Arts Emerson brought back to life the local classic narrative film, “Freckled Rice,” on Feb. 18 at the Bright Family Screening Room over the Paramount Theater in a screening that included the documentary short, “Our Chinatown.”
“We have found a diamond that was in someone’s treasure box and unearthed it,” said Susan Chinsen, creative producer at Arts Emerson, who is also the director of the Boston Asian American Film Festival.
“Freckled Rice” is the coming-of-age story of a 13-year-old boy named Joe Soo, who navigates through life in Boston’s Chinatown in the 1960s and attempts to find his place in the world as a Chinese American. The film was directed by Stephen C. Ning, shot in 1980, and released in 1983. “Freckled Rice” was shot mainly in Boston’s Chinatown and in the Greater Boston Area and provides a fascinating glimpse into the neighborhood’s past.
The film starts with a vignette of family photos and opens on young Joe as he and his family prepare to leave Chinatown and move to New Hampshire for financial security. Joe hangs out with his friend at a wedding, getting into minor mischief. After the wedding, Joe’s mother admonishes him to behave and not irritate his father so much. The next day Joe goes fishing with his grandfather and they catch an eel. Joe’s Grandpa says, “your mother doesn’t know how to cook these; I’ll bring them back to my neighbor.”
Later, Joe’s father comes home irritated that he found out Joe was spending time with his grandfather — after the neighbor thanked the father for the eel. Joe’s parents argue about Joe and his increasing bond with his grandfather.
The following day Joe goes to visit his brother who is estranged from the family and living on his own, while working at a music studio. Joe spends some time with his brother, drinking Coke, listening to jazz and rock music, and sneaking into a swimming pool — intending to live with him instead of returning home to his parents. Joe’s parents realize he is gone and have a fight about his father being too harsh on the boys. His mother says “When they’re good, they’re yours … when they speak up you kick them out. You want full control of Joe in New Hampshire.”
Joe’s friend eventually tells his parents where Joe has gone. Joe leaves his brother’s house and goes to see his grandfather who tells him how he buys the cheaper rice that has flawed grains in it, and he picks out the freckled rice as a metaphor for life. Joe’s grandfather talks to him about his relationship with his parents and encourages Joe to return home. Joe eventually returns to the empty apartment where he finds his father waiting for him. They have a tender exchange and Joe leaves with his father, stepping into his new future. The film is mostly told from the perspective of Joe, yet the audience gets glimpses of the perspective of his parents, brother, and grandfather which really serves to fill out the story.
The 11-minute documentary, “Our Chinatown,” was directed by Kenneth Eng and Curtis Chin. It follows advocate Paul W. Lee as he returns to Chinatown to help build affordable housing. The short starts with Paul saying, “The Chinatown area is under severe threat from gentrification and commercial development.” Like Freckled Rice, “Our Chinatown” is a valuable glimpse into the community and the lives of the activists who fight to keep it vibrant. It is one of four vignettes in a collection of documentary shorts that explore Chinatowns across the US.
The screening was followed by a panel discussion featuring the voices of some of the film makers and local community activists. It was an informative time, with Arts Emerson gathering different voices from the community to speak on topics relating to life in Chinatown and to discuss the films.
“Am I still acting? I’ve been an attorney for 20 something years, so the answer is ‘yes!’ said JP Wang, who played Joe Soo in “Freckled Rice,’ ‘ updating the audience on the trajectory of his acting career since the 1980s.
He explained that he originally read for the part of Joe’s friend yet was cast as Joe. Yuet-Fung Ho (co-producer/assistant director for “Freckled Rice”) told the audience that she hopes to get funding to find a master of “Freckled Rice” so that it can be remastered and hopes to have it entered into the Library of Congress. She went on to explain that she had gone on to marry director Stephen C. Ning, and they had a child together before he passed away while working on his second film. She told the audience that the script had to be changed to Cantonese and the actor who played the grandfather had to be dubbed because he spoke in Mandarin.
“It was kind of unusual at that time to have that kind of film released,” she said.
She added that the cast and crew helped to fund the project “we all put in our own money and a lot of the cast deferred payment.” When asked what it meant to be included in the panel she responded “I think I really feel being loved by the community. I feel like I’m being able to connect with the community. And I hope the presentation and also the talk would be inspiring for some people and inspiring for me, too, of course!”
The other panelists were Kenneth Eng (co-director of “Our Chinatown”), Paul W. Lee (community leader, subject of “Our Chinatown”), Mary Chin (Executive Director of the Asian American Civic
Association), and Miaoyi Hu (student activist). Ken spoke of the struggle to find funding for the “Our Chinatown” series across New York City, Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco. He spoke of the struggle of narrowing the focus of the series to one person per episode because, “it was hard to choose just one person to highlight.”
Miaoyi said she liked the film: “It really fits with what I’ve experienced in Chinatown.”
She clarified that she moved there as a 3-year-old and had a difficult time adapting to the community. Paul said it’s “really interesting how Joe and his father tried to communicate…it also resonated how his mom was the go-between.”
Mary spoke of the Asian American Civic Association and how it was the first agency serving the Chinese population 60 years ago. She explained that Chinatowns have disappeared and for the people who live in Massachusetts the work continues “in a very noble way and will continue with the people in this room.”
After the panel, Sampan asked Kenneth how he felt being included. “It was pretty amazing,” he said. “[It was] an honor to share the screen. I had a short film called Our Chinatown Boston, and we opened for Freckled Rice, which is a legendary, classic film from the Asian American movement and to be able to share the screen with my short film is unbelievable! Truly an honor!” When asked about his upcoming projects he said “We’re helping to build a heritage center at the old Quincy school on Oxford Street. It’s a big oral history project, which is the start of a big walking tour in Chinatown where you’ll be able to access the history of Boston’s Chinatown. So hopefully when people come to Chinatown, they’re here for more than food. They can get a little information, too.”
JP Wang was asked what it meant to be included in the panel and he shared “I guess I’m honored. I’m always still surprised at the relevance and the significance of the movie, and I’m happy that it still has an impact. I’m always shocked when I see so many people. So, I guess honored to be on the panel. I’m happy to sort of voice the way I see things from my position currently.”
