shaw brothers

It Came from the Sinosphere: The Lady Hermit

June 11, 2013 by Sara K. 1 Comment

Wow. A Hong Kong martial arts movie which puts a female-female relationship at the heart of the story.

The Story

A servant called Leng Yushang observes talented young woman called Cui Ping comes to town. Cui Ping is embarking on a career of helping innocent people and kicking butt. She is searching for “Zhong Kui Niang” (who I will henceforth refer to as “the Lady Hermit”) so she can become her disciple and learn how to kick butt even harder. The catch is that nobody knows where ‘the Lady Hermit’ is. The ‘Lady Hermit’ had been badly injured by the ‘Black Demon’, and hasn’t been seen since. Little does Cui Ping know that Leng Yushang is, in fact, the ‘Lady Hermit’ living incognito.

Of course, while Cui Ping tries to uphold justice, she gets into a lot of trouble (criminals generally are not amused when their activities are discrupted), so Leng Yushang has to interfere, and eventually, break her cover.

Background

Zhong Kui is a figure from Chinese mythology who fights and surppresses demons. “Zhong Kui Niang” means “Lady Zhong Kui,” implying the Leng Yushang, like Zhong Kui, is a mysterious vanquisher of evil.

This film stars the legendary martial arts actress Cheng Peipei as the “Lady Hermit.” You know how I always like to compare martial arts to dancing? Before starring in martial arts movies, Cheng Peipei studied ballet for six years. This is also the first film which casts Shi Szu in a leading role as “Cui Ping,” and thus put her on the map. I’ve read that Shaw Brothers intentionally wanted to make Shi Szu “the next Cheng Peipei,” so the purpose of the film was probably to transfer the aura of Cheng Peipei onto Shi Szu. Not that I’m complaining.

The Fighting

Since this was made during the golden era of the Shaw Brothers, of course all of the fighting is good from a technical standpoint. However, it was a bit difficult for me to get really involved in the action because the Lady Hermit and Cui Ping mow down their opponents too quickly. Instead of making the Lady Hermit and Cui Ping seem awesome, it just makes their opponents look terribly incompetent. The heroes really should struggle a bit more when vanquishing their foes.

Of course, I do like the fight at the suspension bridge, simply because it integrates great scenery and action so beautifully.

Checkov’s Bridge: If there is a suspension bridge in an action scene, it will collapse while our protagonist is on it.

Which brings me to the topic of …

The Scenery

I love the scenery in this film!

First of all, it is beautiful scenery, but it’s not just that it’s beautiful – I love the way the characters really seem to live in the scenery.

Leng Yushang at sunset

In some movies, the scenery simply stuns the audience with its beauty. And I like that too. But in this movie, rather than stunning the audience, it naturally blends into the movie as a whole.

Even the bad guys are part of the scenery.

I think this might be partially because it is not isolated from the characters/actors. When filmmakers really want to emphasis the scenery, they place the scenery alone, without the characters.

This was the only scenic shot I found without any humans.

But this film does not do that often, and when it does, it chooses relatively soft scenery which blends smoothly with the preceeding and following shots. Often, the actors are incorporated into the overall visual image presented.

Cui Ping looks isolated and alone amid the trees and mountains.

And I like the trick where characters are often introduced by reflections in the water.

This is the first sign that the Lady Hermit is on the scene!

And it’s also nice that there is variety in the scenic shots: grassy mountains, bamboo forests, temples at night…

You know how I like to compare martial arts flicks to dance musicals…

Doesn’t this screenshot feel a bit Busby Berkeley?

Female-Female Relationship For the Win

Since almost every wuxia story has a variety of female characters, it is not hard to find stories which pass the letter of the Bechdel test. But wuxia stories which depict deep female-female relationships are rare. The only other wuxia story I know about which puts female-female relationships front and center (rather than as an aside to the Much More Important Male-Female Relationships) is The Celestial Zone.

