Paris (2003)

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Jason (Chad Allen, formerly a child actor on TV's St. Elsewhere) is a stoic L.A. cop. As Paris opens, he stumbles down the strip in Las Vegas, obviously in pain, before collapsing. We then see what brought Jason to this dismal state. Back in Los Angeles, his corrupt partner, Leon (James Russo of… More Jason (Chad Allen, formerly a child actor on TV's St. Elsewhere) is a stoic L.A. cop. As Paris opens, he stumbles down the strip in Las Vegas, obviously in pain, before collapsing. We then see what brought Jason to this dismal state. Back in Los Angeles, his corrupt partner, Leon (James Russo of Donnie Brasco), pledged his loyalty to Jason just before an apparent bust gone bad. In the ensuing chaos, Jason accidentally shoots Leon, crippling him. Leon helps Jason cover up the shooting, asking in return that he take a bag of money from the crime scene and track down a beautiful Chinese woman Leon calls "Linda" to give her half the cash. Jason reluctantly agrees, and sets off on a seedy trail through L.A. massage parlors and Vegas whore houses to find the woman. With thugs on his trail to get their money back and Leon urging him on, Jason eventually runs into Shen Li (Bai Ling), Leon's "Linda." He learns that she's an illegal immigrant from China who's essentially been sold into prostitution to pay for her trip to the U.S., and that, while Leon claims to love her, he used his standing as a police officer to take advantage of Shen Li. Forced to protect the woman, Jason quickly finds himself falling in love with her, and decides to help her escape the sex trade and fulfill her girlhood dream of traveling to Paris. Director Ramin Niami had previously directed the indie feature Somewhere in the City, a quirky New York comedy which, like Paris, starred Bai Ling and featured an original score by John Cale. Shot on both digital video and 35 mm, Paris had its world premiere at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi