Come See the Paradise (1990)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Alan Parker

Writer (WGA):

Alan Parker (written by)

Release Date:

January 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | Romance | War

Tagline:

In 1942, over 100,000 Americans were interned in prison camps.....In America.

Plot:

Portraying one of the shadier details of American history, this is the story of Jack McGurn, who comes to Los Angeles in 1936...

Plot Keywords:

Wedding Ceremony | Loss Of Brother | Japanese American | Burn Victim | Jeep

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Dennis Quaid	...	Jack McGurn
Tamlyn Tomita	...	Lily Yuriko Kawamura / McGann
Sab Shimono	...	Hiroshi Kawamura
Shizuko Hoshi	...	Mrs. Kawamura
Stan Egi	...	Charlie Kawamura
Ronald Yamamoto	...	Harry Kawamura
Akemi Nishino	...	Dulcie Kawamura
Naomi Nakano	...	Joyce Kawamura
Brady Tsurutani	...	Frankie Kawamura
Elizabeth Gilliam	...	Younger Mini McGann
Shyree Mezick	...	Middle Mini McGann
Caroline Junko King	...	Older Mini McGann
Pruitt Taylor Vince	...	Augie Farrell
Colm Meaney	...	Gerry McGurn
Becky Ann Baker	...	Marge McGurn

Runtime:

138 min | 133 min (FMC Library Print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:M | Iceland:L | Singapore:PG | Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:11 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Astoria, Oregon, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the destroying Japanese businesses scene, the "I am an American" sign is printed as if from a professional printers.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Older Mini McGann: Why are we so early?
Lily Yuriko Kawamura: It's good to early.
Older Mini McGann: Do you ever worry that you won't recognize him, Mama?
Lily Yuriko Kawamura: You recgnize me, don't you?
Older Mini McGann: Well, he might have grown a beard or a moustache or something. And I was so little. I only think I remember him. Do you think he'll remember me?
Lily Yuriko Kawamura: Well, he has all your photographs and all the letters you wrote him, and he has all your school reports
Older Mini McGann: You sent him my school reports?
Lily Yuriko Kawamura: Of course I did. I wanted to let him know how well you were doing. Come on, now. I got some tea and rice cakes here. We'll have a nice talk while we're walking, okay? Let's go.
Older Mini McGann: How far do we have to walk?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Features Oshidori utagassen (1939)

Soundtrack:

(It Will Have to Do) Until the Real Thing Comes Along

not bad melodrama, good performances, decent substance

Of all places, I remember seeing this film in an English class in senior year of High School (something to do with civil rights, not really to do with the quality of writing per-say), to give all the sides to the problems of equality in the American experience. Come See the Paradise does chronicle a crucial blunder during the second world war- the kind of lesson to be learned from it that does need to be learned in regards to the present- though I could imagine a better film being made at some point on the subject. This is the big chunk of it, anyway, the one that would get spoken of if passed along to someone as a one-line note. But there's also a romantic plot to it, relating the experience so that it's personal and not just an abstract form of a nightmarish reality.

Dennis Quaid and Tamlyn Tomita play the romantic interest of the picture, Quaid playing a regular Joe who comes to work at a movie theater in Little Tokyo, meets the boss's daughter played by Tomita, and soon they fall for each other quite deeply. But as it's forbidden by the girl's father, they still try and sneak away anyway to have their love. Then come the internment camps, the camps created as a homegrown quasi concentration camp for the Japanese, where in Lily is once again with her family, away from her great love. It isn't exactly the most sunny of entertainments, and Alan Parker's writing is nowhere near the level of finesse and maturity his direction has, but there could be a lot worse as far as bludgeoning-over-the-head movie-making. I can also see, from my recollection, that it is understandably one of the least seen of Parker's films.