TO BE TAKEI (Jennifer M. Kroot). 93 minutes. Opens Friday (August 22). For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NNNN
To paraphrase the famous intro to the sci-fi TV series that made him a star, George Takei has boldly gone where few have gone before.
He’s a pioneering Asian-American actor who refused to play demeaning stereotypes a passionate educator about the massive Japanese-American uprooting, relocation and internment, which affected his family and tens of thousands more during WWII and, with his partner of 25 years, Brad Altman, he’s been a vocal and articulate advocate of same-sex marriage equality since coming out in 2005.
That’s a lot to pack in, so director Jennifer M. Kroot can be forgiven if her entertaining and informative doc leaps around haphazardly.
Everyone from the crew of Star Trek’s USS Enterprise chimes in, including a surly, clearly uncomfortable William Shatner. (Takei’s smackdown of him during a celebrity roast provides the film’s biggest laugh.) Younger artists like John Cho – who’s playing Takei’s Trekkie role, Mr. Sulu, in the current big-screen incarnations – and BD Wong help put his career as an Asian-American actor in context.
There’s lots of footage from a new musical called Allegiance, about the Japanese-American internment, in which Takei plays a patriarch – which makes him reflect on his own relationship with his father.
And a series of clips of Takei on shock jock Howard Stern’s show illustrate the evolution of the actor’s comfort with coming out.
We spend plenty of time with Brad, who helps organize every aspect of his husband’s life. But it’s the velvet-voiced Takei himself who commands attention, whether he’s delivering inspiring speeches, meeting fans at Comic-Con or discussing his popularity on social media.
Stay for the end credits.
