12-14-2018, 07:07 PM
This is an indie film by Diana Lee Inosanto, who joined our Man at Arms cast for a few episodes this season. We had crossed paths in the wulin a few times before but never had any real interaction prior to meeting on set. She's charming, strong, beautiful, humble considering that her godfather was Bruce and her middle name is Lee. I figured I should check this out. I see a lot of indie martial arts films by friends and associates and many of them are downright painful, especially because I know them. The Sensei is surprisingly good - heartfelt. Set in Colorado at the height of the AIDS epidemic, Diana plays an estranged member of a martial clan that runs a strip mall dojo. She returns and begins teaching a gay teenager who gets continually harassed. The mcguffin was solid and takes the film in a meaningful direction. It's very sensitive to the issues of homophobia and AIDS paranoia, and Diana is an astonishingly good actress, delivering her scenes with an authenticity that's a cut above anyone else in the cast (all unknowns - it's that kind of indie). I look forward to complimenting her on it the next time we cross paths.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
