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The Nisei Farmer

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Christopher Null
Christopher Null founded Filmcritic.com in 1995.
Though we don't normally review short films, Chris Gore of Film Threat goaded me into reviewing this (along with Tough Girl) at the 2003 Sonoma Valley Film Festival.

This ten-minute vignette concerns an older Asian couple, wrestling over what to do with a reparations payment, a $20,000 payoff for WWII mistreatment. I unfortunately never got entranced by Steven Kondo's leading man performance, while Jude Narita, who plays his saner wife, is far more successful in the role. The cinematography, which paints the California desert farming community in washed-out bleakness, is interesting but a little too grainy and ultimately homogenous.

Interesting first work, though it could have stood a more fleshy story and better resolution.

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