Jeremy Lin
The “Linsanity” Interview
with Kam Williams
Oh, the Linsanity!
Jeremy Lin was born in Los Angeles, California on August 23, 1988 to Taiwanese immigrant parents. Encouraged by his father, he developed a love of basketball at an early age.
Raised in a Christian family, Jeremy’s faith guided and supported him as he chased his hoop dream of playing basketball in the NBA. Known for his relentless work off court and on, the young phenom led his Palo Alto high school team to a state title against nationally-ranked Mater Dei, an overwhelming favorite.
Despite his All-State level play, however, no Division 1 college recruited Jeremy. So, he enrolled at Harvard University, which does not offer athletic scholarships.
Undrafted by the NBA out of college, he nevertheless impressed scouts in the summer league going up against the No. 1 draft pick. He was eventually signed—but later cut—by the Golden State Warriors.
A brief stint in Houston ended unceremoniously on Christmas Day, 2011. Jeremy was subsequently picked up by the New York Knicks. In early 2012, on the verge of being cut again, he rose to prominence as a starter, unlikely team leader and improbable NBA sensation.
“Linsanity” was born! He’s been the Houston Rockets’ starting point guard since landing a three-year, $25 million deal. Whether facing racial taunts as a child, or being underestimated on the court, Jeremy Lin consistently points to his faith as his means of dealing with both disappointment and success.
Here, he talks about Linsanity, the new documentary chronicling both his commitment to Christ and his meteoric rise to superstardom.
Rwandan Reconciliation Documentary Chronicles Feats of Remarkable Female Drumming TroupeSweet Dreams
Film Review by Kam Williams
The 1994 Civil War left the beleaguered African nation of Rwanda a bloody mess, both literally and figuratively. Not only had the warring tribes, the Hutus and the Tutsis, hacked each other to death with machetes to the tune of about a million bodies scattered across the countryside, but to this day many of the survivors of the ethnic cleansing remain totally traumatized by the slaughter they’d witnessed.
Consequently, much of the populace still walks around in a daze sporting blank, 1,000 yard stares some refer to as battle fatigue or shell shock which shrinks refer to clinically as post-traumatic stress syndrome. For, it is understandable that it might hard to get over a conflict which pitted neighbor against neighbor, and even relative against relative.
One survivor, theater director Kiki Katese, determined to do something to alleviate the suffering, asked, “How do you rebuild a human being?” So, she founded Ingoma Nshya (meaning “new drum, new kingdom”), an all-female drumming troupe comprised of both Tutsis and Hutus, with admission being conditioned on checking ones tribal allegiance at the door. Besides affording the 60-strong membership an opportunity to pound rhythmically on congas, the gathering simultaneously served as a support group offering healing and reconciliation.
In 2010, Kiki came up with another innovative idea, namely, opening Rwanda’s first ice cream parlor. This time, she enlisted the support of Jennie Dundas and Alexis Miesen, proprietors of a place located half a world away in Brooklyn called Blue Marble Ice Cream.
The game New Yorkers answered the call, traveling to Rwanda to help Kiki realize that dream. Together they created Sweet Dreams, a shop owned and operated cooperatively by a number of the women from Ingoma Nshya.
All of the above is affectionately recounted in Sweet Dreams, an uplifting documentary co-directed by Lisa and Rob Fruchtman. Kiki and her companions cut a sharp contrast to the bulk of their fellow countrymen peppering the desolate background, lost souls who seem broken in spirit between mourning murdered kin and facing bleak prospects for a better tomorrow.
A female empowerment flick featuring a blend of ice cream and drumming as a viable path to rehabilitation and reconciliation.
Very Good (3 stars)
Unrated
In English and Kinyarwanda with subtitles
Running time: 84 minutes
Distributor: International Film Circuit / Liro Films
To see a trailer for Sweet Dreams, visit
The Counselor
Film Review by Kam Williams
It’s easy to see why this crime thriller got greenlit by Hollywood. First of all, it was written by Pulitzer Prize-winner Cormac McCarthy whose relatively-riveting “No Country for Old Men” won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Secondly, Oscar-nominated director Ridley Scott (for Gladiator, Black Hawk Down and Thelma & Louise) was brought aboard, as well as an A-list cast topped by Academy Award-winners Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, nominees Brad Pitt and Rosie Perez, and versatile character actors Michael Fassbender and Goran Visnjic.
