LONG LIFE, HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY shares some qualities with some of its north of the border Reel 13 Canadian Indie counterparts. It is a slice of life multi-protagonist piece akin to the awful, but highly-rated WILBY WONDERFUL with the misguided mystical elements that were woven throughout A PROBLEM WITH FEAR. LLHP does a much better job in developing its characters than WILBY did and the mysticism in question is based on ancient Chinese culture and therefore, somehow seems less contrived and more elegant than the inexplicable technology-based type from FEAR. So, the script, on the whole, is decent. While there are several comedic moments that fall flat, there are many others that are genuinely funny in almost a Shakespearean way (one character's rendition of "Sometimes When We Touch" remains my fave). There are some structural deficiencies (neighbors' gossip as a form of exposition is never a good move), screenwriters Mina Shum and Dennis Foon paint their characters honestly and not a one of the three story lines seems to be favored over the others. Unfortunately, the performances in the film don't help to elevate the script in any way.In the blog for WILBY WONDERFUL, I alluded to my general distaste for Sandra Oh's work. In LONG LIFE, HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY, however, she towers over the other actors in the film, but that's not saying much. Almost every other actor (the main kid Mindy is okay – appropriately precocious) in the piece seems new to film acting. They all seem extremely uncomfortable, delivering their lines as if they didn't really believe them. While Oh is significantly stronger than the rest of the cast, she's not fabulous either. She has several good comic moments and a few good serious ones, but she really pushes during the very emotional moments and that's never fun to watch.There is plenty of charm in LONG LIFE, HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY, enough that I found myself wanting to like it more than I ultimately did. Overall, the premise of the film – that a little girl playing with ancient Chinese charms changes the fortunes of all the people around her – is a little hard to buy, but it's not dissimilar to the kind of farce you might find in more classical fare like Moliere or even ancient Greek comedies. At the end of the day, however, the performances sunk this ship. If you can't believe the characters whose story you're watching, it makes for a pretty rough journey. All the charm(s) in the world can't save you there.(Find out more about this film or other Reel 13 films on www.reel13.org)

I feel this movie was great for a number of reasons. The lead character was charming, earnest, and while not a seasoned actress he had a strong grasp of her role that brought immediate sympathy.The story was outrageous, but it's about magic. Of course it's outrageous. The fact that the magic is self-taught from a do-it-yourself-spells-and-charms book just makes it feel fresh, with a Gilbert-and-Sullivan style story twist to boot.My only criticism is that this would be a perfect movie for kids but for some side stories that deal with serious issues like parental estrangement and suicide.

This movie is quite charming and humourous. The Chinese Canadian characters are incredibly superstitious to the point of being a bit over the top. I wonder if they are like that in real life, or whether it wasn't deliberately exagerrated. I live with many Chinese, but feel I don't understand them.There was a family in the film that spanned three generations. The father was anticipating a visit from the grandfather and was pushing his own son to be up to snuff. The son rebels by becoming a Bhuddhist monk and the grandfather writes that he disowned the son 20 years ago. However it wasn't clear to me why there was a split between first and second generations in the first place.If you are interested in cross-cultural issues, this is a good movie to go to.

This is a completely charming movie about a little girl's attempts to use traditional Chinese magic to improve her mother's life. Valerie Tian completely steals the show in the role of the little girl. Sandra Oh and Chang Tseng also give good performances, as you would expect.