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"What makes Alice Wu's debut so pleasurable is its easy rhythms, its sly juxtapositions, and its relaxed but funny performances. A generous straight man,
Krusiec gives the film emotional heft...."---Slate
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Race relations: Fast Five and LA Asian Pacific Film Festival
Friday, April 29, 2011
I attended the opening night film of Fast and Furious 5 last at the Los Angeles Pacific Film Festival. Hosts Danny Pudi and Parvesh Cheena give James Franco and Anne Hathaway a run for their money. In attendance were basically the who's who of Asian celebs, lots of film go-ers, fans, current and up and coming filmmakers and this one creepy white dude who is always stalking the Asian ladies at every gathering I attend. I know there are a lot of you lovers out there, but seriously we see you Asia-philes coming a mile away. There's something in the committed way you say hello, the dry glaze of your iris, the sensual handshake that says, "I know your people. I drink tea and I wear an Asian bathrobe to bed." We see you. IT'S VERY OBVIOUS. I'm not saying I don't appreciate your appreciation, I'm just sayin' simmer down with your funky chicken dance.
Anyhoo, Fast 5 was -- can we just say -- pimp daddy fun can I get a what what? I'm obviously still affected by it because I'm writing over-enthusiastically today. I sat in the audience and whooped more at this film than at Lord of the Rings because I just whooped in my head for that one. This film invites audience participation so be prepared for that because it's signature Justin Lin, the director, who I hear has been offered Terminator?! (One of my fave films is T2, see blog post Hanna is no Montana.)
Fast 5 had race and then it had race. Lots of cars, yes, but I actually heard NPR discussing the racial mix in this cast. I was gettin' down with how much brown there was onscreen. It's true this is a Hollywood franchise cast that has race without talking about race and it happens NO WHERE ELSE. The Rock is just masterful. I want him to body check me. Where's that Asia-phile, we're sitting next to each other now. For all of you actors out there, the ensemble cast is just teeming with personality so check out what happens when you give your role some swerve. Except for the ladies, they're more curve than swerve but what do you expect from a guy writer in this genre, right? It's the guys who get all the fun moments. Sung Kang who I recently worked with in the upcoming film THE COOLER reprises his role as Han from FF Tokyo Drift. The festival screened the short CAR TALK (2) starring Sung prior to the feature and let me say that someone needs to give Sung a comedy. He's being miscast! Hot and funny? That's a killer.
Check out this photo of us doin' our red carpet poses. Be sure to join in all the reindeer games and support upcoming talent in 180 films at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. You'll be inspired like I was. My next contribution can be seen at the festival in Erin Li's short LA COFFIN SCHOOL.
Labels: commentary, films
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Posted by Michelle @ 4/29/2011 07:16:00 PM |
1 Comments:
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At 26/5/11 09:48,
said...
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Wow....what a good sharing. Thanks for sharing your review here.
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