That man you just passed on the street, the one wearing four layers of clothing and a month's worth of human smell stench? Yeah him. Do you know who he is? Or what his history might be? These are the questions that suddenly plague New York director and documentarian Linda Hattendorf. Seeing one of these nameless faces wandering near where she lived, Linda decided to place her lens on him. His name, she quickly learns, is Jimmy Mirikitani, and his story is almost too much to believe.A sidewalk artist who's specialty involved drawing Japanese cats and portraits of his wartime experiences, Jimmy is a complex and talented man. And when the 9/11 attacks occur only a few blocks away from Jimmy's normal homeless home-spot, Linda takes him in so that he doesn't have to choke on the dust littering the skies immediately after the collapse of the twin towers. The attacks on the twin towers also begin echoing prejudices against Muslim Americans, a prejudice that Jimmy is far too familiar with.As Linda's cameras continue to record Jimmy's life, we learn that not only was Jimmy a peace loving man before WW II, but he also was an up-and-coming artist ...until he and his family were forced into Japanese internment camps in California. Everything was stripped away from Jimmy, including (or so he thought) his U.S. citizenship. As Linda tries to help Jimmy both mentally and financially, she runs up against Jimmy's anger and distrust of the government. Jimmy constantly refuses her requests to find out if he's eligible for social security, often sparking outbursts against the U.S. bureaucracy. His anger, it soon become apparent, is due to his internment time, his forced signing of documents relinquishing his U.S. citizen status (even though he was born in Sacramento, California), and the WW II bombing of his beloved Hiroshima (his hometown).In his 80s, Jimmy also doesn't know what's happened to his family. He soon learns that he has plenty living in California. But opening up to them is not an easy road as his obvious mental illness intrudes upon his better judgement.It is a poignant and memorable documentary for the simple reason that a person took the time to get to know this homeless man and uncovered a goldmine of information about an incredible person and an artist. His images are strikingly beautiful and haunting, hearkening back to his time in the internment camps and his early career as a hopeful artist.The story is what really sticks with you, too. As we watch Linda (the documentary maker) uncover layer after layer of this unique man, we don't pity him but, instead, begin to UNDERSTAND him. That's a huge revelation. We understand why Jimmy is so angry. Why he's so reluctant to get close to people. And why, eventually, he comes out of his lonesome cocoon. It is a rebirth worth watching ...and enjoying

A Japanese American, Jimmy Mirikitani who survives in the streets of Manhattan by selling his paintings (cats) to by-passers for a few dollars, attracts the attention of the director of this movie, Linda Hattendorf. She wants to know his identity, his past and why he is surviving in such a dreadful manner. She discovers that the roots for his depressing situation were laid out decades ago by the racial treatment of people from oriental origin during WW II in the US. Considered as potential enemies and spies, they were incarcerated in special internment camps. Jimmy Mirikitani never recovered from this ordeal after the war. This documentary is edited like a thriller, with the director in the role of a true detective who unravels all the secrets of the main character's life puzzle. Linda Hattendorf has made a most remarkable documentary revealing some nearly undetectable ravages provoked by war on innocent populations. A must see.

Beginning with footage of a homeless old man on the streets of New York City, the film expands into the extraordinary story of Japanese-American artist Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani. He was born in California, educated in Japan, and returned to America only to be put in U.S. interment camps during World War II. The photography is striking -- exceptional really. This wonderful, beautiful old man tells his story mainly through his art, but also with words of candor. "Discovered" by critics late in his life, Mr. Mirikitani finally earns deserved acclaim for his work AND finds family members unknown or thought lost. The extra footage showing his return to Hiroshima is especially moving. The film by Linda Hattendorf depicts a man who has spent nearly his entire life chronicling a critical, albeit invidious, piece of American history through art. This compelling documentary garnered many awards, but not nearly enough!

When film maker Linda Hattendorf stumbles upon Japanese-American artist Jimmy Mirikitani on the streets of Soho, he is huddled for warmth under the awning of a Deli, drawing charming, stylized, joyful pictures of cats. They get acquainted, and she starts filming. The morning of 9-11 she rescues him from the horror and chaos of the streets, and he comes to live with her. They make the "Odd Couple" look tame, and she continues to unravel the stories of his life from his birth in Sacramento 80 years before, to his growing up in Hiroshima, to his return to the U.S. just before WWII---and just in time to be carted off to one of the "internment camps" for Japanese Americans. The film follows Jimmy as he reveals more and more of his past, and follows Hattendorf as she helps him put together a life off the streets, and eventually to a reunion of internees at the Tule Lake Camp in California. This is a loving portrait, exquisitely filmed and told in a way that unfolds without pretense. Even when Jimmy draws parallels between his family's tragedy at Hiroshima and the tragedy of American stereotyping and anti-Arab sentiment after 9-11, the film is not heavy-handed or "preachy." It is simply lovely and poignant.Hattendorf set out to film this interesting character (and wonderful artist---he calls himself a "grand master," and not without reason) and ended up giving him a new existence and helping him tie up many of the "loose ends" of his life---and letting us get to know both of them intimately and without judgment.This is the simple art of film making and story telling at its best.