I highly recommend The Cats of Mirikitani, a deeply moving documentary on homeless New York artist Jimmy Mirikitani. At first the film is an engaging and often humorous story of friendship between the filmmaker and her eccentric subject, but as the life of this eighty-year-old painter comes into focus, so does his tragic place at the center of world events: the Japanese American internment, the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the September 11 terrorist attacks. (The burning Twin Towers, clearly visible from Mirikitani's patch of sidewalk, provide a grim backdrop to the film's middle portion.) Like Mirikitani's own childlike sketches, The Cats of Mirikitani begins simply and intimately, and yet gradually reveals the harrowing themes at the heart of its artist — the pain of memory, the responsibility of governments to their citizens, and the collateral damage of war, measured in ruined lives and ruined ambitions. The film is playing internationally in select cities and should air in condensed form on PBS later this year.

Victor Tan Chen Victor Tan Chen is In The Fray's editor in chief and the author of Cut Loose: Jobless and Hopeless in an Unfair Economy. Site: victortanchen.com | Facebook | Twitter: @victortanchen