Linsanity

Festival Favorites
D: Evan Leong; with Jeremy Lin

The most surprising aspect of this instant classic sports biopic is its chronology. The filmmakers spend nearly an hour getting to their remarkable third-act climax, Jeremy Lin’s highlight reel with the New York Knicks. Indeed, director Leong and producer Chris Chen first became interested in the Asian-American hoopster when he was a senior star at Harvard, camera-shy and unsure of his basketball future. Had he not passed through a point guard’s progress of doubt and near-despair en route to his breakout month with the Knicks, not only would his faith not be rewarded, the filmmakers would have had a very different, unnamed documentary. This one looks destined for ESPN, and Lin for a solid NBA career. As his Rockets coach Kevin McHale told the Houston Chronicle: “It’s a lot easier to go out and play this game when the expectation level for you is realistic, not Linsanity.”

Saturday, March 16, 11:30am, Paramount

This article appears in March 15 • 2013.

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Contributing writer and former news editor Michael King has reported on city and state politics for the Chronicle since 2000. He was educated at Indiana University and Yale, and from 1977 to 1985 taught at UT-Austin. He has been the editor of the Houston Press and The Texas Observer, and has reported and written widely on education, politics, and cultural subjects.