reviewed

REVIEW: ‘The Sensei’

By Albert Valentin | Published March 21, 2010




Very rarely does a martial arts film tend to be emotional in the vein of bringing out a positive message. While films like THE KARATE KID (1984) and BEST OF THE BEST (1989) bring out a message about self defense and teamwork, this 2008 martial arts drama gives a positive message about civil rights and the courage to fight for who you are during the 1980’s.

The “sensei” of the title is a woman named Karen O’Neill, played by writer/director Diana Lee Inosanto. A Japanese-Filipino-American, she returns to her hometown of Summersfield after a falling out with her family over her rank as a black belt martial artist. She has made amends with most of her family, with the exception of her brother Simon (Tim Lounibos), who still feels she has somehow disgraced the family with her rebellious attitude.

Meanwhile, McClane Evans (Mike O’Laskey), a teenager has been pratically ousted by everyone around with the exception of few because he is a gay teenager who lost his best friend. Feeling conflict not only with local bullies but himself as well, an incident after gym class leaves McClane in the hospital. McClane’s mother Annie (Gina Scalzi) asks for Karen’s help in teaching McClane self-defense. At first, Karen is reluctant, but she eventually takes him in as a student.

McClane and Karen not only become master-student, but friends who possess something in common: the loss of a loved one. When McClane finally stands up to the lead bully who was responsible for his hospitalization, word breaks of Karen’s teaching McClane. It is not long before Karen’s family begins to feel the pressure and get ousted by the townsfolk. However, a shocking revelation may prove to be a factor that not only brings Karen and McClane closer but Karen and her family as well.

The film was set during a time where the AIDS epidemic was on a high rise and people came under the generalization that only homosexual people were akin to the disease. For writer/director/star Diana Lee Inosanto, it was a chance to bring a positive message to break the stereotypical banner while showing that she has the ability to film a martial arts drama. According to Inosanto, the film was influenced by the murder of teen Matthew Sheperd in 1998 as well as the coming out of her cousin and it took seven years to get the project off the ground. The final result is truly worth the wait.

The daughter of Filipino martial arts legend and Bruce Lee student Dan Inosanto, Diana definitely has some martials arts skills and possesses some really good dramatic skills as well. While she has the makings of a talented independent director, she could still brush up a little on her screenwriting in terms of its dialogue. There are times when it seems there is some unnecessary foul language. Maybe it is because she is trying to display the behavior of teens in that era or perhaps, it posed as a set up for the action scenes.



The student, McClane Evans, is played by Mike O’Laskey, perhaps best known for his role as Colt in 3 NINJAS: HIGH NOON AT MEGA MOUNTAIN (1998). A martial artist himself with black belts in Karate and Tae Kwon Do, O’Laskey was able to adapt well when it comes to on-screen fighting, especially in the few big fight scenes he has in the film. O’Laskey also does a good job in the dramatic department as a teen whose sexual orientation makes him an outcast, but also a victim of bullies.

What stands out is the relationship between Karen and McClane. Reminiscent of THE KARATE KID’s Daniel and Miyagi, Karen and McClane soon feel a deeper bond when a major incident reveals a shocking twist to the film. McClane at one point tells Karen that he wished he had met her sooner before the tragedy that fell upon him. Like many friendships, Karen and McClane hit a few bumps but they stick it out until the very end.

Veterans Sab Shimono (TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES III) and Emily Kuroda (YELLOW) play Karen’s grandparents, who feel they are at the center of the conflict that emerges between Karen, McClane, and the townsfolk. Despite having top billing for the most part, Keith David (THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT) and Louis Mandylor (MARTIAL LAW) have mainly cameo appearances as a minister and Karen’s ex-fiance, a boxing champion who goes through a very tragic experience. Even martial artist extraordinare Erik Betts brings in a non-action role as a very influential character in Karen’s life as is RUSH HOUR’s Tzi Ma as a Buddhist priest who teaches Karen a life lesson in a memorable flashback.

Inosanto’s husband, martial artist Ron Balicki, did well as the film’s stunt coordinator and fight choreographer. O’Laskey and Inosanto shine when combining Jeet Kune Do, Filipino Kali, and Jujitsu. O’Laskey even gets to add a little taste of Muay Thai and in a demonstration scene, a little bit of perhaps either XMA (Extreme Martial Arts) or Capoeira. There is plenty of blood but not in the vein of NINJA ASSASSIN (2009) but enough to show injuries and even a subliminal sense of sodomy during McClane’s assault. Nevertheless, like BEST OF THE BEST, there are few action scenes but they were well done and shot with minimal quick cuts and close ups.

