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8.01.2007

the dragon lives on


Jeff Yang's latest "Asian Pop" column in SFGate is a great piece on the well-worn legacy of the legendary Bruce Lee ("the best known and best-loved Asian American in history"), and the impact on filmmaker Justin Lin and the stars of his latest film Finishing the Game: Whither the dragon?

What I love about Finishing the Game, is that it's all about Bruce Lee and at the same time has nothing to do with Bruce Lee. It manages to use the memory and legacy of Bruce Lee, and the fictional search for his replacement, as a way to comically grapple with some of the very real struggles of being Asian American in Hollywood. If you've ever seen this "lost" interview with Bruce, it's pretty astounding that the very same issues he was dealing with as an Asian in Hollywood over 35 years ago still resonate today. I mean, the guy is angry, and it's obvious. Anyway, read the article. It's a good one. Finishing the Game will be released in October from IFC Films.