
MR. APPLE SEED. Dung, played by Steven Liu, shows off his big wad of cash in
Simply FOBulous. (Photo courtesy of Wok N Roll Productions)
From The Asian Reporter, V16, #7 (February 14, 2006), page 13.
Mrs. Mai’s potent import
Simply FOBulous: A romantic comedy about one more American trade deficit
Simply FOBulous
Directed by Richard Cranor
Original concept/Produced by Nhien Nguyen
Wok N Roll Productions, 2005
By Polo
Many things — Texas soy and tidy Toyotas — ship freely across our big
deep blue. Foreign commerce is central to every vigorous economy. Best for
the U.S. would be a healthy give and take of goods, but our imports way
exceed our exports. Simply FOBulous only deepens America’s scary
trade imbalance by one more precious commodity: dignity.
Sure, the film’s producer, Portland homegirl Nhien Nguyen’s most obvious
plot line has to do with what would be a Cherry Blossom catalogue purchase
if her mail-order spouse were female. But there’s deeper subtext: Something
essential is obviously lost in suburban Seattle, in less than one immigrant
generation. It is something restored by the young Viet man actually bought
by the anxious Mrs. Mai. For the sake of propriety, let’s call him an Apple
Seed. It is a terrific premise.
These are important issues, but this is mostly an irreverently funny
movie. The manly import, the immigrant character Dung (played with
compelling reserve by Steven Liu), is expected to be so many things by so
many needy family members. Mom hopes she’s buying back her youth, Dad dreams
about purchasing a piece of Old Saigon, the sisters think they’re getting a
fobby boy toy. Their antics are terrific. But none of them took Dung’s Viet
integrity into account. The point is subtle; the point is important.
The serious issues can be lost in Simply FOBulous because of the
film’s steady stream of Southeast Asian insider humor. "Oh my God, your
name’s really Bich Ho?" one of the clueless sisters chirps at her Pedi-Spa
attendant, her elder. A man intent on picking his nose turns to shake
another’s hand: "Vietnamese handshake." Daughters inevitably falling for an
Asian mother’s culturally compulsive melodrama despite knowing better. It
all hurts a bit, but it’s so good to laugh.
Also good is knowing that we have a bright and brave generation of
Asian-American artists holding high a mirror, holding sharp a focus on
what’s silly, what’s grave, and what’s true. Simply FOBulous is
filmmaker Nhien Nguyen’s third cinematic credit; she also directed The
Life & Times of MC Beer Bong (2004) and Hamburgers & Salsa
(2003).
Ms. Nhien grew up in suburban Portland before attending Macalester
College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her father is the Honorable Ban Van Nguyen,
a retired intelligence officer of the Republic of South Vietnam Navy and a
veteran Vietnamese community advocate. She is currently editor-in-chief of
Seattle’s International Examiner.
Simply FOBulous was an Official Selection at the Austin Asian Film
Festival and the Vancouver Asian Film Festival. It plays as an official
selection at Eugene’s inaugural DisOrient Asian American Film
Festival of Oregon on February 18, with the producer and director present.
Nota: FOB or fobby is an acronym for Fresh Off the Boat: a certain
aesthetic, or lack of it. |