THE SENSEI is truly an emotional martial arts drama, one that truly needs to be seen because of its positive message of civil rights as well as seeing a future star and filmmaker in the form of Diana Lee Inosanto. Should she decide to do another film, one only hopes she can belt out something as great as this film which can bring someone to tears once they get into the film.

REVIEW

Publicity for THE SENSEI

publicity links as THE SENSEI continues with momentum...maybe you have websites, FB SITES to add this to, to get the word out...




http://vjnet.wordpress.com/2010/03/03/the-sensei-say-karate-kid-is-gay/

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hsJl5Atg4K7Wz1i5AAffSEhfiO3g - "The Sensei" is on this list!

http://blog.ctnews.com/evans/2010/03/10/the-sensei-a-martial-arts-movie-which-teaches-tolerance/


Blip TV (main show site): http://theindiemusicshow.blip.tv/

CNN iReport: http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-419965

current.com: http://current.com/items/92319459_interview-with-diana-lee-inosanto-director-of-the-sensei.htm

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_DhKZ_G5p0

PirateBay (without the trailer): http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5434405

DailyMotion: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xckj61_interview-with-diana-lee-inosanto-d

Livestream: http://www.livestream.com/indiemusictelevision

Mevio: http://theindiemediashow.mevio.com/

Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/10146808

VEOH: http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/entertainment/watch/v19907481SYfdFEqM

Myspace Video: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=&release=104407639


Casey Kaczmarek
Nine-Thirty Consulting
Media & Public Relations
West Hollywood

"The Sensei" interview with Diana Lee Inosanto on CNN iReport

Blip TV (main show site): http://theindiemusicshow.blip.tv/

CNN iReport: http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-419965

current.com: http://current.com/items/92319459_interview-with-diana-lee-inosanto-director-of-the-sensei.htm

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_DhKZ_G5p0

PirateBay (without the trailer): http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/5434405

DailyMotion: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xckj61_interview-with-diana-lee-inosanto-d

Livestream: http://www.livestream.com/indiemusictelevision

Mevio: http://theindiemediashow.mevio.com/

Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/10146808

VEOH: http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/entertainment/watch/v19907481SYfdFEqM

Myspace Video: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=&release=104407639

Reviews coming in for THE SENSEI

The Sensei Presents a Spiritual Journey Worth Exploring
The Sensei Presents a Spiritual Journey Worth Exploring
By Raymond Horwitz


Diana Lee Inosanto and Michael O’Laskey star in The Sensei.
(Art courtesy of Echo Bridge Entertainment)
While many martial arts films focus on moving the audience through a series of flashy fight sequences set on dark city streets, questionably lit competition halls or picturesque pagoda-peppered locales, The Sensei is not a typical martial arts movie. Written and directed by Diana Lee Inosanto—daughter of martial arts legend Dan Inosanto and goddaughter of Bruce Lee—the movie features a conservative Wyoming town as its backdrop and tells a compelling story about people, prejudice, family, faith and fear.

Set primarily in 1985, the film’s two central characters are Karen O’Neil, who is deftly portrayed by Inosanto, and McClain Evans, a gay teenager played by Power Rangers alumnus Michael O'Laskey. In a somewhat predictable plot setup, Evans is bullied by high-school jocks. What isn’t so predictable, however, is the film’s portrayal of the brutality eventually inflicted on Evans, which is communicated on-screen in Hitchcock-like fashion. The film foreshadows the impending trauma without actually showing it, allowing what’s not seen to be more horrific than what is.

Regardless of whether one can see what happens, what happens to Evans qualifies as a worst-case scenario. This prompts Evans’ mother to seek help from O’Neil, a gifted martial artist whose family runs the town’s martial arts school. She agrees to provide Evans with private lessons in an old barn, where she teaches a variety of martial arts to the socially and physically awkward teenager. There’s a montage with a wing chun-style wooden dummy as well as throwing, kicking and striking drills. Evans’ physical skills and self-esteem improve dramatically as time passes.

