Catfish in Black Bean Sauce

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Movie Info

In Catfish In Black Bean Sauce, Paul Winfield and Mary Alice play an African-American couple who in the 1970's adopted two Vietnamese children, a brother and sister. 20 years on, the two kids have grown to adulthood; Dwayne (Chi Muoi Lo) has absorbed a great deal of black culture from his adopted parents and is engaged to an attractive African-American woman (Sanaa Lathan). His sister (Lauren Tom), however, feels more comfortable with Asian cultural paths and has married an older Asian man (Tzi Ma). The siblings have recently come in contact with their birth mother (Kieu Chinh), and are awaiting her first visit to the United States, which causes no small amount of personal, cultural and familial clashes. Catfish In Black Bean Sauce is the feature debut from writer/director Chi Muoi Lo, who also plays Dwane; it was a prize winner at the 1999 WorldFest/Houston Film Festival.

Rating:

PG-13 (for brief strong language and sexual content)
Genre:

Comedy, Drama
Directed By:

Chi-Muoi Lo
Written By:

Chi-Muoi Lo
In Theaters:

Jun 9, 2000 wide
On Disc/Streaming:

Sep 18, 2001
Runtime:

119 minutes
Studio:

Iron Hill Pictures

Cast

Paul Winfield
as Harold

Mary Alice
as Dolores

Chi-Muoi Lo
as Dwayne

Lauren Tom
as Mai

Kieu Chinh
as Thanh

Sanaa Lathan
as Nina

Tyler Christopher
as Michael

Tzi Ma
as Vinh

James Fox

George Wallace (II)
as James

Wing Chen
as Samantha

Amy Tran
as Young Mai

Kevin Lo
as Young Dwayne

Kevin D'Arcy
as Guard No. 1

Andre Rosey Brown
as Guard No. 2

Ron Galbraith
as Doctor

Calvin Nguyen
as Teacher

Richard F. Whiten
as Motorcycle Cop

Lalanya Masters
as Bank Teller

Mark Daniel Cade
as Assistant Bank Manager

Jedda Jones
as Agnes

Roxanne Reese
as Nadine

Saachiko Magwili
as Mother

William Thomas
as Douglas

April Tran
as Interpreter

Tom Ryan
as Lt. Davis

Carol Kiernan
as Nurse

Thu Hong
as Opera Singer

Ho Lo
as Man at Airport

Vien Hong
as Transvestite

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Critic Reviews for Catfish in Black Bean Sauce

All Critics (14) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (6) | Rotten (8)

Initially creates a delightfully diverse world in which no one is really as they seem to appear.

Jan 5, 2007 | Full Review…

David Noh
Film Journal International
This bold film is one of the first to try to deal with the complications of molding a fusion culture comprised of so many disparate elements.

Jan 1, 2000 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice