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The Sensei 

Year: 2008
Country: USA
Director: D. Lee Inosanto
Starring: Diana Lee Inosanto, Keith David, Louis Mandylor, Tzi Ma
Synopsis: Two wounded souls connect in this drama about a gay teen who learns martial arts to protect himself from bullying at his school and his sensei, who is trying to mend fences with her family.
Quick review: This film is more than just a gay version of the "Karate Kid." Its overall theme is intolerance, whether it be a family struggling with the traditional gender roles, or a small town trying to overcome homophobia or a community facing its fears during the early days of the AIDS scare. McLain is the only openly gay person in a small Colorado team. The reason everyone knows he is gay has something to do with how his boyfriend died, but the filmmaker doesn't share that back story. All the audience knows is that McLain's boyfriend was killed in an act of violence and that everyone knows he's gay. The film is set in the mid-1980s before President Reagan would say AIDS in public. Everyone has heard of the disease, and few understand it. But most people in this town believe that the gays brought it upon themselves. McLain's life is pretty miserable. In addition to his boyfriend's death, he faces bullying and discrimination daily. When he tries to learn martial arts to protect himself, he's denied training. A brutal attack nearly kills him, forcing his mother to seek out Karen and ask her to train her son. Karen is part of the family that runs the one martial arts school in the town, but became estranged when she was denied her rightful black belt because of sexism. After seeing McLain in the hospital, she agrees to train the boy. The martial arts in this film is deliberately real, rather than the fancy moves you may get in a Jackie Chan or Tony Jaa film. That realism feels right, because this is more a drama than a traditional martial arts film. The story has some surprises, but anyone can guess how it ends. It's nice to see the gay boy and the petite woman kicking butt. Diana Lee Insanto stars, directs and wrote this film. It's an obviously low-budget production and at times tries too hard to tug at the heartstrings, but it's an engaging story. If you have been looking for a gay Karate Kid movie, this is it.
 

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