Review: Mahoga...

A big gripe of Asian-American media activists like my friend Angry Asian Man is that almost every Asian character in an American movie or TV show is there for an "Asian reason." They can never just Be There. Anthony Perkins had the same problem. Last night we were watching the DVD of the 1975 Diana Ross vehicle Mahogany and saw him playing a fashion photographer. That's great, I thought: Not a bad-looking guy, definitely has some acting chops, breaking out of that Psycho thing. But then his character got more and more creepy, and finally he pulled a From Russia With Love-style gun on Billy Dee Williams. So it turned out he was there for an "Anthony Perkins reason" after all. So disappointing. Anyway, I can't tell you what he did with the gun because at that point we just went to bed. As Seventies as Mahogany is -- and I love the Seventies -- and as great as Ross looks in David Watkin's gorgeous cinematography, we couldn't take any more of the ridiculous plot. I think they just made it up as they went along. Run, don't walk, to see Lady Sings the Blues instead.