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88 MINUTES | BOSTON COMMON + FENWAY + FRESH POND + CIRCLE/CHESTNUT HILL + SUBURBS You could see this NBA Entertainment project as the tarnished league’s attempt to reach out to the world and/or tap into the Chinese market. True, Yao Ming is the most recognizable icon in his homeland (film actress Ziyi Zhang was #2 in a recent poll): standing 7-6, and possessed of grace and skill, he was a physical phenom coveted by NBA scouts. This documentary from James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo may cover Yao’s rookie travails as the #1 draft choice of the Houston Rockets, but the heart of the film is the tender/awkward bond between Yao and interpreter Colin Pine, a soft-spoken blond wisp of a man who serves as narrator. The locker-room antics and on-court highlights also score, and then there’s the spectacle of baller-turned-commentator Charles Barkley eating his words and kissing a donkey’s ass. In short, this story of a reluctant giant from another world battling in a hip-hop, put-you-down milieu is an underdog saga with universal appeal.
BY TOM MEEK
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