Films
Life Tastes Good (1999)
Two San Francisco detectives discover a corpse in an abandoned car. From the dead man's wallet and a tape recorder, they determine the man was a money launderer. The story is then told in flashback, narrated by the dead man. Seems he was being pursued after robbing a partner who had been robbing him. Hiding out in a warehouse, he tries to re-establish contact with his children. In the warehouse, he then is contacted by a woman who frequents it because her husband died there and becomes obsessed with its new inhabitant as the reincarnate of her husband. Of course, following all of these goings-on, he ultimately must face down his pursuers.
Drinking Tea (1996), 30min
A dying man leaves his younger wife without explanation to move in with an older woman. The older woman, like him, is also dying and the protagonist stays with her until her death. After she passes, he returns to his wife explaining that he left her because he needed to understand death. His wife refuses to let him into the house initially, so the man sits outside all day and night, refusing to move. Though she never forgives him, his wife finally allows the man to return to the house. There the old man dies peacefully.
Screened at Sundance Film Festival and on Public Television.
The Kiss (1993), 13min
Wilfred Funai is an office worker who spends his days pushing papers, being taunted by the office bullies, and longingly sneaking peeks at an inviting piece of chocolate. An unexpected event forces Wilfred to break out of his unremarkable life to perform a heroic act and save another human being’s life. In this black and white Jacques Tati-esque homage to a laconic anti-hero, Gotanda references one of the most tragic periods in San Francisco history.
Screened at Sundance Film Festival, International Film Festival and on Public Television.
Film Adaptations
The Wash (1988), (94min)
Nobu, an old, bigoted, Japanese-American traditionalist, is unable to reconcile the needs of his wife and two daughters with his own conservative view on life, which forces them to leave him in pursuit of their own happiness.
Written by Philip Kan Gotanda, Directed by Michael Toshiyuki Uno, & Produced by Cal Skaggs