Reviews

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  ★★★★ review by Archer on Letterboxd

  A truly beautiful tale

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  ★★★★ review by Sean Kelly on Letterboxd

  An enjoyable documentary, which tells the incredible journey Jeremy Lin traveled, in which he defied all naysayers and became an overnight basketball sensation.

  Blog Review: www.skonmovies.com/2013/11/ra2013-linsanity.html

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  ★★★★½ review by Niki Storr on Letterboxd

  Jeremy Lin's passion is for basketball. He was a star of high school basketball in California breaking all the records, but for some *reason* the universities weren't banging down his door. However, he did get into Harvard with a perfect math score and there the *reason* becomes more clear: racism. Jeremy Lin as a Taiwanese American doesn't look like a basketball star. Harvard students are shown screaming anti-Asian epithets at Jeremy (not addressed in the film, but WTF Harvard??). Despite being the obvious track, the filmmaker does not make racism the whole story. This is a film about Jeremy's perseverance in the face of the constant set-backs that are put in his path: repeated demotions to the D league, being on the bench most of the time, even being "waived" from two major league teams in two weeks. It would destroy most peoples' resolve. Thankfully the tenacity that Jeremy used to hone his b-ball skills and the faith and support he had from his family and friends enabled him to grab that break-out moment to wow the sports world with what was to be called Linsanity. And for two weeks in 2012 he broke all the records in basketball. The footage is there and it's crazy impressive. What is also impressive is Lin's humility, humour, and insight. He knows that to be at his best he has to listen to his inner voice. "What would Jesus do?" he earnestly said in one clip responding post-game interview in which he showed up Kobe Bryant. It's an underdog story that isn't done yet. Stay tuned.

  I was lucky enough to see the filmmaker speak after the screening and he explained that this project was started back in the Harvard years. They recognized Lin's talent back then and saw the story, just not the trajectory. Over time they won the trust of the Lin family once they could show that this was Jeremy's story. There is so much varied footage going back to his childhood. It really made for a well-rounded documentary.

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  ★★★★ review by Jonathan Sim on Letterboxd

  "You don't get better if you win all the time, you get better when you lose. You improve when you look at yourself more when you lose."

  When I was in the middle of Linsanity, watching this Asian-American basketball player be playing so well in his NBA games, I was another Asian-American kid who wanted to be a basketball player for the New York Knicks. And this really inspired me.

  Here we have an amazing rags-to-riches story, which is so amazing and inspiring that it's hard to believe it's true. It does a perfect job of telling the story about an undrafted Asian-American basketball player from Harvard that never gave up, and found himself in the middle of media attention after a streak of fantastic basketball performance.

  I like this guy. I think he can be a big inspiration to others, including myself, and I have a ton of fun rewatching this documentary and seeing how his story began, and how it isn't over yet.

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  ★★★★ review by Mercy on Letterboxd

  Really well done documentary

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