Full Disclosure: I have a credit on this movie, but for something inconsequential to the story that doesn’t really bear on my review.

Tad Nakamura completes his trilogy with A Song for Ourselves. Subject Chris Ijima was a pioneering Asian American folk musician, and part of the melting pot of cultural awareness movements in Southern California. In thirty minutes, the film picks up the careers of Ijima, and his bandmates, Nobuko Miyamoto and Charlie Chin, as they rose to prominence in the community. A particularly funny segment involves an unexpectedly archaic-sounding John Lennon introducing them (Ijima and Miyamoto as duet Yellow Pearl) on Dick Cavet as being, “Japanese… or something.” I suppose we have the luxury of laughing at the provinciality of Lennon’s comments (Oh, and thanks to Yoko for piping in there, too! Knucklehead.), rather than gratefully accepting his mainstream/white/western validation precisely because so much ground his been broken in the intervening time by artists and activists like Ijima, et al.

Though the movie must inevitably follow the last days of the artist’s life, it doesn’t dwell, and sends the audience off on a positive note; with one of the more memorable conversations I’ve heard related about the subject of death.

Last Modified : March 3rd, 2009 Filed under : Movies Navigate : Previous post / Next post