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September 9 - 16, 1999

[Boston Film Festival]

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Old Man River

A Phoenix pick

Cyndy Fujikawa is the kind of person you'd want sitting next to you at a dinner party: warm, witty, and a great storyteller. And, boy, does she have a story to tell. In Old Man River, Allan Holzman's filmed version of her stage show, Fujikawa embarks on a multimedia monologue that would give Spalding Gray a run for his money. The story revolves around Fujikawa's search for the truth about of Jerry Fujikawa, her late father. With the aid of film clips, photos, and a marvelous knack for mimickry, she traces Jerry's shadowy family life, his career as a bit-part actor (he played "Oriental characters" in movies and TV shows), and his internment during WW2.

What could have been a self-indulgent, preachy, dull enterprise is instead quirky, touching, and gripping -- all thanks to Fujikawa's narrative skills. Her chronological meandering weaves elements of the story in delightfully surprising ways. She avoids sentimentality by switching from pathos to irony in a heartbeat. Most important, she finds universality in her very personal tale. Like all good storytellers, Fujikawa isn't only talking to you, in some sense she's talking about you. Screens at the Copley Place Monday, September 13 at 6:45 p.m. and Tuesday, September 14 at 11:45 a.m. and 1:45 p.m. Actor/producer Cynthia Gates Fujikawa and director/producer Allan Holzman will be present at tonight's showing.

-- Chris Wright


Film Festival Feature Films

| The Minus Man | The Tavern | Black Eyed Dog | The Last September | A Wake in Providence | Man of the Century | Pups | Dreaming of Joseph Leeds | Wisdom of Crocodiles | That's The Way I Like It | American Beauty | Mifune | Black Cat, White Cat | Hit and Runway | All the LIttle Animals | Me Myself I | The Alchemist and the Virgin | Trash | Old Man River | The Poet and the Con | Snow Falling on Cedars | Guinevere | East is East | American Movie | Rivers of Babylon | Two Ninas | Rats | Keepers of the Frame | The Runner |


More Boston Film Festival information, film descriptions, and show times



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