i saw chan be miss when it first come out and about four year after move from san francisco to new york . maybe it be the perspective of a few year away and but this movie seem to capture the essence of the city and it people well than anything else i would ever see ( still do ) . it concentrate on one particular community the chinese but that fine and because so much of the city soul be refract through the setting and the face and and the maybe above all the voice of the character . this isn not the tourist san francisco . the setting be humble and everyday represent a taxi cab and the kitchen of a chinese restaurant and richmond district row house and little chinatown apartment and small business office and the pier and a philippine elder center . this be what the city look and feel like day to day to the people who live there even now and in the era of silicon gulch urban redevelopment . unlike and say and dirty harry ( in it own way an excellent san francisco movie a well ) and everything be film at street level represent we come to understand the character point of view from the perspective their surroundings give them and not from some fancy vertiginous shooting . wang apparently film in b and w because he do not have the money to do otherwise and yet one of the strong visual element of the movie be the natural light he achieve . the often harsh and pervasive quality of the sunlight be one of my close association with san francisco represent it seem to expose everything and bring the building and the hill and the other landmark down in scale and and in a funny way and make the people you pass on the street seem more individual and potentially close to you than they might in another place . wang photography perfectly convey this and and even help the story along at point . wang capture the speech and conversational style of chinese and other san franciscan well than anyone ever have and i think . if there such thing a a true san francisco accent and it what you hear from the bald taxi medallion broker ( i think ) who appear talk on the phone in one scene ( listen to the way he call the person on the other end ya dingaling . ) . the story be poignant and and despite a few very small misstep and make it point beautifully about the longing that pull at the heart of people live in old immigrant community include the justified political and ethnic resentment and and little ironic amusement and that help to fuel them . all this be communicate delicately perhaps why some respondent here think the film meander . it doesn not suffice it to say that the two cab driver quest for chan become a quest for something more personal . chan be miss finish up with a chinatown travelogue sequence back by a goofy novelty song from the 1930s ( i guess ) about san francisco and all it crazy diversity . an american caricature and yes and but somehow not entirely off the mark either .