Furthermore, since the story is set in Juarez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas, it made sense to sign several leading Latino thespians in Cameron Diaz, Edgar Ramirez, John Leguizamo and Ruben Blades. Nevertheless, The Counselor turned out to be one of those curious head scratchers that somehow adds up to way less than the sum of its parts.
The film is crippled primarily by a pair of fatal flaws, namely, a glacial pace and a talky script laced with awkward dialogue. For, while it waits for something, anything of consequence to transpire, the audience is force fed lots of inexplicably stilted lines like, “You are a man of impeccable taste” and “I intend to love you ‘til the day I die.”
Worse, these corny quips are generally delivered with so little conviction that you never know whether you’re supposed to laugh or take them seriously. The actors’ inscrutably-flat affect invariably comes off as tongue-in-cheek impersonations of characters right out of a typical Damon Runyon yarn.
The picture’s farfetched plot revolves around a nameless lawyer, referred to only as “The Counselor” (Fassbender), a guy whose greed is getting the better of him. At the point of departure, we find the avaricious attorney head-over-heels in love with Laura (Cruz), an exotic beauty he plans to propose to with an expensive diamond ring he can’t really afford.
For reasons that never quite make sense, this man of few words soon seeks to supplement his income by getting mixed up in a dangerous Mexican drug trade known for its ever-escalating body count. He’s offered a start in the business by Reiner (Bardem), a flamboyant dealer with a flashier girlfriend (Diaz).
Ignoring repeated warnings from a low-key middleman (Pitt) that entering the narcotics underworld is akin to stepping in quicksand, the Counselor decides that the extra cash is worth a one-time risk. The game plan is to deliver a sewage truck with over 20,000 ounces of coke across the border and North to Chicago in return for a big payday.
But the pivotal question remains: will he be able to avoid becoming a statistic in a bloody turf war where ruthless gangs don’t give a second thought about beheading a rival? A highly-stylized borefest featuring blasé individuals overindulging in gratuitous violence and a coarse brand of casual sensuality.
Fair (1.5 stars)
Rated R for profanity, sexuality, graphic violence and grisly images
Running time: 111 minutes
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Keke Palmer
The “Crazy Sexy Cool: The TLC Story” Interview
with Kam Williams
Krazy about Keke!
Born in Harvey, Illinois on August 26, 1993, Lauren Keyana
Parker has been wowing audiences since the tender age of 9. Keke
first received great acclaim when she starred as the title character in
the sleeper hit Akeelah and the Bee, opposite actor Laurence Fishburne
and Angela Bassett.
When I Walk
Film Review by Kam Williams
Jason DaSilva was vacationing on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten in 2006 when he fell down on the beach and couldn’t get up. The 25 year-old filmmaker was diagnosed with primary progressive Multiple Sclerosis, an incurable inflammatory disease eventually leading to blindness, as well as a loss of balance and muscle control.
Nevertheless, his hopeful mother refused to let her son feel sorry for himself, encouraging him to seek help and to employ positive affirmations like, “It’s mind over matter,” and “You’ll find a way.” Unfortunately, by 2008, Jason’s health deteriorated to the point where he had become dependent on a walker to get around.
Feeling the frustration of his body slowing down while his mind raced, he decided to make a video record of his day-to-day life during the inexorable decline. The fruit of that effort is When I Walk, an alternately heartbreaking and uplifting tale highlighting the indomitability of the human spirit.
For, in spite of DaSilva’s desperate attempt to alleviate his affliction through prayer, yoga, ayurvedic medicine and trans-meditation, he continued to be betrayed by a deteriorating immune system. Thanks to his ever-present camera, he is able to afford the audience an intimate look at his brave battle against MS.
Shot mostly in the director’s adopted hometown of New York City, the movie is actually much more than a mere chronicle of the subject’s health concerns, as it also devotes considerable attention to his romantic relationship. Jason is suddenly in a rush to start a family, but the object of his affection, Alice, has reasonable reservations about marriage.
After all, bringing a baby into the world with a husband with such a dire prognosis might ultimately mean raising a child while simultaneously caring for a virtual invalid. So, she consults her dad, who just happens to be dating a woman with MS, for a little fatherly advice.
Will Alice and Jason tie the knot, when his legs fail entirely and his walker has to be replaced by a scooter? Rather than spoil this bittersweet biopic’s surprising resolution, just let me say Hollywood execs would probably dismiss this sentimental tearjerker as farfetched if pitched as a piece of romance fiction.
An unblinking look at a life and love irreversibly altered by the onset of MS.
Excellent (3.5 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 85 minutes
Distributor: Long Shot Factory
To see a trailer for When I Walk, visit