The Paradise We Are Looking For

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the San Diego Asian Film Festival the opening night film was one produced by the Pacific Arts Movement which is the same group behind the film festival itself. The Paradise We Are Looking For is a collection of 4 miniature documentaries looking at different asian stories around San Diego from a community still suffering from a tragic event from over a decade ago, a young funeral director who has to deal with planning her own fathers funeral once he passes, a look at those who come to a small karaoke restaurant, and a high school reunion for a self described "ghetto" school. Clearly the main drawing point for this documentary is that it represents a community the people at the film festival can relate to. If you are from San Diego it is going to mean something seeing places you have connections to and can identify with, this was confirmed by the speaker who introduced the film who spoke about the impact the book The Gangster We Are All Looking For  had for him with the same presence. With this though I do have to say the range of this film is limited considering I doubt someone would get much out of it if they didn't have that connection to San Diego.

In the attempt to build the atmosphere of the city the film unfortunately suffered from some weaker editing. The film clearly wants to create its atmosphere and tone through lingering shots and interviews which works to a point but it always felt like thy pushed a bit too long with these scenes. Every segment seemed like it went on just a bit too long and ended up making the film feel longer than it should have only clocking in at 90 minutes. Despite this though for the beginning and body of most of these segments did work very well. From heartbreaking emotion to laugh out loud humor, this really is an effective look at the ranges of the human condition and emotion. If you are from San Diego this film will connect with you and be an overall good time, if it had cleaner editing though it could reach another level and truly be something great. As of now I would say it was "really good" again if you can relate to this location, if not I would just say to skip this one if you somehow end up getting the chance to see it.

Overall Grade: B+