SUNDANCE: THIRD ACT

Sometimes as children, we grow up wanting to emulate our parents.  For years, I yearned to become a R.N. (registered nurse) like my mother until the day she brought home a specimen to dissect for an assignment.  After all, I’m the kid who protested against cruelty to animals and was suspended when I refused to dissect a frog for science class.  In my case, it didn’t quite work out as I had hoped, but for Tadashi Nakamura it turned out to be all he could’ve hope for with a life and career totally inspired by one of the greatest filmmakers in Asian history.

Generations of artists call Robert A. Nakamura “Godfather of Asian American media,” but to  Tadashi he was simply Dad. Very similar to the Oscar nominated doc “Sugarcane,” a son sets out to spotlight his Dad’s journey in life and career, but in the process discovers more about himself and his legacy as it pertains to this moment in American history.  In addition, Robert’s diagnosis of Parkinson’s reveals an exploration of art, activism, grief, and fatherhood that touches the heart, spirit and soul

Director Tadashi Nakamura was in many ways born into filmmaking and his father’s career, appearing as a crying baby being sent to a Japanese American concentration camp in Robert’s landmark film Hito Hata: Raise the Banner (1980). In Third Act, Tad’s sense of self, artistry, and citizenship are laid out with full disclosure leaving no stone unturned. However,  Robert’s passage into this last stage of his life looks to the past and the future with a searching curiosity of what legacy means and how it can be lived.

There are many moving moments, but if I had to pinpoint, it would be the many times father and son travel to the concentration camp Manzanar,  situated at the foot of Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, where more than 10,000 Japanese people were detained during World War II. This week in particular with history on the precipice of repeating itself, makes that moment even more relevant and palpable.

Watching Robert age in real time, will make any child who is a caretaker for their parent break into a puddle of tears with anticipation of what is to come simultaneously grieving the past.

Lastly, Prince (Tadashi’s son) being whip smart and  unapologetically empathetic,  while proudly picking up the mantle for a whole new generation of Nakamura’s was inspiring to behold.  The innocence of a child  and how they can be molded into a productive and positive human being speaks volumes to the Nakamura family and their choices in rearing their kin.

We always think of our parents as eternal and it was hard to watch the evolution of aging with a debilatating, incurable disease Yet, how lucky are we to have had those vessels into the world shaping our ideologies into becoming the best human beings possible.  It ain’t over ’til it’s over and Third Act makes one appreciate life and our loved ones one frame, one trip, one hug, one meal and one moment at at time.