By the way, when I say male-female relationships tend to get more weight than female-female realtionships, I’m not just talking about the romantic relationships. For some reason, more weight gets put on daughter-father and sister-brother relationships than daughter-mother and sister-sister relationships.

The development of the relationship is what sucked me into the movie, as Cui Ping and Leng Yushang slowly reveal themselves to each other. The moment when Leng Yushang finally accepts Cui Ping as her student is sweet indeed.

Of course, the relationship is so compelling because both Leng Yushang and Cui Ping are individually interesting characters. Leng Yushang is collected, experienced, calm, quiet, grounded … and slowly healing old wounds. However, while she’s very discreet, she is not the least bit cold – she’s quite warm, friendly, and open when she is not being the ‘Lady Hermit’ or trying to hide her identity.

Meanwhile Cui Ping is young, energetic, brash, bold, and naive. She has very strong feelings about almost everything, which is what drives her to try to uphold justice, constantly improve her martial arts, and try so hard to find the “Lady Hermit.”

You might notice that these two are a bit like opposites, and I find their relationship compelling in the same way that good ‘opposites attract’ romances are compelling.

I really have to applaud both Cheng Peipei and Shi Szu’s performances, as I feel that their acting is what made the teacher-student relationship between the Leng Yushang and Cui Ping feel so intense.

… But There’s Something Which Irritated Me

And that is Changchun.

Well, not Changchun himself. As a character, he is so empty that there’s not much about him personally which can irritate me. It’s his position in the story which irritates me.

First of all, I don’t understand why the female characters are so attracted to him. There is nothing in the script which explains this, so the only explanation I can think of is that he is physically handsome, in which case they should have cast a better-looking actor.

Now, I do actually like the scenes between Changchun and Leng Yushang, since they seem genuinely tender without being over-the-top. Okay, maybe I can understand why Leng Yushang likes him.

What really irritates me is that a) Cui Ping gets a crush on Changchun and b) when Cui Ping discovers how sweet and tender Changchun and Leng Yushang are, even though she is not in a committed exclusive relationship with Changchun, she decides to break off her relationship with Leng Yushang.

WHAT!

Cui Ping went to great lengths to become Leng Yushang’s disciple, and her actions indicate that Leng Yushang is the most important person in the world to her. It’s understandable that she would be upset to see Leng Yushang and Changchun touching each other lovingly … but to break up with Leng Yushang over a mere crush seems to indicate that the teacher-student bond was not as important to her as the audience was led to believe.

Disclosure Time.

I will admit that, as an aromantic, I am particularly sensistive to this sort of thing (if you do not know much about aromantic people, here’s a primer). I have nothing against romance – I even like well-written fictional romances – but to me, full-blown romance is like sisterhood – very common, frequently interesting, but something I will probably never personally experience. That’s okay, because sibling relationships and romantic relationships are not the only kinds of relationships which can be psychologically fulfilling.

I do not like being told that romantic relationships are so special that it’s only natural that any other relationships – no matter how deep – can be dumped for romance – regardless of how shallow the romance is. If individual people want to only value romantic relationships, that’s their business (though I think they should inform their friends, families, and colleagues that they do not value non-romantic relationships). But to see such a wonderful teacher-student relationship disrupted over such an empty romance is heartbreaking.

Then again, Chang Yushang herself is hurt by Cui Ping’s actions, and it seems that Cui Ping is so upset not because her feelings for Changchun are so deep, but because her feelings for Leng Yushang are do deep.

And this brings us back to culture.

One of the reasons I enjoy Chinese-language fiction as much as I do is that, compared to mainstream English-language fiction, the value of romantic relationships is more balanced with other kinds of relationships. And ultimately, the movie does vindicate me, and show that the relationship between Leng Yushang and Cui Ping is far more important than anything going on with Changchun. In an American movie … I think that vindication would have been less likely.

Even son … sigh … I wish they had chosen a different plot device to acheive the same effect.

Availability in English

This movie is available on Region 3 DVD with English subtitles.

