Come See the Paradise (1990) on Netflix
R19902h 18mDramaHistoryRomance
Jack McGurn, a projectionist, flees New York City after a fatal fire. In Los Angeles he works as McGann at the Kawamura theater and falls for Lily, whose parents oppose the match.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb6.7/103,311 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes64%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1936 Jack McGurn works as a motion picture projectionist in New York City and joins a campaign of harassment aimed at non-union theaters. One attack turns fatal when a fellow union member sets a fire. Jack's boss, believing guilt will send him to the police, urges him to leave. Jack travels to Los Angeles, where Gerry, his brother, lives, and his work as a lawyer strains their already rocky relationship, since Gerry takes any job to keep his family afloat during the Great Depression. Under the name McGann, Jack is hired as a projectionist at a movie theater run by the Kawamura family. He falls in love with Lily, the owner's daughter. Her Issei parents forbid the relationship, and California law bars their marriage.
Cast
- Brady Tsurutanias Frankie Kawamura
- Ronald Yamamotoas Harry Kawamura
- Akemi Nishinoas Dulcie Kawamura
- Naomi Nakanoas Joyce Kawamura
- Elizabeth Gilliamas Younger Mini McGann
- Shyree Mezickas Middle Mini McGann
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Come See the Paradise (1990)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Writer-director Alan Parker never managed to find Anna Akhmatova's original poem, the source of his title, so before he wrote the script he wrote a poem of his own instead, trying to set down what the film would say.
- Sociologists Gabriel Rossman and Oliver Schilke of UCLA studied 3,000 films released since 1985 and in 2014 named this the most deliberate piece of Oscar bait of them all. It opened in a handful of cities in the last week of the year for eligibility, then took no nominations.
- Randy Edelman's score outlived the film itself, becoming a standby for cutting trailers: his music turned up selling A Few Good Men, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, The Sum of All Fears, Rob Roy, Thirteen Days and others.
