Paper Camera

Ostensibly a dramatic story which "speaks to the possibilities of cross cultural understanding," Paper Camera is about a 10-year-old Chinese student named Kwok and his budding friendship with a classmate named Eric. As the program opens, Kwok--who speaks no English--sits by himself in school making origami frogs, a feat which catches the eye of fellow classmate Eric. In the series of events that follows, Kwok teaches Eric a little bit about origami and Eric teaches Kwok something about baseball card collecting. Unfortunately, Kwok, who has a tendency to grab other kid's baseball cards (not to mention a $50 bill belonging to his mother), and Eric, who fantasizes about nuking his classmate enemies, are rather one-dimensional characters (and a rather unappealing dimension at that). As loner/underdog types there's nothing lovable about either one, and their characters never move beyond the us-against-them-circle-the-wagons mentality (there's neither resolution nor reconciliation to their problems). Whatever their hopes, dreams, or aspirations, we're never told. Paper Camera does feature fine acting, good camerawork and a nice--though not dramatically satisfying-- ending, but with minimal character development, no plot to speak of, and questionable lessons, it's technical expertise to no real purpose. Not recommended. (Available from: New Dimension Media, 85803 Lorane Hwy, Eugene, OR 97405; (800) 288-4456.)