Conclusion

A beautiful movie about a beautiful relationship between two vivid characters. What more can I say?

This column will go on hiatus for two weeks.

The Dragon Boat Festival is happening on June 12th! Time for Sara to go watch some dragon boat races and eat some rice dumplings. She also finally has an excuse to visit the town of Longtan.

It Came from the Sinosphere: Legend of the Fox/New Tales of the Flying Fox

February 26, 2013 by Sara K. Leave a Comment

Legend of the Fox vs. New Tales of the Flying Fox

Legend of the Fox and New Tales of the Flying Fox are both Shaw Brothers’ movies adapted from the novel Other Tales of the Flying Fox. Other Tales of the Flying Fox is a prequel to the novel The Fox Volant of Snow Mountain, which I have already discussed. However, while the original novel also has some of the characters from The Book and the Sword, they don’t show up in the movies.

Quick Story Overview

Hu Fei is an unfortunate young orphan. Just after he was born, his father, Hu Yidao, was killed by his friend Miao Renfeng in a duel—but Hu Yidao only died because the malevolent Tian Guinong put poison on Miao Renfeng’s sword. Hu Fei’s mother committed suicide shortly after this.

Hu Fei is a young man who has learned martial arts from the manual left by his father. Meanwhile, Miao Renfeng’s wife Na Lan abandoned him and their daughter to go be with Tian Guinong. As Hu Fei contemplates getting revenge on Miao Renfeng, Miao Renfeng is tricked, poisoned, and blinded. Since Hu Fei feels it would be dishonorable to kill Miao Renfeng while he’s blind, he works to restore his eyesight, so that he can then kill him with honor (isn’t that so logical?) Hu Fei meets Cheng Lingsu, a young woman who is an expert on poison and antidotes, and he asks her to help him restore Miao Renfeng’s eyesight. He also gets involved Cheng Lingsu’s conflicts with her master’s other students.

Both movies cover this much of the story, but beyond this, the plot of the two movies diverge. For example, Yuan Ziyi, who is a key character in both the original novel and in New Tales of the Flying Fox, does not appear at all in Legend of the Fox.

Background on the Movies

Why did Shaw Brothers adapt the same novel twice only four years apart (1980 and 1984)? I don’t know.

Legend of the Fox was directed by Chang Cheh, who is considered one of the great marital arts movie directors.

New Tales of the Flying Fox stars Felix Wong as Hu Fei and Kara Hui as Yuan Ziyi. Felix Wong is famous for playing Jin Yong heroes, such as Xu Zhu, Guo Jing, Yuan Chengzhi, and Qiao Feng. Well, in this film, he plays Hu Fei. Kara Hui, meanwhile, is a noted and highly-respected kung-fu movie star.

Mesmerizing Disco Fashion

One of the things that really struck me about Legend of the Fox was the fashion. Many of the characters were dressed as if they were ready to go to a disco party.

This is 18th century China?

I was particularly mesmerized when there were whole slews of people dressed in oh-so-late-70s clothing.

Seeing all of those chests becomes hypnotic after a while.

New Tales of the Flying Fox also looks like an 80s film, but at least if feels like it’s set in imperial China, not a disco club.

My review of Legend of the Fox

First of all, this movie has *way too much dialogue*. I think at least 1/3 of the dialogue should have been cut out. I could have maybe forgiven the wordiness if it were being really faithful to the novel, but it makes a number of departures from the original novel (completely changing the ending, for example).

The acting … okay, the acting is not bad. At least, not bad enough to make me cringe. However, I don’t feel that the actors brought much to the table. Sure, the performances have a minimal competence, but I also feel that they didn’t bring any insight to the stories or the characters. Chin Siu-ho, in my opinion, was a shallow Hu Fei, which is a pity, because I think Hu Fei has a lot going on psychologically.

Now, it’s clear from the fight scenes that this came from the golden era of martial arts films. Everybody involved is clearly professional and skilled (I would expect no less of Chang Cheh). Some of the fights are a little long … but some of the fights are bloody impressive, such as the one where blind!Miao Renfeng fights a bunch of guys armed with chains.

