''Come See the Paradise'' is a 1990 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

written and directed by Alan Parker, and starring Dennis Quaid and

Tamlyn Tomita Tamlyn Naomi Tomita (born January 27, 1966) is a Japanese-American actress and singer. She made her screen debut as Kumiko in ''The Karate Kid Part II'' (1986) and reprised the character for the streaming series ''Cobra Kai'' (2021). She is also ...

. Set before and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the film depicts the treatment of

Japanese American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...

s in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

following the attack on

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

, and the subsequent loss of

civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...

within the framework of a love story.

Plot

In the early 1950s, Lily Kawamura tells her pre-adolescent daughter Mini about her father and the life that she barely remembers, as the two of them are walking to a rural train station. In 1936, Jack McGurn is a

motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

projectionist, involved in a campaign of harassment against non-

union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

theaters in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. One such attack turns fatal, as one of his fellow union members starts a fire. McGurn's boss, knowing that the feelings of guilt would likely cause Jack to go to the police, urges him to leave the city. Jack moves to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

where his brother Gerry lives. Jack's role as a "

sweatshop A sweatshop or sweat factory is a crowded workplace with very poor, socially unacceptable or illegal working conditions. Some illegal working conditions include poor ventilation, little to no breaks, inadequate work space, insufficient lighting, o ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

" strains an already-rocky relationship with Gerry who is willing to have any job, barely keeping his family afloat during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. Taking the name McGann, Jack finds a job as a non-union projectionist in a movie theater run by a

family by the name of Kawamura. He falls in love with Lily, his boss' daughter. Forbidden to see one another by her Issei parents and banned from marrying by

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

law, the couple elopes to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, where they marry and have a daughter, Mini. When

breaks out, Lily and their daughter are caught up in the

Japanese American internment Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, rounded up and sent to Manzanar, California. Jack, away on a trip, is drafted into the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

with no chance to help his family prepare for their imprisonment. Finally visiting the camp, he arranges a private meeting with his wife's father, telling him that he has gone AWOL and wants to stay with them, whatever they have to go through. They are ''his'' family now and he belongs with them. The older man counsels him to return to the Army, and says that he now believes that Jack is truly in love with Lily, and a worthy husband. Returning, ready to face his punishment for desertion, he is met by FBI agents, who have identified "McGann" as being the McGurn wanted for his part in the arson of years before. Finally, in the 1950s, the train arrives and Lily and Mini reunite with Jack, who has served his time in prison and is now returning to his family.

Title

The title of the film is inspired by a line of the short poem ''"I Hear The Oriole's Always-Grieving Voice"'' by Russian poet Anna Akhmatova, which ends with the following lines: Writer Alan Parker was unable to locate Akhmatova's original poem and wrote his own poem before writing the script to try and say what the film would say:

Cast

Reception

On review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has a 'fresh' 64% rating based on 11 reviews, with an average rating of 5.5/10. Noted '' Chicago Sun Times'' critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave it 3 stars out of 4 and wrote that "''Come See the Paradise'' is a fable to remind us of how easily we can surrender our liberties, and how much we need them." The film was entered into the

1990 Cannes Film Festival The 43rd Cannes Film Festival was held from 10 to 21 May 1990 in film, 1990. The Palme d'Or went to ''Wild at Heart (film), Wild at Heart'' by David Lynch. The festival opened with ''Dreams (1990 film), Dreams'', directed by Akira Kurosawa and clo ...

Awards and nominations

Oscar bait

A 2014 study by Gabriel Rossman and Oliver Schilke, two sociologists at the

University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

(UCLA), identified ''Come See the Paradise'' as the most deliberate example of

Oscar bait Oscar bait is a term used in the film community for movies that appear to have been produced for the sole purpose of earning nominations for Academy Awards or "Oscars", as they are commonly known. They are usually released just in advance of Oscar ...

in their study of 3,000 films released since 1985. The identification is based on various elements calculated to be likely to draw Oscar nominations, including the previous nominations of Parker, the film's setting in Hollywood (including Quaid's projectionist character), and its depiction of a tragic historical event against the background of war and

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

. It was only released in a few cities during the last week of that year to make it eligible for the awards. However, it was not nominated for any Oscars and failed at the box office.

Home video releases

The VHS tape was released June 12, 1991. The DVD version was released June 6, 2006 and included a 2-sided disc: *Side A: Movie, audio commentary by writer/director Sir Alan Parker *Side B: ''Images of Come See the Paradise'' featurette, ''The Making of the Film'' essay by Sir Alan Parker, ''Rabbit in the Moon'' 1999 documentary, theatrical trailers The film made its

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

debut in November 2012 in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Soundtrack legacy

A track from the film's score by Randy Edelman titled "Fire in a Brooklyn Theater" became an oft used

musical cue In musical notation, a cue note is or cue notes are indications informing players, "of important passages being played by other instruments, uch as anentrance after a long period of rest."McGrain, Mark (1990). ''Music Notation'', p.183. Hal L ...

for the trailers of other films, including those for '' A Few Good Men'', '' Thirteen Days'', '' Clear and Present Danger'', '' Patriot Games'', '' The Sum of All Fears'', ''

Devil In A Blue Dress ''Devil in a Blue Dress'' is a 1990 hardboiled mystery novel by Walter Mosley, his first published book. The text centers on the main character, Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins, and his transformation from a day laborer into a detective. Plot Set ...

'', '' Rob Roy'', '' The Chamber'', ''

Instinct Instinct is the inherent inclination of a living organism towards a particular complex behaviour, containing both innate (inborn) and learned elements. The simplest example of an instinctive behaviour is a fixed action pattern (FAP), in which a v ...

'', and ''

Cry, The Beloved Country ''Cry, the Beloved Country'' is a 1948 novel by South African writer Alan Paton. Set in the prelude to apartheid in South Africa, it follows a black village priest and a white farmer who must deal with news of a murder. American publisher Benne ...

''.Soundtrack.net
/ref>

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Come See The Paradise 1990 films 1990 romantic drama films 1990s war drama films 20th Century Fox films American romantic drama films American war drama films Films about Japanese Americans Films about the internment of Japanese Americans 1990s Japanese-language films 1990s English-language films Films directed by Alan Parker Films set in the 1930s Films set in the 1940s Films set in a movie theatre Films set in Los Angeles Films set in New York City Films set in Seattle Films shot in Washington (state) Films set in Washington (state) Films set in Oregon Films shot in Oregon Films shot in Seattle Films shot in Astoria, Oregon Films shot in Portland, Oregon Films about interracial romance Films with screenplays by Alan Parker Films scored by Randy Edelman Japan in non-Japanese culture Asian-American drama films 1990s American films