More Than Miyagi: The Pat Morita Story

More Than Miyagi: The Pat Morita Story is a solid documentary about an Asian American entertainment pioneer. There's so much great Pat Morita footage here that proves how compelling an entertainer he was. Not so much an activist as a survivor always looking to be funny first, Morita nevertheless still encountered incredible forms, structures, and instances of racism throughout his life and career. Often times he leaned into it, playing with different Asian accents, like how his Chinese accent for Arnold was supposed to be for a character originally meant to be Japanese. Many of his characters didn't have accents (Morita himself didn't have one and couldn't speak Japanese) but many did. But by the time his career really took off with his Oscar-nominated portrayal of Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid, Morita was decades deep in a lifelong addiction to alcohol. Watching his downfall is the saddest part of this documentary and yet another reminder of the dangers and tragedy of alcoholism that not only affect the abuser or addicted, but also everyone around them.

The film also has a decent amount of historical covering that features footage and pictures from the Japanese internment camps and U.S. public sentiment around the country. There's also a brief section that nicely but briefly covers U.S. cinema's history of whitewashing Asian roles and racist Asian characterizations and representations, like Mickey Rooney as Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's.