Alas, while the fights do a fine job of supporting the movie, they can’t carry it—and as you may gather from the above comments, the script and the acting don’t carry the movie either.

Summary: though some of the fights are nice, I don’t like this movie.

The Value of Young Women

I could dedicate an entire post to the way Jin Yong’s female characters are treated, but here’s a short version: in Jin Yong stories, young women are valued for beauty/attractiveness and intelligence/knowledge. A young woman ideally is beautiful and smart, but if she’s not beautiful, she better be smart, and if she’s not smart, she better be beautiful. Young men, on the other hand, don’t have to be smart, or pretty, or anything else to be valued.

Cheng Ling-su, in the novel, is not pretty, so she has to justify her existence by being very smart and knowledgeable. This is who they cast to play her in Legend of the Fox

That’s right, they cast a pretty actress to play one of the few Jin Yong female protagonists who is not pretty.

Who do they cast in New Tales of the Flying Fox?

I think this is okay. By the standards of Hong Kong cinema, she is plain-looking.

My Review of New Tales of the Flying Fox

Even though this movie (90 minutes) is much shorter than Legend of the Fox (123 minutes), a lot more happens. This is partially because there is a lot less pointless dialogue.

Doesn’t that look exciting?

In fact, this movie moves so quickly that once I got into the story I didn’t realize how quickly time was going by. “Whoa, I’m already an hour into the movie!”

The fight scenes are shorter in this movie, but I think that makes them better. They pack more of a punch this way. But it’s not just that. They also have a delightful playfulness about them.

Playing with pots is fun.

The highlight of the movie for me, however, is the way that Felix Wong and Kara Hui come together so well in this film. Every scene featuring Hu Fei (Felix Wong) and Yuan Ziyi (Kara Hui) was a joy to watch. As actors, they reacted to each other like lightning, building on each other’s performance. It’s to bad there is no TV series starring the two of them together—I would watch it.

Felix Wong as Hu Fei and Kara Hui as Yuan Ziyi

I wish this movie were a bit longer. I would not have minded seeing more fighting or more screen time between Hu Fei and Yuan Ziyi, but I think there were a couple things missing from the movie:

1) Some parts of the plot should have been better explained. I was able to follow everything because I had read the novel … but without knowing what happened in the novel, some things would not have made sense.

2) I would have liked more development of the relationship between Hu Fei and Cheng Lingsu. Ideally, Cheng Lingsu/Hu Fei/Yuan Ziyi should be a tense love triangle, but Hu Fei/Yuan Ziyi pretty much steals the show in this movie. The problem is that Hu Fei and Chung Lingsu simply don’t have enough screen time together, and as a consequence, one of the most moving parts of the story falls a bit flat in this movie.

Hu Fei and Cheng Lingsu: these two do not look like they have romantic feelings for each other.

Summary: If the biggest complaint I can make about a movie is “it was too short,” then I probably really liked the movie.

Availability in English

Both Legend of the Fox and New Tales of the Flying Fox are available on region 3 DVD with English subtitles.

Conclusion

The original novel is a bit all over the place, so it makes sense that a movie adaptation would pick and choose bits, and try to mold them into a coherent movie. These two movies did not pick and choose the same things, so even though they are based on the same novel, they feel very different from each other. Legend of the Fox is more about scheming and demonstrating physical might, and New Tales of the Flying Fox focuses more on personal relationships, with violence added for fun.

Yuan Ziyi has her knife at Hu Fei’s throat – how romantic.

If you want to see a movie adaptation of Other Tales of the Fox, pick New Tales of the Flying Fox, not Legend of the Fox.

There will be a special post on Thursday, February 28.

Sara K. needs to watch more martial arts movies. She also needs to spend more time learning Chinese. She also needs to spend more time hiking. She also needs to cook more often. She also needs to learn some new skills. She also needs at least two hundred years of good health and economic security to do everything she wants to do. Sigh. That’s not going to happen.

