Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

jefb-1 Beginning with footage of a homeless old man on the streets of New York City, the film expands into the extraordinary story of Japanese-American artist Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani. He was born in California, educated in Japan, and returned to America only to be put in U.S. interment camps during World War II. The photography is striking -- exceptional really. This wonderful, beautiful old man tells his story mainly through his art, but also with words of candor. "Discovered" by critics late in his life, Mr. Mirikitani finally earns deserved acclaim for his work AND finds family members unknown or thought lost. The extra footage showing his return to Hiroshima is especially moving. The film by Linda Hattendorf depicts a man who has spent nearly his entire life chronicling a critical, albeit invidious, piece of American history through art. This compelling documentary garnered many awards, but not nearly enough!

k_arent_lee This is not something I would normally go and see. The production company did a horrible job marketing it by putting the main character on the poster and I avoided it a couple of times because it didn't look very interesting. But after I read some good reviews and saw it won the Tribeca Film Festival, I couldn't avoid seeing it anymore. I was totally blown away by how good this film was. It was one of the most emotional experiences I've had in a movie theater in a long time. Better than all the Hollywood films I've seen in years. I felt like a little kid as I cheered for Jimmy Mirikitani as he makes an incredible transformation from anonymous street person to important living artist (the "Grand Master" as he so beautifully calls himself). I wish every person could see this story as a testament to what it means to be human and as an example to foreigners that not all Americans are gun-loving, war-mongering, selfish pricks who care little for the fate of other people, especially foreigners. See this film! I promise you won't regret it.

jw schoonen I have seen this movie during the Rotterdam Film festival. The film is a sort of interview like movie/documentary about a Japanese artist (Mr Mirikitani) that was send to an American concentration camp for Japanese immigrants after the pearl harbor attack WWII.After this period he is in the USA but loses his identity/social number etc. He manages to do some work here and there as a cook but eventually goes to living in the streets of new york where he makes drawings/paintings mostly cats (but actually he draws anything). a female reporter (Linda Hattendorf) makes a documentary of his life and then the terrorist attacks (9-11) take place at the world trade center.As ashes and toxic fumes on ground zero emerge, Mr Mirikitani has no place to stay and the female reporter decides to take him into her apartment which creates a lot of hilarious moments ... it is a film with a lot of grief, happiness and humor. that's why i would recommend it to anyone that likes an emotional story with a lot of humor. Probably I fail to make a lot of details in this review and maybe have some facts in wrong perspective but just go see the movie for yourself and give your meaning here too!

haknight When film maker Linda Hattendorf stumbles upon Japanese-American artist Jimmy Mirikitani on the streets of Soho, he is huddled for warmth under the awning of a Deli, drawing charming, stylized, joyful pictures of cats. They get acquainted, and she starts filming. The morning of 9-11 she rescues him from the horror and chaos of the streets, and he comes to live with her. They make the "Odd Couple" look tame, and she continues to unravel the stories of his life from his birth in Sacramento 80 years before, to his growing up in Hiroshima, to his return to the U.S. just before WWII---and just in time to be carted off to one of the "internment camps" for Japanese Americans. The film follows Jimmy as he reveals more and more of his past, and follows Hattendorf as she helps him put together a life off the streets, and eventually to a reunion of internees at the Tule Lake Camp in California. This is a loving portrait, exquisitely filmed and told in a way that unfolds without pretense. Even when Jimmy draws parallels between his family's tragedy at Hiroshima and the tragedy of American stereotyping and anti-Arab sentiment after 9-11, the film is not heavy-handed or "preachy." It is simply lovely and poignant.Hattendorf set out to film this interesting character (and wonderful artist---he calls himself a "grand master," and not without reason) and ended up giving him a new existence and helping him tie up many of the "loose ends" of his life---and letting us get to know both of them intimately and without judgment.This is the simple art of film making and story telling at its best.