Dragon Boys (2007) (TV)

Director:

Jerry Ciccoritti

Writer:

Ian Weir (writer)

Release Date:

7 January 2007 (Canada)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Various people, including an organized crime detective, a high school student, and a forced prostitute, are drawn into a feud between asian triads in Vancouver, Canada.

Plot Keywords:

Police | Vancouver Canada | Organized Crime | Richmond Virginia | Gang

Awards:

7 wins & 18 nominations

Cast

Byron Mann	...	Tommy Jiang
Steph Song	...	Chavy
Tzi Ma	...	Henry Wah
Eric Tsang	...	William Lok
Chang Tseng	...	Mr. Yen
Darryl Quon	...	Sorrows
Christina Ma	...	Mae Wah
Lawrence Chou	...	Movie Star
Jean Yoon	...	Belinda Lok
Chiu-Lin Tam	...	Mrs. Yen
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Michael Adamthwaite	...	Fat Ass
Charisse Baker	...	Natalie
Peter Benson	...	Vic Hatton
Mary Black	...	Betty Mahone
Mark Burgess	...	Griff Pollard
John Cassini	...	Reg Deever
Greg Chan	...	Uncle Three
Shannon Chan-Kent	...	Kelsey Leung
Osric Chau	...	Teen
David Coles	...	Rico Sternig
Ben Cotton	...	Corey Sternig
Cedric De Souza	...	Detective Parmar
Sean Devine	...	Motel Manager
Kaaren de Zilva	...	Jaz
Vincent Gale	...	Cpl. Dan 'Crow' Cromartie
Teach Grant	...	Dax Sternig (as Teach)
Peter Grasso	...	Ray
Diana Ha	...	Lily
Robbie Holloway	...	Rod McMahon
Katharine Horsman	...	Trichia
Liberty Kee	...	Yamei (as Linda Kee)
Kit Koon	...	Reporter
Keith Lim	...	Spt. Cam Choi
Philip Lyall	...	Chris Reyes
Melanie Manuel	...	Loreen
Alison Matthews	...	Cst. Gail Dorosh
Sean O. Roberts	...	Store Clerk
Rick Sam	...	Colin Lee Yuen
Marcus Sim	...	Aaron Chen
Lauren Lee Smith	...	Kath
Catherine Thomas	...	Cora
Don Thompson	...	Insp. Ben Bucholtz
Anthony Towe	...	Benny
Kwok Cheung Tsang	...	Fox Boy (as Derek Tsang)
Stefanie von Pfetten	...	Andrea
Billy Wickman	...	Grant Basile
Edmond Kato Wong	...	Lincoln Au (as Edmond Wong)
Kea Wong	...	Millie
Simon Wong	...	Jason Wah

Runtime:

240 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

Mandarin | Cantonese | Khmer | English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Langley, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Anchor Point Pictures Inc.

Soundtrack:

Sol Cycle

The Chinese version of "The Godfather"...

I stumbled upon "Dragon Boys" when I was flipping through channels. And I'm glad I did.

What caught my eye immediately was the all-Asian cast. At first, I thought what I was seeing was some Chinese film but a few minutes into it, I realized it was a look into Canada's Chinese gang problem in the West coast.

The main character, Tommy (Byron Mann), surprisingly wasn't a stereotypical Chinese. In fact, he was what people would call "white-washed" and what was so great about his character was that he had this ongoing conflict with his cultural identity that ends up playing a huge role on his determination to solve the case he's working on.

Lawrence Chou was cast to play the perfect villain. Movie Star is a criminal who at first, appears to be completely evil and heartless but occasionally, they show parts of him which actually seem human without making the viewer become completely sympathetic to the character.

I liked the separate stories that were going on. I became equally invested in all of them. They were all somehow connected. The character writing was intelligent and the acting was great (most notable to me were aside from Byron Mann and Lawrence Chou were Steph Song, Simon Wong, Jean Yoon, Tzi Mah, and Christina Mah). Just when I felt their characters were established as being something, they, along with the writing, surprised me.

I won't spoil the rest of the film for those who haven't seen it yet but if it ever returns to the CBC or makes it out on DVD, I highly recommend you see it. To sum it up, it's like the Chinese version of "The Godfather" but in a contemporary Canadian setting. While these people are being portrayed as criminals, they are not one-note. They have their own lives, their own fears and inner conflicts, and we get clues as to how some of them got to be who they are.

The Chinese gang problem is complex, as are the people involved in it, I'm sure. "Dragon Boys" does a brilliant job of keeping that complexity.