The first time I saw the snappy trailer for White on Rice, I knew I had to see it. It simply made me laugh, and I couldn’t think of any other feature-length comedy that centers around Japanese American characters.
The line was crawling down the block when I went to a preview screening hosted by Visual Communications on September 9, 2009, at the Laemmle’s Playhouse 7 in Pasadena. While I was in line, the director/co-screenwriter, Dave Boyle, walked over, cradling a big plastic bag of something blue. It turned out to be a pile of White on Rice ballpoint pens, and he and the lead actor, Hiroshi Watanabe, were passing out swag and chatting it up with fans.
When the movie opened later that week, it seemed to me like all the press focused on Dave and Hiroshi, as well as supporting actors, James Kyson Lee and Lynn Chen. I thought it was a bit of a shame that little attention was paid to Mio Takada who plays the main character’s brother-in-law, Tak.
Jimmy is that main character, and no way did I root for him because he’s a total stalker. But Tak? Now that’s the guy I rooted for because he straight up always wanted Jimmy to get the hell out of his house. He’s like the best korokke, stern and crunchy on the outside but a big warm softy on the inside. Some of the best bits in the film show how Tak tries to close up the growing distance between himself and his wife and young son.
During the question and answer session after the preview screening, I learned that Mio pulled all this off while dealing with medical issues, and he had a heart AND kidney transplant 14 months after the shoot ended. Say what? Major!
The q&a session also showed that Dave is a pretty funny guy, and he and Hiroshi seem to have a nice working relationship. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Dave’s work, especially since it looks like he’ll always have cameos by this hilarious actor named Pepe Serna. The video below mentions a silly scene in Dave’s previous film with Pepe, Big Dreams Little Tokyo, which you can see here.
Video of White on Rice Q&A with Dave Boyle & Cast
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