It Came from the Sinosphere: The Love Eterne

October 18, 2012 by Sara K. 7 Comments

Example Scene

Liang Shanbo is on his merry way to see his sweetheart, with cheerful music playing in the background.

And this all gets interrupted by a parade, with an abrupt switch to solemn, almost mournful music. I can’t say exactly say that it rained on his parade … maybe the parade rained on him?

Liang Shanbo wonders what is going on.

And we have a shot hear of a bird singing in a cage. On the right we see a character which is often used ceremonially to represent auspiciousness, but the way it seems battered up doesn’t look so auspicious!

This brief segment succinctly sums up the film, at least emotionally.

I also suggest watching the 1-minute trailer before continuing reading this post.

About the Shaw Brothers and Huangmei Opera

I had previously discussed one of the Shaw Brothers’ kung-fu classics, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin.

Even though the Shaw Brothers’ Studio is best known outside of Asia for its kung-fu flicks, they also made their share of musicals (which doesn’t surprise me, since I think their kung-fu flicks are a lot like musicals). Some of these films were based on traditional Chinese opera, some of these films had musical numbers which would not have been completely out of place in a 1950s Hollywood film, and then there is Disco Bumpkins.

Talking about “Chinese opera” is like talking about “European opera.” Both Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner wrote 19th century “European operas,” but they did not exactly belong to the same tradition. Well, just as there are differences between Italian and German opera, there are also differences between Cantonese opera and Beijing opera.

There is dispute about how the Huangmei opera arose, but a) most sources claim that it originated in the rural regions of China’s Anhui province and b) somehow, it became heavily influenced by Taiwanese folk songs. Since it emerged from rural folk culture, it’s not considered a “true” Chinese opera genre, and Huangmei opera singers were considered less professional than “true” Chinese opera singers. Unlike “true” Chinese opera, Huangmei opera is less stylized, the lyrics are easier to understand, and it’s generally much more accessible.

When common people got access to film and radio, did the Huangmei opera shrivel up as a popular form of entertainment? No! Instead, it joined the party—for about 10 years Huangmei opera films were extremely popular in Taiwna and Hong Kong.

This particular film, The Love Eterne, is the most popular Huangmei opera film ever. It was especially popular in Taiwan. When I say popular, I mean that over 90% of the population of Taipei saw it during it’s first run in theaters, and that there were many reports of fans (mostly female) watching the film over 50 times.

The Story

This film is based on a Chinese folktale, “The Butterfly Lovers,” which is sometimes referred to as the Chinese equivalent of “Romeo and Juliet.” It has inspired many works of art. If you don’t know the story, the internet can fill you in (quick version: two young people fall in love with each other, but they can’t marry each other, so they die).

Prettiness

This is such a pretty film. It makes me feel like a little kid, wanting to point out “hey, look at that” throughout.

First of all, the hats and the hairstyles. They make me squee.

Also, I totally dig the classic Chinese-style furniture and sets throughout the film. Actually, looking at these screenshots, it dawns on me how many of them look like paintings. I guess the director’s training at the Beijing Art Institute shows.

And finally, I adore the use of scenery in this film.

Whee!

That Gender Thing

In 1960s Hong Kong, homosexuality was a major taboo, and no mainstream film could delve into it (actually, I think even non-mainstream films wouldn’t have been to go there).

So of course this film is totally het, right? Well … nominally.

First of all, Zhu Yingtai is a “Sweet Polly Oliver,” since she wants to be a scholar but only boys are allowed to get scholarly training. But this is so common in creative works that this by itself not remarkable.

Then, this film is an example of “Sweet on Polly Oliver,” what with Liang Shanbo falling for Zhu Yingtai before he knows her true gender. This can of course be interpreted as boys’ love in a way. But even this is not particularly special.

However, the film takes this gender business to another level by casting an actress, Ivy Ling Po, to play Liang Shanbo, the charming male lead.

