Dragon Deconstructed: The Year of the Dragon

This polyptych is a homage to the film The Year of the Dragon. It is the commanding piece of a three-part series. The Year of the Dragon was written by Oliver Stone who was a combat veteran in Vietnam. I have always remembered the film as being a wonderful depiction of the dichotomy between the two cultures represented in the film. It was directed by Michael Cimino, who made his directing debut in my hometown of Great Falls, Montana when he directed the film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot starring Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges. This film was also written by Cimino. I was in my studio in Hanoi when I was looking up something about Thunderbolt and Lightfoot because there is a scene where some kids are on bicycles and an old friend who I was chatting to mentioned that one of my other friends was in the scene. While trying to find the scene on YouTube, I came across the “Cimino Connection”. When I saw the list of films that he had directed, I saw that he had directed The Year of the Dragon. It had a special significance to me as it was showing in theatres in 1985 while I was attending the University of California at Santa Barbara.