BRUCE LEE’S STILL KICKING ASS (?)
LA ASIAN FILM FESTICAL TAKES PLACE FROM MAY 3-10 IN LA
According to the facts from the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences, Sidney Poitier won his Best Leading Actor in 1963 whereas The Last Emperor won the Best Picture in 1987. I conclude Asian films are about 20 years behind the black movies. So, it completely makes sense to me that somebody made a movie about the most significant Asian actor after 20 years of his death – Bruce Lee.
VC Film Fest 2007 Los Angeles Asian International Film Festival will take place from May 3 through May 10 from Little Tokyo to Hollywood, which is hosted by Visual Communication.
Each year, they have been showcasing a number of Asian and Asian American films.
At the opening night, Finishing The Game is directed by Justin Lin (The director of Fast and Furious, Tokyo Drift and Better Luck Tomorrow). It is a comedy & mockumentary about search of new Bruce Lee.
At the closing night, people should also catch up Rebel , which is the very first epic Vietnamese movie which has action and romance done by Vietnamese filmmakers, which was first premiered at Vietnamese International Film Festival last month, and they have received overwhelming reviews from its audience.
Most of the times, Asian films are known as the form of art films. The films are usually funded by non profit organization or government program. It used to be very rare to encounter entertaining ones except Kang Fu films.
Despite all critics about Asian films, there have been significant improvement among Asian and Asian American films. Here are a couple recommended films that will be played during the film festivals.
American Pastime is the Audience Award Winner from San Francisco Asian Film Festival. It is the story about unsual baseball game between Japanese American and Caucasian teams during WWII.
Tie A Yellow Ribbon , the story about Korean who’s adapted to the Southern white family and fled from her family to New York. It is very poetic and I was very impressed with the visual expression and the music. It is a butteract movie, but I recommend for the people who has time for their time slot.
American Fusion , this is the last movie of Pat Morita who played the master in Karate Kid. It’s a romantic comedy about searching main character’s significant other. It won the Audience Award from Hawaii International Film Festival.
TEKKON KINKREET is animation based on the Manga comics by Taiyo Matsumoto. The story takes place in Tokyo near future where old meets new. Two kids who grew up among ghetto area fought against new-comers who try to develop their hometown to resort town. This animation uses very dynamic computer graphics and express the unique world of Taiyo Matsumoto. The story is a little bit too philosophical at the end. So if you liked Evangelion, you should check this movie out. (Japanese with English Subtitle)
Though there have been an improvement, I still have to admit that Asian movies are still at least 10 years behind the rest of the movie industries except Kang Fu movies. However, some of the films shown at VC Film Fest are must-sees. So if you got some time besides going to attend Silver Lake Film Festival, stop by and watch Asian and Asian American films.
VC Film Fest 2007, Los Angeles Asian International Film Festival will take place from May 3 through May 10 at Directors Guild of America, Japan American Theater, Sunset Laemmle’s 5, and other locations.
For more information and trailer of each film, please go to http://www.vconline.org/festival 
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