Green Dragon
Many years ago, my father got into the video store business. To get in, he bought one of a chain of video stores called US Home Video. Those of you who live in San Jose can pass by the remains, right past the Capitol Auto Row, now a "Leonardo's Photography." Anyway, he bought it from Sam Bui, who had two sons. Both of these sons, not surprisingly, got into the movie business. Their last movie was Three Seasons, where three different stories meshed into one discovery of the country of Vietnam. This time, they've made Green Dragon, a story about the Vietnamese refugees who came to Camp Pendleton near the end of the war. Another personal connection arises as my grandparents were just two of the 130,000 staying at the camp waiting for a sponsor. My parents would stay up north in Fort Ord in Monterey.

Like Three Seasons, this meshes a bunch of stories to try to tell what went on in this newly created community. One man has a nephew and niece to look after when he loses hope that their parents would make it to the camp. The same nephew befriends a cook through Mighty Mouse. (Forest Whitaker plays the cook. He really likes the Asian movies, doesn't he?) A concubine tries to live with the life she now leads. Patrick Swayze tries to keep the camp under control even after Saigon falls and the threats of Communism reaches his camp.

Overall, the mesh seems to work well. At times, it does seem a little preachy and the dialogue we hear comes off as a bit simple, but most Asian-American movies seem to be plagued with that. Besides, when was the last time you saw Patrick Swayze in a movie? I think it's amazing he can play something other than a dancer or a dead guy and pretty well at that. 3 stars

It's playing only in selected cities, so pray that your city has been selected. Locally, it's playing at the shoebox theatre Camera One in San Jose and the half-a-shoebox UA Berkeley.