Category: Chinese Popular Culture

Rant!: Butchering that Passes for Editing

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One of my greatest pet peeves is having faceless editors make decisions about my viewing entertainment.  I hate finding some 20-, 30-, 40-episode wuxia series micronized to 2-hour nonsense.  I naively hoped that it was not a trend when the only version of Wind and Cloud with Vincent Zhao available to me was unrecognizable.  To my horror, it is a trend:  Book and Sword, Buddha’s Palm, The Legend of Hero, just to name a  few.  If I want to sit and watch five 45-minute episodes back-to-back, that’s my business.  If I want to keep up with a ridiculous number of characters, who are editors to tell me I can’t?  If I want to get dragged into multiple subplots, no one should stop me. Oh, but it’s not just the series.  Why is it that years after declaring Fong Sai Yuk my favorite Jet Li film, I watch a Hong Kong version only to find a musical number?  I like musical interludes, and I was robbed!!!  

Really, why do the powers-that-be believe they know what English-speakers want?  They are often wrong.  Why not just give the people what they want?  This is where globalization goes horribly awry.

Eagle Shooting Heroes (2008)

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It’s quite a statement to say, but I’m going to put it out there:  this is my favorite wuxia story EVER! This is the second version I’ve seen (the first was the 59 episode, 1983 version, Legend of the Condor Heroes).  Whether its crazy 80s special effects or the more sophisticated fare, what stays relatively the same is the story:  dimwitted boy and clever girl. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I revel in seeing Guo Jing act like a moron (but it is fun), but I’m always amazed at how strong Huang Rong is. She is not only smart, she’s clever (it’s not the same thing).  Yeah, she’s got problems playing well with others, but wouldn’t you if your father was Huang Yaoshi (more on him later).  This the fascinating thing for me and what tends to at least challenge what we think about warrior women in the west (thanks, Maxine Hong Kingston), namely that Rong is in a lot of ways a teenage girl with skills of her own who helps others (namely, Jing!).  She’s girly, and she’ll beat you down.  

So, yes, giddy to see Rong, but was ECSTATIC to see my boo, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, as Huang Yaoshi.  He does indifference like no on else!  He comes in and out of the story, but it’s always fun when he shows up.  Wong does the character justice, and I just find it fascinating that he has enough sense to teach his daughter kung fu before she goes out in the world (unlike other series–yes I’m talking about you, Men and Legends).  I mean, look at the expression on the faces of people when they find out that Rong is the daughter of “Evil East.”  On the more intellectual side, however, this father-daughter relationship is rare and brings up interesting questions that, dare I say, may challenge some feminist assumptions?  For example, she learns from her father, and yes, the mother is out of the picture, but isn’t his parentage what she eventually needs in the big, bad world?  

Still thinking (translation: I reserve the right to wax poetic on ESH in a later post!)

Underrated!: Donnie Yen

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A few days ago, I was channel-surfing, and found Highlander: Endgame on. I was delighted to find that this is the one with Donnie Yen in it, well, at least for the about 10 minutes of total screen time he gets.  And this got me to contemplating, Donnie Yen is WAY underrated. Yeah, you’ve seen Donnie in films like Highlander: Engdame and Blade 2, but what you might not know is that he is also action director on these films.  Who else do you think makes Adrian Paul and Wesley Snipes look cool?  You’ve seen the brilliance of Donnie Yen, even when you haven’t seen him.

Yeah, we got Jet Li and Jackie Chan, but where is the love for Donnie Yen?  Just like Li and Chan, he did his stint paying homage of Bruce Lee by doing the almost obligatory remake of Fist of Fury, but Donnie has a special place in my heart because is SERIOUS about the martial arts film.  Ask Nicholas Tse and Shawn Yue, his co-stars in Dragon Tiger Gate.  In the special features, all of them do their bit on the film.  When Nic and Shawn are asked, “So, how did you like working with Donnie Yen?”, they both get the same look in their faces.  Fear?  Not sure; both are used to doing action films that require a lot of activity, but they both bowed to the master Donnie Yen, who obviously put them BEYOND their paces.  Donnie seems to be on a mission to bring back/keep what made the Hong Kong action film the bomb.