So far, this sounds like familiar territory: an underdog-finds-help-and-fights-back story similar to a re-imagined version of The Karate Kid with inverted gender roles.

Despite this demographic rearrangement of the cookie-cutter premise, however, The Sensei’s similarity to such now-trite formulas ends here.

The film not only exposes gay bashing in the high-school locker room but also explores the dynamics of O’Neil’s conservative Asian family and their interaction with the town’s predominantly non-Asian population. Adding more complexity to the equation is the fact that O’Neil and her several brothers come from mixed ethnic and religious heritage. “I was raised by a Filipino Christian grandmother and a Japanese Buddhist grandfather,” O’Neil says. “It was a weird combination.”



Eventually, O’Neil’s family learns that she is training Evans in secret. This development does not sit well with them, and they move into damage-control mode. Evans is a gay teenager whose former partner was killed by town bullies—and in 1985 Wyoming, having their school associated with such a perceived undesirable is considered tantamount to professional suicide.

Allegorically, this concept of suicide extends beyond the professional world and into the medical realm, given the prevailing and often erroneous attitudes of the day about the transmission of AIDS. And while this theme is not fully explored in the film, it is definitely a subtext played with subtlety thanks to Inosanto’s keen writing and directorial choices.

Adding fuel to the conflict fire is the fact that O’Neil is teaching this ostracized gay student because she had been passed over in black-belt promotions due to the school’s conservative tradition of only promoting men. Her various acts of rebellion, told in brief yet effective flashback sequences, paint a picture of long-standing strife as O’Neil seeks peace with her place in the school hierarchy and her position as the proverbial black sheep of her family.

This complex backdrop, while perhaps plodding on paper, moves along at a surprisingly brisk pace thanks to its focus on tight editing and character-driven storytelling rather than on setting up the next fight. And while the film does feature several fight scenes, they serve to move the plot forward rather than the genre-typical reverse.

Ironically, it’s the martial arts sequences that raised my eyebrow at a couple of spots—perhaps because they were supposed to depict more true-to-life fighting rhythms than staged ones, or because the staging and editing weren’t on par with the film’s very strong dramatic narrative. However, because these sequences are peppered in sparingly for specific plot-pertinent purposes, they do not detract from the overall experience.


The Sensei is really about the characters’ internal fights, and the physical fights between them externally are vehicles for depiction and plot momentum. Family relations are strained, allegiances are tested, devastating secrets are revealed, and preconceptions about people labeled as “other” (often by men and women considered “other” themselves) are challenged—and this could all be laborious drivel without the catalyst of physical conflict, which Inosanto uses as color in her storytelling palette rather than a means to an end.

For a film written and directed by a martial artist, titled with a martial arts term and featuring martial arts as a narrative thread, The Sensei isn’t so much about a teacher-student relationship as it is about the often-ambiguous art of living life and continuing to walk forward in the face of fear, anger and heartbreak. The martial arts component is the backdrop, the vehicle for telling this story of the human condition in a particular time and place.

Across multiple viewings, I was moved emotionally at the same plot points each time, which serves as a testament to the performances by the actors, the thoughtful script by Inosanto, the film’s score by composer Dean Ogden, some beautiful cinematography by Mark Rutledge and editing choices by Reine Claire. The elements coalesce like a well-structured piece of music, knowing when to splash color, crescendo and retreat.

As a minister played by Keith David (recently seen in the film Crash) says during a pair of scenes that bookend the film, “Life is the sensei.” And this snapshot of life in a small Wyoming town is richly animated by invested performances from a passionate cast, including Louis Mandylor (Martial Law; My Big Fat Greek Wedding) as boxer Mark Corey; Tzi Ma as an ultra-serene Buddhist monk; Sab Shimono as O’Neil’s grandfather Taki Nakano, head of the town’s martial arts school; and his wife Flora Takano, played with honed comic timing and emotional sensitivity by Emily Kuroda.

The Sensei is a spiritual journey that presents a surprisingly complex yet successfully intertwined array of dilemmas, questions and crises as it bravely delves into some of the darkest reaches of the modern human condition: prejudice, fear, sexism, racism and homophobia, among others. And while a bit heavy-handed in its execution, the film’s overall delivery—and the moments when its elements truly harmonize in heartbreaking fashion—make the journey well worth taking.

