eplromeo8 LONG LIFE, HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY shares some qualities with some of its north of the border Reel 13 Canadian Indie counterparts. It is a slice of life multi-protagonist piece akin to the awful, but highly-rated WILBY WONDERFUL with the misguided mystical elements that were woven throughout A PROBLEM WITH FEAR. LLHP does a much better job in developing its characters than WILBY did and the mysticism in question is based on ancient Chinese culture and therefore, somehow seems less contrived and more elegant than the inexplicable technology-based type from FEAR. So, the script, on the whole, is decent. While there are several comedic moments that fall flat, there are many others that are genuinely funny in almost a Shakespearean way (one character's rendition of "Sometimes When We Touch" remains my fave). There are some structural deficiencies (neighbors' gossip as a form of exposition is never a good move), screenwriters Mina Shum and Dennis Foon paint their characters honestly and not a one of the three story lines seems to be favored over the others. Unfortunately, the performances in the film don't help to elevate the script in any way.In the blog for WILBY WONDERFUL, I alluded to my general distaste for Sandra Oh's work. In LONG LIFE, HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY, however, she towers over the other actors in the film, but that's not saying much. Almost every other actor (the main kid Mindy is okay – appropriately precocious) in the piece seems new to film acting. They all seem extremely uncomfortable, delivering their lines as if they didn't really believe them. While Oh is significantly stronger than the rest of the cast, she's not fabulous either. She has several good comic moments and a few good serious ones, but she really pushes during the very emotional moments and that's never fun to watch.There is plenty of charm in LONG LIFE, HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY, enough that I found myself wanting to like it more than I ultimately did. Overall, the premise of the film – that a little girl playing with ancient Chinese charms changes the fortunes of all the people around her – is a little hard to buy, but it's not dissimilar to the kind of farce you might find in more classical fare like Moliere or even ancient Greek comedies. At the end of the day, however, the performances sunk this ship. If you can't believe the characters whose story you're watching, it makes for a pretty rough journey. All the charm(s) in the world can't save you there.(Find out more about this film or other Reel 13 films on www.reel13.org)

MartinHafer This is a "slice of life" film about some people in the Chinese community of Vancouver. The leading characters are a single mom and her super-superstitious little girl. Because of the cute little girl's machinations, their lives become intertwined in the stories of several others in the neighborhood. I particularly enjoyed the unforeseen consequences that occur when the girl tries to slip her mother and a male friend a love potion.The film is very atypical compared to a Hollywood style film in that the plot is very slim and the emphasis is on people. Plus, not all the story lines are worked out perfectly--there are plenty of dangling plots that do not get resolved when the film concludes. Both these aspects of the film may put off many viewers, but if you appreciate independent and foreign films, this will not be a problem. As for me, I liked the characters and the way their lives were portrayed in such simple ways.This was a very enjoyable film--one I could have easily scored an 8. However, I also realize that my enjoyment of the film may just be because I am not an Asian and I didn't notice all the flaws in the way they portrayed the Chinese-Canadian community. I did feel rather perplexed that Sandra Oh was cast in the lead because I know she's of Korean decent--and it did seem very odd to have all the adults in the film speaking Chinese (I assume Cantonese) and yet she spoke almost none. She's a good actress but just seemed in the wrong element here. In addition, whether or not these superstitions, good luck charms, potions, etc. are real I have no idea and I could easily see people assuming this is typical for the community. According to Frank L.'s review, he was upset about the misrepresentations of his culture and I just have to assume the film makers took a lot of liberties about this.

Chad Shiira Thank the Taoist gods that twelve-year-old Mindy Lum(Valerie Tian) is a sweet, quiet girl who uses her magic powers for winning lottery ticket- numbers and matchmaking. Just look at the damage Mindy inadvertently creates for Shuck(Chang Tseng) with her mirrors and Chinese juju. The bad spirits that ricochet off mom, alights on this twilight security guard, whose sudden termination from his job leads him on a downward spiral that proves to be almost fatal. Mindy and her single mother Kin Ho(Sandra Oh) belong to a different narrative from Shuck's, but they dovetail, as does the other two parallel stories from time-to-time, like how you bump into people who live in your neighborhood. Sometimes you exchange waves, sometimes you stop to chat. In the remaining story that completes the triad of Canadian-Chinese narratives is an upstart monk who Mindy never meets. "Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity" approaches religion from a position of being faith-based(Peter, the son of a cook, feels but never truly experiences...), and a position from which religion has an actual effect on the physical world(...what Mindy experiences, who changes the fortunes of her Canadian neighbors by reading a book on Taoist magic). "Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity" rests on the young shoulders of first-time actress Valerie Tian, who has an ancient Chinese secret to acting, which is helpful to any pre-pubescent actor, regardless of ethnicity, to survive the here today, gone tomorrow world of thespians-too-young-to-drive. Don't smile. In other words, if cute is your aim, your five minutes will be up pretty fast. Tian acts older than she looks. She is from the anti-Cindy Brady school of acting, and the now-eighteen-year-old(old-enough-to-drive) Canadian is, not surprisingly, still working. She's Su-Chin in "Juno". You know, the lone anti-abortionist who chants, "All babies want to get borned!"

zwirnm A sweet but slight portrait of Chinese-Canadian community outside Vancouver, Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity benefits from two wonderful leads — Sandra Oh and Valerie Tian – but comes out a bit short everywhere else. Oh (who is really Korean-Canadian, but who's counting) plays the harried single mother of Mindy (Tian), an adorably geeky twelve year-old. Mindy is desperate to fix her mom up with an eligible bachelor (Russell Yuen) who works with her at a Chinese restaurant, and turns to Chinese traditional medicine and Taoist magic. In the meantime, other members of the community struggle with family strife, economic hardship, and conflicting values. Only the romantic mother-daughter story, and a story about a son who turns to religion rather than working in the family butcher shop, are really interesting. The rest is kind of a muddle — interesting in its way, but failing to contribute to the plot.Because of Sandra Oh's recent high-profile appearances in Sideways and Grey's Anatomy this might get improved distribution on DVD. I got it through the filmmovement.com series.