So, there is a character, played by an actress, who is a woman disguised as a man, and she falls in love with a man, who is also being played by an actress.

Though I don’t think it was intentional, there is definitely a case to be made for lesbian subtext when you have two characters performed by women professing their romantic love for each other.

While I think looking at this as boys’ love or as containing lesbian subtext are both valid interpretations, I prefer to see this film as depicting gender as irrelevant. These two characters are so in love with each other that their gender does not actually matter. Likewise, it isn’t a problem that Ivy Ling Po doesn’t have the same gender as her character since she does such a splendid job.

I think this is part of the reason why this film (and similar things, such as the Takarazuka review) have so many devoted fans—this invites people to shed the tyranny of gender roles and express themselves freely.

Speaking of the actresses…

The Stars

This is the film which propelled Ling Po, one of the most celebrated Chinese movie actresses ever, into stardom. It was also, as far as I know, her first male role. Due to the popularity of this performance, she was repeatedly cast in male roles in later films, and also starred in the Shaw Brothers version of Mulan.

Having seen this film, I have a clue why she is so beloved. It was very touching to see Liang Shanbo’s reaction to the revelation that Zhu Yingtai is female and wants to marry him. And the most moving scene of all in this film for me was this scene between Liang Shanbo and his mother, and I would give Ivy Ling Po 50% of the credit for this (I would divide the other 50% of the credit between the director and the music composer). More than anything else, Ivy Ling Po convinced me that she was deeply, deeply in love with Zhu Yingtai.

No wonder so many women became fans of this “Brother Liang.”

Now I am going to have to see more Ivy Ling Po films.

By focusing so much on Ivy Ling Po, I don’t mean to slight Betty Loh Ti. She does a fine job performing Zhu Yingtai. Betty Loh Ti was already a star when this film was made, and in shows in the way that the film focuses more on Zhu Yingtai than Liang Shanbo. She was best known as a beauty, but she could also act. While I don’t think her performance had the heart-grabbing sincerity of Ivy Ling Po’s Liang Shanbo, I do appreciate the way she showed how Zhu Yingtai had to subtly balance dropping hints at Liang Shanbo and maintaining her disguise.

The Directing Style

I think the genius of the way Li Hanxiang directed this film is that HE WAS NOT SUBTLE. He put tons of obvious metaphors throughout the film (see the beginning of the post, with Liang Shanbo’s merriness cut off by a solemn parade). While Zhu Yingtai and Liang Shanbo are travelling together, having a merry time, there’s lots of calm, beautiful scenery in nice, relaxing sunlight. After Zhu Yingtai and Liang Shanbo have been driven apart, there’s lot of wind, sunset colors, and other not-so-subtle signs that the world has been broken.

Yet it never feels heavy-handed. The point is that it is supposed to feel grander than life, and putting in metaphor after metaphor just drives things deeper into the audiences psyches.

Availability in English

This film is available on DVD with English subtitles, but apparently only in region 3 (if you know of a legal, non-region 3 DVD with English subtitles, please comment). It is also available on Blu-ray (Region A)v with English subtitles.

Conclusion

To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what to make of this film. I had never seen any other film quite like it before. Now, I do plan to see more Huangmei opera films, which will probably help.

When I first saw this film, I was rather irritated that they didn’t even try to elope. Yeah, it would have been difficult, but surely it would have sucked less than dying, not to mention that we are dealing with a female protagonist who had the guts to trick her parents into letting her live as a man to study away from home for three years. I would have felt better if they had tried to elope, failed, and then died (at the same time, I know there are cultural reasons why this was less feasible in classical China than in, say, medieval Europe).

But when I saw the film a second time, I got over that irritating business, and was able to more fully enjoy the many wonderful things about this film. It truly is a classic.

Next time: The 8th Bronze Man of Shaolin (manhua)

Note: there will be a 1-week hiatus … the next post will appear on October 29th

***

Sara K. apologizes for the reduced reliability this month. She should have more free time in November. If you’re wondering why this post is late, it’s because she missed the last train and had to spend an extra night in Hualian (not that spending an extra night in Hualian is a bad thing). At least she did get to go on Taiwan’s ‘Vertigo Trail’.

