Chan Is Missing. 1982. USA. Directed by Wayne Wang. Screenplay by Wang, Isaac Cronin, Terrel Seltzer. With Wood Moy, Marc Hayashi, Laureen Chew. DCP. In English, Cantonese, Mandarin. 76 min.
Wayne Wang’s gentle film noir—made for $20,000—struck a chord with audiences in 1982 not only for its charm and craft but for the way it represented Asian Americans on-screen. Gone are the laundry workers and butlers, who are replaced here by Wood Moy’s taxi driver Jo and his nephew Steve, played with twinkling confidence by Marc Hayashi. Chan, a middleman, has disappeared with Jo and Steve’s cash, which was intended for a taxi license and a piece of the American dream. As in all good noirs, the journey’s the thing, and Wang follows his characters through San Francisco’s Chinatown as they hunt for Chan, smoking cigarettes and debating politics while they talk to the usual suspects. Wang smoothly folds in a cast of characters that speaks to the diversity of the Chinese American existence—and his talents as a storyteller.