Like I said, he’s serious.  In the special features for SPL, he’s choreographing a knife fight.  So I’m watching, then realize like 20-25 minutes later, I’m still watching him choreograph the same knife fight!  That’s commitment.  It’s especially good to see him work with someone on his level, like Collin Chou, because I found myself getting nervous when they went at it in Flash Point.  While some of us were longing to see the ultimate cool martial arts match-up in Forbidden Kingdom between Jet Li and Jackie Chan, we may have forgotten the legendary fight between Donnie Yen and Jet Li in Once Upon a Time In China 2.  Whee!

So, show some love for Donnie Yen!  Get out and watch a film! (Any film will do, but you can skip Empress and the Warriors, it is a complete waste of Donnie’s talents!)

The Young Warriors: The Family That Battles Together…..

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I recently finished Young Warriors (aka Young Warriors of the Yang Clan), and it epitomizes what I like about wuxia dramas.  Everyone fights!  This is the story of the fabulous Yang family, whose sons served the kingdom and eventually gave their lives, even when the fathead king made really bad decisions.  This legendary family is known for their loyalty, and apparently have been immortalized in wuxia drama before, but this version focuses on their lives before the questionable leadership of the king takes them all down.

Of course the sons are all upright, righteous guys who help the weak and support the people.  I know we are supposed to be in awe of the father and the seven brothers, but really, the mother, wives and girlfriends steal the show (they all dress amazingly well also!). Mama Yang is no joke!  She can literally beat her sons down if she had to.  But, for the most part, she doesn’t have to. She raised them right. What I find interesting is that she is also very maternal, and doesn’t lose her femininity in the process.  It’s an interesting combination. Even when they get into trouble with the king, she’s willing to stand up for them.  My favorite part is when the ‘lost son’ finds his way home, thinking he’s going to extract some revenge on his parents while honoring them at the same time?  So he’s antisocial to both, but saves the father from some assasination attempt.  He goes around talking smack to the mother, the other brothers don’t appreciate that.  Then she snaps out of it and basically tells him:  you have fulfilled your filial duty to your father, but not to me.  He shapes up quick, fast and in a hurry.  Later, the ladies don their own armor.  How cool is that!  And where can I get mine?

The gender dynamics are interesting in other ways as well. When the inevitable tragedy hits the family, and one of the sons, Wu Lang (I’m calling you out!), just can’t handle it, and decides he’s going to ignore his wife and become a monk.  While I have to say I’ve seen series often consign women to this fate, it was interesting to see it done to a man.   Wu Lang, pull it together!  

This is one of my favorites, and will definitely be included in my not-even-started projects on women in wuxia and the kung fu couple.

Burn Baby Burn!: Red Cliff (1 and 2)

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Ok, I’ve put it off long enough.  Some may be aware of my luv for Red Cliff, and now that I’ve seen the second half, I feel I can speak on it.  First, I have to re-declare my fandom for John Woo.  Let’s face it, he had us worried with those Hollywood “projects” (Face/Off, Mission Impossible 2).  Don’t get me wrong, I liked both of them, but they were no A Better Tomorrow, The Killer or (sigh), Bullet in the Head.  David Bordwell has a chapter on Woo in his book Planet Hong Kong called “Enough to Make Strong Men Weep,” and that’s what Woo did to perfection!  We know Woo is excellent with the betrayal in the brotherhood theme, but I was not convinced that  he handle the sweeping epic. So you can imagine my trepidation:  would Red Cliff mark a triumphant return of Woo to Hong Kong film, or just make me cry?

