‘Tis the season for Asian film festivals. Northern Cali had theirs a couple of weeks ago and now SoCal gets their shot in May. Opening this year’s festivities will be Jessica Yu’s Ping Pong Playa. I’ll let you guess what it’s about…Time’s up! It’s about an Asian dude who’s forced to defend his family’s honor in a ping pong match to the death. Kinda like Dodgeball, but with a smaller ball and not as many people wearing tight spandex outfits and like Balls of Fury, only probably not as bad. Though not a documentary, this movie reminds me of Balls of Fury, Spellbound and King of Kong. Films that specialize in society’s marginal characters or activities. Inevitably, these movies teach us universal lessons and we leave the theater totally inspired or horribly depressed. Either way, we’ll never look at ping pong the same way again.

Wisecracks aside, I am rooting for this movie. Jessica’s been moving up the Hollywood ladder, tough for any minority to do. Along the way she’s won an Oscar and bootstrapped her way up to directing Grey’s Anatomy episodes. And she’s also hot. I mean, that’s important right?

Checking out the reviews and plot has totally intrigued me. And the website has fat, chubby kids on it. Who doesn’t love chubby kids? I totally want to put them in my oven.

Interview with Jimmy Tsai, writer/star [Cinematical]