In a recent interview with GQ, Hong Kong star Donnie Yen noted that Caine, his character in the upcoming action movie John Wick: Chapter 4, was originally given a more common Chinese name. The choice upset Yen, who successfully lobbied for the character’s name to be changed. “Why does he always have to be called Shang or Chang?” he said in an interview. “Why do you have to be so general?”
Ah! Years ago, after resigning myself to my own plain, boring monosyllabic surname, I read this story with no little pleasure. And I’ve thought about it more than once during “Chang Can Dunk,” an entertaining, thoroughly generic Disney+ movie about a 5’8″ Chinese-American teenager who tries to do something that will make high school rivals, YouTube commentators and basic physiology become rude. suggest he can’t.
Here, of course, the generic serves a higher purpose. Recycling, long one of Hollywood’s favorite pastimes, has also become its favorite abbreviation for supposedly more inclusive storytelling. Ultimately, the logic goes, even long-marginalized Asian-American viewers can see a version of themselves in the kind of conventional, purely inspirational, underdog sports drama long denied to them. progress, right?
Kind of. As exhausting as it can be to see old stories repackaged in new colors, the practice can and does have culturally enlightening rewards. Jingyi Shao’s screenplay (which he also expertly directed) may lean towards beat and over-the-top acting, but for the most part, 16-year-old Chang (Bloom Li) is refreshingly difficult to type. He is smart and versatile, athletic and musical; he can be stupid, clumsy, charming, arrogant, shy and outspoken. No one is calling him a racist insult (or considering calling him anything other than Chang, his last name became a nickname), but stereotyped assumptions about Asian masculinity hang in the air he breathes.
Those assumptions are, in part, why he makes a silly bet with his basketball star nemesis, Matt (Chase Liefeld): By Homecoming week, Chang promises to swing in front of the whole school. Kristy (Zoe Renee), a fellow marching band drummer turned fleeting love interest, and Deandre (Dexter Darden), a “two-time Estonian League MVP” turned Verizon store employee and Chang’s coach, cheer him on. Insane Workouts and Spicy Workout Montages Follow: Chang doesn’t have to tow a plane like Michael B. Jordan in “Creed III,” even if he eventually becomes a monster gobbling up bench presses, box springs, and protein shakes.
With a little help from his tech-savvy best friend Bo (Ben Wang), he also becomes a social media star, turning an outsider’s story into a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of viral fame and insatiable ego. Chang’s downward spiral, while paved with brief appearances from some NBA and ESPN stars, is a bit slow, and while predictable, redemption comes through a strangely unsatisfying final shot (to any degree). Until then, the actors at least keep things going: Renee, Wang, and especially Darden make an excellent supporting team, and Li is a confident actor to make Chang a none-too-likable protagonist.
The film’s most clumsily dramatized scenes, in which Chang clashes with his hard-working single mother (Mardy Ma), are also the most compelling, rooted in Chang’s frustration that he can’t seem to say or do anything without sensing her reflexes. sin to earn. and judgment. Like many Asian-American child-parent duos, Chang and his mother bridge not only a generational gap, but a cultural one as well, leaving Mom with the film’s best and funniest line: “Why skinny? what can you Doing with that thin thing?!”
What indeed. But utility isn’t everything, and Chang Can Dunk recognizes that pursuing fun, seemingly frivolous goals can be meaningful in its own right, especially when undertaken with the loving encouragement of friends and family. It also knows there is a time to shine and a time to retreat, though the real lesson is one some of us have long taken to heart: be the change you want to see in the world.
Source: LA Times