Long Life, Happiness Prosperity

Starring:Long Life Happiness & Prosperity
Studio: Film Movement
Product Type: DVD

Product Description

The festival award-winning Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity - is the January selection in The Film Movement Series. In LONG LIFE, HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY, twelve-year old Mindy Ho (Valerie Tian) tries Taoist magic to fix her single mothers (Sandra Oh) financial situation and seemingly hopeless romantic prospects. Mindys misdirected charms appear to cause an aging security guard to lose his job and a local butcher to win the lottery. The guard, the butcher and her mothers stories all intersect, bound together by Mindys attempts at magic intervention. Set in the Chinese Canadian community, LONG LIFE, HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY is a story of hope and the importance of keeping faith in this sometimes difficult world. Subscribers to Film Movement receive an award-winning film to own each month on DVD.

Customer Reviews:

Delightful & Lighthearted.......2007-02-18

I saw this film as part of Magnolia Arts Center's film series. It's a delightful lighthearted tale about Asian immigrants. Sandra Oh who has won two Best Actress Genie Awards (Canada's Oscar) for "Double Happiness," also with director Mina Shum, & "Last Night" & had her breakthrough in "Sideways" and now is known for "Grey's Anatomy" TV series is edgy with wit and humor as the preoccupied single mother Kin Ho. Her daughter Mindy played by Valerie Tian who was also in "Wake of Death" with Jean Claude Van Damme does a wonderful job as the edgy young girl who experiments with Chinese magic, not always with the result she intends. Mindy's goal is to end her mother's unhappiness by having her marry Alvin played by Russell Yuen. In so doing, Mindy's magic causes a security guard to lose his job and almost commit suicide. Yuen has also appeared in films "Bulletproof Monk," "The Human Stain," & "Eye of the Beholder" with Ashley Judd & Ewan McGregor. Ric Young who was in "The Corrupter" and "The Transporter" does a good job as a butcher whose pride alienates his wife & son. Shot in Vancouver, "Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity" is an excellent evening filled with humor (chasing the duck) & the reality of families caring about each other while getting through the demands of paying the bills. Seek & you shall find! Enjoy!

DVD review........2005-09-19

This is among the most wonderful, heart-warming films I have ever seen. The screenplay writing is excellent. The acting, particularly by Sandra Oh and by the child who palys her daughter, are brilliant. I highly recommend this film.

An Enchanted Experience .......2005-08-03

This is not the greatest, deepest film in the world, but it is immense fun. If anything, it reminds me of Shakespearian comedies such as A Midsummer Night's Dream, or the occasional magically whimsical European film such as King of Hearts. I saw it in theatre, knew nothing of what to expect (other than that I'd liked the Mina Shum / Sandra Oh team in "Double Happiness"), and was utterly enchanted. My only disappointment was that it was a 1-day run so I couldn't go back the next night.

Since Amazon doesn't provide a review or plot summary, I'll give what I can remember. Sandra Oh is Kin Ho Lum (gleaned from imdb; I don't know if her name is ever mentioned), a recently-divorced mother who has retreated to Vancouver's Chinese district where she washes dishes, studiously avoids involvement with men, and seems in general depressed and licking her wounds. Her 10'ish daughter Mindy (Valerie Tan, in a classic upstaging) is withdrawn and serious, trying to compensate for her vulnerability and powerlessness by turning to traditional Chinese magic, of a dimestore sort (equivalent to newspaper astrology columns vs. serious charts).

Mindy tries to use her magic to help many situations, from winning a lottery to bringing her mother and the nice guy she works with together, to finding a friend's lost turtle, but is disappointed when the magic doesn't seem to work. The camera, though, (and we) see that her spells and potions often do work but go hilariously astray, leading to much confusion. (The comparison to Midsummer Night's Dream was considered.)

Misplaced spell after misplaced spell stirs the pot, until in the end it is all sorted out with great panache and gaiety.

Oh's performance is good, bringing her usual edgy nuance to the role, and the ensemble cast is mostly quite good. But the true star is Valerie Tan with her owl-eyed, deadpan seriousness.

This film may not be to everyone's taste, but it certainly cast its spell over me.

Disappointing.......2005-01-18

Maybe this movie is decent in the original language, but watching it with subtitles was a complete disappointment. Expect crude writing with a fragmented plot where at the end you don't see a point to much of it. Also expect to see magic spells causing people to act dumb, as well as an odd plot causing people to act dumb.

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