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SFIAAFF: Opening Night!
On our tightly-packed MUNI ride to the Castro to the opening night festivities for the San Francisco International Asian-American Film Festival, we were squooshed next to three thrilled Asian-American film lovers eagerly listing all the movies they were planning on seeing over this week. Excitement is running high!
The SFIAAFF opening night screening was for Finishing the Game, a faux-documentary comedy about the casting of a replacement Bruce Lee to finish Lee's last movie after his untimely death, directed by Asian-American wunderkind Justin Lin.
The mood got more and more buzzy as we neared the theater -- there was a green carpet arrival, with a woman whom we totally did not recognize mugging for paparazzi shouting "ONE MORE! ONE MORE!" at her, photobloggers shooting pictures of everything in sight, and anxious SFIAAFF staff nervously looking down Castro Street to see if featured actor (and blogger) MC Hammer was going to make it to the theater before the stated start time of 7 p.m.
There were people dressed in Bruce Lee yellow jumpsuits, elegantly-attired people no doubt heading out for the gala after the screening, a man collecting autographs who asked us whether we'd heard if Jennifer Siebel would be attending the screening (answer: no), and a man desperate to get into the screening who kept asking us if we'd sell him our plus-one ticket (and nearly attacked someone trying to return their tickets to the box office.) We hope he got in!
After the jump: MC Hammer shows up a mere 10 minutes before showtime! We got pictures!
As we were fending off the man trying to buy our ticket, we saw a Hummer-style pickup double-parking on Castro. That's gotta be the Hammer, right?
U Can't Touch This then emerged from the car (he's much wider than we'd thought he'd be), to the startled swerve of a cabdriver trying to get around the double-parked cars, and was then promptly swarmed by the autograph hound who had presumably put away his Siebel paraphernalia for another day, and others like him. After giving the hounds the ol' "Hammer Time! Keep your eyes on the stars!" signed glossies, Hammer then sportingly walked the green carpet and posed for some shots with Justin Lin.
Oh, and the movie? It was hilarious. Go see it when it opens! If you've wondered what Dustin Nguyen from 21 Jump Street has been doing lately, your questions will be answered. (and oh yes, the SFIAAFF teaser trailer? It's worth going to every single movie at the festival this year, just to watch it over and over again. It's by the folks who brought you Colma the Musical last year, and it's awwwwwwwe-some.)
