One of the best films I saw this year at VC Filmfest was Desmond Nakano's American Pastime, a wonderfully-crafted drama about the World War II Japanese American experience, telling the story of one family's struggle to rise above the dishonor and injustice of internment... through their passion for baseball. It's an inspiring movie, with a solid story, impressive production values, and great performances from the likes of Aaron Yoo and Leonardo Nam (who play brothers, and could seriously pass for real-life brothers), along with Masatoshi Nakamura, Judy Ongg, and Gary Cole, among others. It's a historical family drama mixed with a good old-fashioned sports movie, and I can't recommend it enough.
I first saw this film back in March at SFIAAFF, and was so impressed I vowed to get as many people as I could to go see it. If you're in Los Angeles, and you missed it at VC Filmfest, you have a chance to see it playing right now for one week downtown at Laemmle's GRANDE 4-PLEX. For everyone else, you just have to wait a few weeks until the movie comes out on DVD from Warner Bros. on May 22nd. Pre-order it here
. See it, buy it, rent it, whatever. Please consider supporting this film. And to learn more about baseball and the internment camp experience, go here.