Combination Platter
Picture: C-
Sound: C+ Extras: C- Film: B-
We have been thrilled Warner Bros. finally got around to
issuing Michael Cimino’s Year Of The Dragon (1985) and even added a
Cimino commentary, but that is not the end of films about Chinatown. There is the underseen and underrated Now
Chinatown (reviewed elsewhere on this site) and now we take on Tony Chan’s
1993 indie film Combination Platter, which deals with illegal immigrants
in New York’s Chinatown trying to make it in America and how that does not
always work out.
Unlike the love story in Now Chinatown, Robert
(Jeffrey Lau) is just trying to stay in the country and is willing to marry
Claire (Colleen O’Brien) just to get a green card. It then becomes the usual race to beat bureaucracy and that would
usually be predictable and even clichéd, but Combination Platter has a
certain amount of heart, soul and realism that saves it from mediocrity. Chan has some directorial talent and the
praise it received was worthy and deserving.
It holds up well enough, though it has dated a bit. Otherwise, it is the kind of real
independent film the boutique subdivisions of major studios should be making
more often.
The letterboxed 1.85 X 1 image is in bad shape, with
detail troubles, color trouble and lack of depth in many shots. Yoshifumi Hosoya’s cinematography is good
and deserves better than it gets here.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has no surrounds, playing better. The only extras are trailers for this and a
few other Koch Lorber titles on DVD. I
wonder what happened to these actors and director? This one deserved more extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