Happy to say, I welcome John Woo back with open arms!!!  I taught a class on Asian film, and had them read Three Kingdoms (I’m talking the unabridged, 2200 page version my kids don’t skimp!), and ended the class with Red Cliff 1.  I waited to watch it with them, and I did literally jump up and down at the end. (If they want to see Red Cliff 2, they have to take the class next year!)  I liked seeing the three brothers (although I still think Liu Bei is still the punkiest of the three; Chang Fei is out of control, my money is always on Gwan Yu), but I really liked seeing Zhuge Liang, played by Takeshi Kaneshiro.  In the book, yeah, the soldiers are out with the swords, but nothing beats a good advisor by your side, and I like smart, so I was down for Zhuge, especially since he seemed to bring just a little bit of very understated sass to his.  And I am very glad that Woo gave more substance to Lady Sun other that inevitable love interest of Liu Bei.

A lot of people are saying that they liked the second one better than the first (apparently, so are the box office profits in China), but I’m going to stand up for the first one.  Why?  Yeah, we expect to see some spectacular battle scenes and smack talking among generals, but what I liked about the first installment is that you got a sense of these men:  Sun Quan, who is so obviously still suffering from “not good enough” syndrome, Zhou Yu and his benevolent and honorable approach to war (doesn’t hurt that Tony Leung plays him, so easy on the eyes), Cao Cao and his shear domination and bad-assness.   

So yes, I liked this film, right down to the lovely soundtrack.

Dead on Arrival

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Maybe if I get it out I can let it go.  I’m not down on remakes, just bad ones.  Let’s take some time to see what the remake means.  It means that you are taking something that is already out there, and “reimagining” it.  Fine, cool, but you have to be ready for the inevitable comparison to previous versions, that’s the price you pay.  Pony up!

Let me start by saying I do find things to appreciate in the filmmaking of Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese.  I can’t deny the inherent “coolness” of Tarantino’s stuff.  I have found myself on many a day contemplating whether I am the shepherd or the tyranny of evil  men.  There are still slots open for my own personal set of Crazy 88s. And no one will be able to convince me that Daniel Day-Lewis was not robbed in Gangs of New York. He didn’t play Bill “The Butcher” Cutting, he WAS Bill “The Butcher” Cutting. 

My issue comes with the fact that I can’t watch The Departed and not think of Infernal Affairs, and I can’t watch Kill Bill Vol. 1 and not think of Lady Snowblood.  Let’s take Marty first.  I tried.  I tried to watch The Departed.  I gave it the college try. And then I had just turn it off.  To me, Infernal Affairs is this film built on a certain kind of subtlety.  It doesn’t rely on accent laden dialogue to get the point across.  It’s a complicated elegance that The Departed entirely lacks.  For example, the scene where there is a near miss at the movie theater.  In Andrew Lau’s film, there is a building tension when Tony Leung follows Andy Lau down the corridor and around blind corners.  There corridors are empty, adding to the tension. Will he turn around?  And then the cell phone rings, its sound echoing off the sides of the building.  In Scorsese’s film, Leonardo DiCaprio chases Matt Damon down a crowed city street, to a side alley.  The scene is shorter, and lacks the tension found in Lau’s film.   

While my issues with The Departed have a lot to do with aesthetics, I’ve saved a special place of dislike for Kill Bill, Vol.1.  Others more eloquent than I have taken the film to task for various and sundry reasons, but let me add more.  My primary issue with Tarantino’s film is that many American audiences look at it and go, “Gee, that’s cool.”  My response is:  that ain’t new.  There are women wielding swords all over Hong Kong, Japanese and Korean film.  What is especially troublesome is that Tarantino appropriates from Lady Snowblood and in doing so takes the whole revenge plot out of context.  He leaves behind the whole backdrop of shifting political realities in Japan, particularly the conscription of people and misuse of taxes, which underwrites the reasons why the main character has to go on the revenge quest in the first place. And context is key.  

Let’s talk a little more about context.  If Tarantino really wanted to revolutionize the genre, he would have cast someone not white not blond not blue-eyed as a protagonist in a yellow jumpsuit who beats everyone down, with no status as sidekick, no need for a buddy, and no casting him/her as the villain. He would have culturally corrected the horrendous mistake in casting that sent Bruce Lee to Hong Kong in the first place.  But nooooooooooo.

For people who have seen the Asian films that inform these films, but The Departed and Kill Bill, Vol. 1 are dead on arrival.