, understated performances and the self-assured way that Byler lets the film find its own rhythms, rather than setting into some template, result in a mature film of subtle complexity".

Awards

* Audience Award – Best Narrative Feature –

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...

* Special Jury Prize – Outstanding Ensemble Cast –

* Golden Space Needle Audience Award – Best Actor, 2nd Runner-Up (

) –

2006 SIFF Award winners
on Alternative Film Guide

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 0402763
Roger Ebert review
at

in-depth critique by Stewart David Ikeda on IMDiversity.com

Shawn Wong and Eric Byler discuss "Americanese" on IMDiversity.com
2006 films 2006 independent films 2006 romantic drama films American independent films American romantic drama films Asian-American drama films Chinese-American films 2000s English-language films Films scored by Michael Brook Films about interracial romance Films about race and ethnicity Films based on American novels Films set in the United States 2000s American films