Chan Is Missing opens with the vocals of Hong Kong singer Sam Hui, whose voice is instantly recognisable for many Cantonese speakers. Yet this working-class favourite is actually a cover of the American rock and roll classic ‘Rock Around the Clock’. This shrewd choice of music epitomizes the spirit of the film and its subject—that you cannot separate the ‘Chinese-ness’ and the ‘American-ness’ in any discussion of Chinese immigrants and descendants of these immigrants.

Set in San Francisco’s Chinatown, the story revolves around a taxi driver and his nephew in search of their associate Chan Hung, who has gone missing along with the money they pooled together for the purchase of a cab license. The duo banters their way into poignant conversations about language, Chinatown politics, and varying experiences of Asian Americans. Shot stylishly in black and white, Wayne Wang’s independent film channels the aesthetics of the Nouvelle Vague as he balances the central mystery with spontaneous humour.

Wayne Wang (b. 1949, Hong Kong) graduated from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, where he studied film and television. In the 1970s, Wang briefly worked at RTHK in his hometown before moving back to the Bay Area in California. He witnessed the changes in Chinatown while he was teaching English in the community. Wang’s experience would shape his solo feature film debut Chan Is Missing (1982), a low-budget independent film that received critical acclaim at the time. In the 1990s, he worked in Hollywood and was best known for directing  Joy Luck Club (1993) and Smoke (1995). In recent years, Wang has returned to his independent roots to focus on personal projects, including Coming Home Again (2019).