Ping Pong Playa (2007)

Ping Pong Playa (2007) is the story of Christopher "CW" Wang, a Chinese wannabe homeboy, who's forced to teach his mother's ping pong class, and defend his family honor at the annual Golden Cock ping pong tournament. Just when you thought the slacker genre had gone everywhere it could go, Jessica Yu presents us with this little gem.

In other hands it might have been a formulaic little indie, but the direction here is spot-on, whimsical, slightly irreverent, sweet, and full of heart. I like the way it approaches race, very directly and casually, humorously. Jimmy Tsai, who also co-wrote, holds it all together with a clueless but endearing Christopher who, as we know he will, steps up in the end. It's predictable, but nonetheless rewarding, and never overly contrived. And Elizabeth Sung as his mother is hysterical.

Jessica Yu also directed In the Realms of the Unreal, one of my favorite documentaries. Or, rather, one of my favorite stories. She seems to have done a lot of work with art and artists; she's directed a lot of television, including ER, the West Wing, and Grey's Anatomy. She won an Oscar for the short documentary Breathing Lessons. She's also done Protagonist, which I'm going to check out on Sundance On-Demand.