Chan Is Missing (The Criterion Collection) (Blu-ray) by Oktay Ege Kozak The Movie:As an Immigrant to the USA, I can sympathize with the inner conflict that almost all immigrants have when it comes to living in the unique cultural melting pot that is this country. How much do we assimilate to American culture and leave our past identity behind? How many of us are immigrants, and how much is a citizen? And what does the concept of American culture mean anyway, when the point of the country is that it's made up of various different cultures and races that (hopefully) believe in an ideology of democracy and personal freedom?The two protagonists of Wayne Wang's ultra low budget DIY 1982 noir/drama Chan is Missing, the comical uncle-nephew duo Jo (Wood Moy) and Steve (Marc Hayashi), meditate on these questions as they go on a wild goose chase across San Francisco's Chinatown, looking for their friend Chan who suddenly disappeared with the money meant for...Read the entire review »

Love Slaves of the Amazons (Blu-ray) by Stuart Galbraith IV When the impetus driving the production of a movie is leftover film stock, it's unlikely the resulting work will rival Citizen Kane. The story goes that after making Curucu, Beast of the Amazon (1956), hardly cinematic gold itself, producer-writer-director Curt Siodmak found himself with 10,000 feet of unused color film stock, and built Love Slaves of the Amazons around this unexpected surplus. Under those circumstances, and with a title like that, mediocrity would seem inevitable, and so it is. It's odd that Kino would release Love Slaves and not Curucu, at least not yet. That film is reportedly one of the great disappointments of 1950s fantasy cinema, with its notorious cop-out dénouement. Still, one imagines a die-hard if tiny audience for Curucu and a virtually nonexistent one for Love Slaves, though the movie is not without interest. It's...Read the entire review »