SF Chron: Movie "Smile" includes music from Diana

[Bud]

Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... C45RO1.DTL

'Smile'

Drama. Written and directed by Jeffrey Kramer. Starring Mika Boorem, Luoyong Wang, Beau Bridges and Linda Hamilton. (PG-13. 107 minutes. At Bay Area theaters.)
The story behind "Smile" is that Los Angeles actor Jeffrey Kramer was so impressed with his teenage daughter's experiences as an overseas volunteer with a medical charity that he wrote and directed this movie to spread the word. The group was Operation Smile, which provides reconstructive surgery to needy children and young adults in developing countries and the United States.

The resulting film is a well-meaning but simplistic drama about the lessons learned by a Malibu high school girl (Mika Boorem of "Blue Crush") when she travels to China for the Doctor's Gift program, a fictional charity resembling Operation Smile. The Los Angeles youngster's privileged existence - - her main problems are family squabbles and should-I-sleep-with-my-boyfriend issues -- is counterpointed with the troubled life of a rural Chinese girl (Yi Ding) born with a facial deformity.

Abandoned as an infant, the Asian child is raised by a kindly working- class man (Luoyong Wang of Broadway's "Miss Saigon") over the objections of his wife, who eventually takes their son and leaves him. As he raises the girl and tries to help her deal with the shame she suffers from her disfigurement, we observe the American parents (Beau Bridges and Linda Hamilton) bickering over petty problems. Once in China, the Boorem character takes off on her own to locate the Asian youngster, befriends her and helps her overcome her fear of surgery.

Overall, it's pretty elementary stuff, along the lines of a Disney Channel TV movie. It's uplifting, and it's in a good cause, which I'm assuming is what attracted the names in the cast (besides those already mentioned, Sean Astin and Cheri Oteri have roles). The film also features a score by Neil Giraldo and music from Diana Krall.

Part of the film's proceeds will go to Operation Smile. To find out more about the organization, log on to www.operationsmile.org.

-- Advisory: Teen sexuality.

-- Walter Addiego

[Bud]

http://www.smilethemovie.com/

http://www.operationsmile.org/smile-movie/

This PDF says that Diana's music, whatever it is, was co-written by EC: http://www.operationsmile.org/docs/pr20050205.pdf

[Eric in Long Beach]

Must be something off of GitOR.