Birth of the Dragon, Director — George Nolfi

The only martial arts film of the festival this year. The film a really fun, very typical martial arts film about a match between Bruce Lee and Wong Jack Man in the early 60’s. Lee had come to San Francisco to bring the ancient Chinese art of Kung Fu to North America much to the resistance of the traditional Chinese. The story is that Kung Fu Master Wong Jack Man was sent to shut him down. That is the legend. The movie however takes a somewhat different tack and is just based on this historic and mythic match but has a more complex story of a blossoming friendship between the two as they fight evil Chinese criminal gangs in San Francisco. It was totally fun and while martial arts purists are critical of the film they just really lack any sense of fun. If you like martial arts and like the films you will really enjoy this movie. For those of you who are purists I suggest you avoid it or be prepared to suspend disbelief and just relax. Totally fun, totally without redeeming social importance and some great fight scenes. Which is what its all about anyway. Right!? Yeah!