The friendship between two unlikely individuals is the focus of this upbeat program that introduces septuagenarian Linda Lack who danced professionally with Twyla Tharp and says she was “put on this earth to dance and move.” With a Ph.D. in movement education, she runs a studio in Los Angeles that incorporates dance and yoga-like moves into original routines. After a drunk driver hit her building and broke a large glass window, the area was boarded up awaiting repairs. But when Lack came to her studio one morning, she discovered that beautiful street art had been placed over the plywood. The art featuring an Asian mother with two children intrigued Lack who tried to locate the artist who identified as Inksap.
Not surprisingly the artist thought Lack was trying to contact him so she could report him for illegally defacing her building. Eventually, he gave in and agreed to meet Lack at her studio. This is where the story gets interesting as the two became immediate friends, forged by their love of art. The twentysomething son of Vietnamese immigrants, Ink (as he calls himself) grew up in Orange County and felt like an outsider among his peers and within his culture.
The film follows Ink as he makes his art and surreptitiously installs it on vacant walls and billboards, often while scaling high ladders to reach the top of commercial buildings during the night to avoid being caught. Ink and Lack go out on nightly runs to place his art. The two travel to Europe where Ink displays artwork showing a likeness of lithe and slender Linda who demonstrates her ability to move in a fluid manner while Ink creates art that captures her movements. In conversations between the two, we learn about Ink’s family who escaped Vietnam and settled in the U.S. Coincidentally Lack’s father, a doctor, volunteered his services during the Vietnam War and helped airlift refugees out of the country.
There are many themes here showing how persons of different generations can form long-lasting friendships bound together by a love of art, diversity, and culture. Recommended for both college and public library collections to foster art appreciation and to encourage discussions on cultural expectations, shared experiences, camaraderie, and values.