Big Dreams Little Tokyo

The film was the feature debut of Boyle who conceived the idea while living in the Japantown area of Sydney, Australia. Many of the characters in the film were based on people he met and interacted with while there. It was shot in the summer of 2005 in San Jose and San Francisco, California as well as Salt Lake City, Utah. Big Dreams Little Tokyo was produced by Duane Andersen and Megan Boyle.

The film tells the story of Boyd (played by Boyle), an American with an uncanny ability to speak Japanese. Boyd aspires to succeed in the world of Japanese business but finds himself mostly on the outside looking in. Meanwhile, his roommate Jerome (Jayson Watabe), is a Japanese American who has always felt too American to be Japanese but too Japanese to be American. He aspires to be a sumo wrestler but finds his weight and blood pressure are thwarting his dreams. Together they struggle to find their place in a world where cultural identity is seldom what it seems.

• Review from LA Splash
• Interview with director David Boyle
• Inclusion of Big Dreams Little Tokyo in AFI 20/20 program
• AFI reports on BDLT opening night
• Interview from LA Japanese newspaper Rafu Shimpo

• Official site
• Big Dreams Little Tokyo on IMDb
• Big Dreams Little Tokyo at AllMovie