The Shangri-la Cafe

The Shangri-la Cafe is a 2000 short film written and directed by Lily Mariye. The film is about a Japanese American family who conceal their heritage and reluctantly adopt discriminatory practices in order to operate a Chinese restaurant in Las Vegas in the late 1950s.^[1] The Los Angeles Times calls the film well-reviewed, and it won awards at festivals such as the Brussels Independent Film Festival and Nashville Independent Film Festival.^[2]

The director began working on the film in 1998, working with the American Film Institute's Directing Workshop for Women.^[2]

Cast

Montana Tsai as Annie Takashi
Joanne Takahashi as Emiko Takashi
Sam Anderson as The Man
Christopher Chen as Tad Takashi
Albert Chien as Jimmy Takashi
Cedric Harris as Reverend Charles Osteen
Montae Russell as George Brooks
Margaret Laurena Kemp as Mildred Brooks
Kelli Kirkland as Helen Osteen
Charles 'Brick' Tilley Jr. as Man #2
Bob Bergen as Television Announcer (voice)

Reception

The Los Angeles Times calls the film well-reviewed, and it won awards at festivals such as the Brussels Independent Film Festival and Nashville Independent Film Festival.^[2] It was positively reviewed for its portrayal of 1950s racism by SFGate, which called it "unusually sensitive to the heightened experience of children."^[3] The Chicago Reader wrote that Mariye set "a preachy tone" in the film.^[1] Edward Guthmann from the San Francisco Chronicle, Jonathan Kaplan, and Lesli Linka Glatter praised Mariye's directing debut. The Hollywood Reporter's Michael Rechtshaffen described the film as a "tender, bittersweet childhood recollection of a not always glittering Las Vegas past."