(The Sensei is available on DVD, iTunes and various cable services. For more information, visit the senseimovie.com. Or for more martial arts entertainment, check out our Black Belt Shop.)

THE DAY HAS COME

THE SENSEI is available for purchase on DVD at Amazon.com now! Additionally, the film is now released digitally through multiple platforms including Netflix.com,Amazon .com, Blockbuster.com, CinemaNow.com, Dish Network, EchoStar, iNDemand, COX ONDemand, Time Warner Cable ONDemand, Comcast Cable ONDemand and iTunes.

DVD Release Party and Screening

ON DVD MARCH 9th, 2010

Matthew's Place cast interviews

for the rest of the interviews visit:

http://www.matthewshepard.org/site/PageServer


Interview with Gina Scalzi who plays Anne Evans in The Sensei
By Jason Marsden, Executive Director
(I have edited out some of my 'Rainman' moments - not to mention, wow, I'm an adult woman who says "you know" alot)

J: Hi Gina.
G: How you doing?

J: I'm well thanks. How are you?
G: I'm really good.

J: So this is a great movie. I was, I was able to watch parts of it. Thomas told me what the key parts were for the interviews I needed to do and I was sitting there sort of watching and thinking about high school in the late 1980's and how familiar it all sort of seemed and obviously it' a dramatic presentation of, of the kind of bullying pressures that kids who are different from the mainstream kids end up experiencing. But it really, it wasn't that far from how -you know-, how I remember going to a rural high school in Wyoming when I was, when I was growing up in the late 1980's, so… I don't know did it, how did it, did it ring true to you on that level?
G: I've gotta say I was really lucky, I grew up in an academic situation. My parents were both professors and I later went to Oberlin which is really open in general to diversity. And so I was really kind of protected in a lot of ways. So when I got this part I did a lot of interviews with a lot of moms and particularly moms who had actually lost sons to AIDS because that was the time frame this film was in; people weren't surviving AIDS, people were dying of it. And families -you know-, coming out to your family meant so much -you know-, just profound a declaration. So I really wanted to do my research and talk to women who have been through it. And what was really striking to me was as I did, I had not realized how many Gay kids would kill themselves to avoid coming out. And I read the scripts and I really loved the script, just kind of as an actor. I really loved what Diana was trying to say. But it was when I started talking to these moms when I really understood the impact and how true the script was playing to that time in America, to that time in our history. So yeah, it really did ring really true to me - the more and more I learned about, the more it rang true…

J: How did the moms feel about, about a project like this or maybe did they, are they noticing that there's more, much more inclusive sort of media portrayals of LGBT people and LGBT youth in particular out there than there was?
G: Oh they, oh they absolutely, they absolutely realize. (Rainman moment there, sorry). What I did was, I got in touch with the people, the PFLAG groups. In Colorado, but also in New York, also through my friends who's parents are apart of PFLAG. I asked them for help and I got through to their groups and I kind of sent out this email or sent out calls or made personal (inquiries) 'if you have anyone that wants to talk to me I'm making this film and I really want to try to be respectful and do it right'. And the thing about the moms is that these are moms about as subversive as any body else's mom. These were, I mean, I met woman and talked to woman who -you know- all of them reacted, but none of them reacted exactly the same to their son's coming up. None of them reacted exactly the same way to finding out their child had AIDS. It was, it was a broad spectrum of reaction. And what I really loved, one of the moms said that she had rejected her son and he had kind of crawled away to die. And after he was gone it was she who nursed his lover until he passed. And, and what I love is that she said " I didn't know". She grew up in a Mormon town. She had no role model for this. She had no idea how she was supposed to react -you know-. She had no way of knowing and she horribly regretted not just listening to her heart and doing what she personally felt she should do. She did what she thought she was supposed to do and she regrets it and she's so happy that now there are more portrayals that are one - truthful but also they kind of set up some role model of acceptance even just for moms and dads. So I thought that was really glorious because this was a woman who didn't know me from Adam, who was willing to kind of put out her flaws in front of me to, to really examine and consider. And I think that was important, particularly for my role, because my role is not,... she's not a perfect mom. She's a well intentioned mom. But she is not the perfect mom by any stretch of the imagination. -You know- a very, very young mom in that time period, who would have no idea really how to, how to actually deal -you know- where to go. And there was -you know-, there were so few places for them to go.

