« Confucius say, You spend too much time on Facebook! | Home | The fortune cookie writer is getting a little saucy… »
A fortune cookie romantic comedy!
By Jennifer 8. Lee | August 17, 2007
This is another entry into the “Fortune Cookie as pop culture” canon.
I was recently sent a cute funny DVD with a short romantic comedy called Fortune Hunters, about a guy who writes fortunes for his father’s forture cookie company and his embarrassing (and public) experiences to woo back his girlfriend. The short been accepted at least 10 different film festivals, so you can probably catch it somewhere in the country. The filmmakers, Thomas Harp and Mike Standish, have been working on it for several years. It’s loosely based on Tom’s own experiences with his now-wife (then girlfriend).
The short is adorable and I think it appeals to people because it answers the mystery: who does write the fortunes in the fortune cookies? In this case, the scribe is played by Kelvin Yu, who is one of those familiar faces you see in television dramas, so it’s refreshing to see an Asian American in a romantic lead. Kelvin always plays roles where he does things “for honor” so Tom told me on the set, when he wanted Kelvin to do something again, he would say “This time, do it with honor!” (in a Chinese accent of course)
Here is the description of the movie.
Arthur Yu (Kelvin Yu) has problems. His girlfriend, Megan (Jessica Skerritt), is leaving to study abroad in China for a year, leaving him to waste another college vacation working at his dad’s (Gedde Watanabe) fortune cookie factory.
Instead of telling Megan that he’ll wait for her, Arthur makes the biggest mistake of his life and dumps the girl of his dreams. As he suffers through another summer at the factory, Arthur’s fortunes become more and more depressing: You will die alone. Two words: colon cancer. It doesn’t take him long to nearly ruin his father’s business.
Finally, at wits end, Arthur decides that the only way to get Megan back is to write her a love letter before she heads overseas. But when his e-mail gets mixed up with his fortunes, suddenly every cookie at every restaurant reveals a piece of Arthur’s broken heart.Â
As to who (in real life) writes fortunes? You can read the final chapter of my book to find out.
Topics: Chinese Food | No Comments »
Comments are closed.