indie rawkus- Boyle of Rice

Thanks to my pal, Connie C. of Yelp I just got to peep a special Q&A screening of White on Rice, the sophomore effort from indie writer/director Dave Boyle.

White on Rice is a sweet, multi-layered comedy that hits on every emotion from the opening scene, which plays on classic samurai-noir and immediately hinted at the richness and quality of storytelling I was about to experience. Hiroshi Watanabe (Letters from Iwo Jima, The 8th Samurai) plays the endearing role of Hajime, or just Jimmy.

Through the film we get to see how he amazingly carries on daily life as a middle-aged divorcee with the mental capacity, raging hormones and imagination of a teenager. The ensemble cast all play off each other remarkably and like any Wes Anderson or Woody Allen flick- you have quirky, memorable characters that deliver on witty, believable dialogue.

The wordplay of the name, White on Rice is just genius.

Boyle displays a deep understanding of Japanese, Japanese-American and Asian-American culture and easily translates such nuances in this very American story.

I laughed and violently snorted my ass off through most of the film. Ended up connecting with nearly every actor, especially Mio Takada. And even Ando of Heroes is in this film and he is appropriately being depicted as a Korean-American!!!

I highly recommend you to check this flick out and tell a friend yeah.