J: Well though the idea of showing an imperfect person trying to deal with an imperfect situation turns out to be really important because we all are imperfect and…
G: Well absolutely.

J: Makes it seem like that, things like Glee and all the other mainstream portrayals of LGBT people, the really powerful ones show the parents wrestling with it and not handling it perfectly so that… I think that in a way it gives parents permission to be imperfect and just do their best.
G: Right. Because I think that's the reality for all parents. I mean my parents didn't do everything perfectly but -you know- they did their best. But it's, I think it's just really good to have [that protrayal]; to not like push it away and put it behind a curtain and really examine in all its facets. Of how to deal.

J: So the film has a lot of different messages. I mean on one level there's this you have the right to defend yourself message which almost… Almost masks the you have the right to be comfortable with who you are inside your soul before you even hit the gym and learn how to punch someone.
G: Well that's, that's yeah, that's part of it isn't it? You can't really defend yourself until you consider yourself worthy of defense.

J: Yeah. Do you, do you feel like are people going to get that? They're not going to just see this as "a it's really important to know martial arts in case the bully picks on you". I feel like, I certainly hope they get the underlying message. It's, it's definitely there.
G: I think they will because [well] I think that certainly there will be people who come to this film because this is Bruce Lee's God daughter. "Oh my God, she's so awesome. Her father's so awesome. I want to see her kick some ass". But, and Michael, who plays McClain is just such a beautiful martial artist to watch. He's just [so gracceful], it's just so beautiful to watch. It's just on a visceral level you're like "wow, this is awesome". But I really do think, particularly the way the film is set up, is that you're really attached to these characters. You invest in them as humans. It's not like we're going to be getting McClain action figures. I think, her intention is pretty there, I mean I think it's relatively settled. But I think it's pretty clear from the beginning, where we are and what this film is. And her intentions are really too; to change minds quietly.

J: Did you come away with any different feeling about how you, I don't know what your family situation is, if you're parent or if you have nieces and nephews or if. Anything like that, but in terms of dealing with vulnerable youth or youth that are questioning their identity or how they fit in, did you come away feeling a little differently with how you would approach that versus going into this before you talked to all those mothers and so on?
G: Well I've got to say after, after talking to the mothers, I really understood kind of how far we come as a human race when we allow our love to evolve through tolerance. And that is certainly a huge [concept], I mean that, that can be reinforced daily. I mean we can all use that in all things. And -you know- as, as a person part of a family I see how -you know- my mother's generation deals differently with a cousin's who's Gay or a cousin who's different. Particularly as I'm very Italian and my family, my mother's family is very Roman Catholic, and to see kind of how, how we've evolved as generations come up as far as tolerance, as far as acceptance, and as far as how much that improves our love, our personal love for each other. And I think that alters the way I approach my own family and the things I expect of my friends. When my roommate came out she was really concerned because no body in my nuclear family is Gay and she was like "you know I was really sad to tell you, I was really worried to tell you". And I was like "wow, there's no reason for you to worry because I love you, period"

J: Gina I think that, I guess the only other question is the take away you'd like audiences to come away from this film thinking about maybe and you mentioned families and the interesting thing about this is this is both the sort of bad guy in this film and McClanes character are fatherless and or have -you know- incomplete family backgrounds and I grew up with a single mother and I hear you about parents being scared of doing the wrong thing. Do you hope or do you feel there will be a take away that even if you're a single parent struggling with raising a kid that is different or is having trouble fitting in that they still have the, they still have the ability to, to send the right message and make a real difference?
G: Oh I hope so. I hope what they see from Annie and McClain's relationship is that ultimately no matter how flawed she is and ultimately no matter what he's been through it is their love that keeps them together as a family. And that love is her catalyst,... it is her love for her son that is the catalyst for making all this happen. For her approaching this woman who she knows is the only person who can teach her son to save his own life. And yeah, I would like that to be the take away that ultimately love is, love and tolerance is what's going to get us through and help us evolve.

J: Great. Well thank you very much I'll, I'll let you go.
G: Great.

J: And hope this is a huge success. We're really, really grateful you took the time to talk to us for Matthew's Place.
G: Well thanks for all your help. You guys have been awesome.

J: It's our please. Thanks.
G: And an inspiration.

J: Great. Thank you!
G: Thanks!

J: Yup, take care.
G: Okay, you too. Buh-bye.