It Came From the Sinosphere: The 36th Chamber of Shaolin

August 6, 2012 by Sara K. 3 Comments

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin does not have a subtle opening. It wastes no time in telling the audience that this is a kung-fu flick.

Ah, the screenplay is by Ni Kuang. Ni Kuang is an extremely prolific writer of science fiction and wuxia, and a personal friend of Jin Yong. I am sure I will bring him up again in this column, so I’ll postpone giving him a proper introduction.

All of this has nothing to do with the plot, it’s just assuring the audience that ass will be kicked over the course of the flim.

Background

Shaw Brothers Studio was the biggest movie company ever based in Hong Kong, and the 36th Chamber of Shaolin is one of their most famous titles. Before their demise in the 1980s, the Shaw Brothers Studio produced over 1000 films. These included titles such as “Hong Kong 73,” “My Name Ain’t Suzie,” “Tropicana Interlude,” “Mr. Funny-Bone Strikes Again” (adapted from a manhua) and “Sexy Girls of Denmark”. However, the Shaw Brothers studio is now best remembered for their martial-arts flicks.

This is the move which launched its lead actor, Gordon Liu, to stardom. In addition to starring in later Chinese-language martial arts flicks, he also performed in the Kill Bill movies as well as in a Bollywood movie.

I admit I am a Shaw Brothers newbie. My explorations are just beginning, and I still don’t completely understand their system of stars and directors. However, I am sure I will review other Shaw Brothers films for this column, so I hopefully will be able to offer deeper insights then.

Story

San Te is a student while the Manchus are oppressing the people. After the Manchu government kills his family, he realizes that book-learning is useless and decides to learn martial arts so he can fight back.

San Te watches his father being assaulted.

So he travels to Shaolin temple to become a monk and learn their martial arts techniques.

San Te arrives at Shaolin Temple in a basket full of vegetables.

Hey, why is there a man in our bok choy? We’re vegetarians.

At the Shaolin temple, he spends a year sweeping leaves before his martial arts training commences. And it is a brutal training regimen. He has to pass through the 35 chambers, each taxing his physical capacities in a new way.

Monks life buckets of water to increase their strength.

This is the 34th “chamber”.

After passing through all 35 chambers, San Te requests permission to create the 36h chamber—a chamber where he can teach laypeople martial arts so they can resist the oppressive Manchus.

The Fighting

The fighting in this moving is essentially dancing. It’s choreographed, it shows off the performers’ physical capacities, it is intended to be visually impressive, and it communicates a message. And it is good dancing.

It was actually really hard to get decent screenshots of the fight scenes. It’s all about how the actors move, and the screenshots do not show that.

For example, there is a really cool fight with bamboo stakes, but it is impossible to convey the coolness in screenshots. What makes it cool is that it doesn’t just show off the actors’ ~~dance~~ stage fight skills, it’s also imaginative. It’s not a generic weapon fight. The bamboo stakes are used in unexpected ways. It builds on the training at the Shaolin temple—letting the audience recognize how elements from different fights fit together is pretty sweet.

Another imaginative fight – San Te fights a bunch of goons with lanterns:

On the second viewing, I noticed how much the movie makes use of water. Water is used in many ~~other~~ dance films too.

If you find the prospect of free tickets to the ballet more exciting than free tickets to a pop concert (me), watched MGM musicals for the dance sequences (me again), or have ever attended a dance film festival (that’s also me), you should try some of these kung-fu flicks.

Gordon Liu’s Performance

The thing which most impressed me about Gordon Liu’s performance was how he portrayed San Te’s development. It is difficult to show the passing of years in a film that is less than 2 hours long, but the way Gordon Liu showed how San Te changed made me feel that years had passed.

This is Gordon Liu as a student:

I realize you can’t tell from the screenshot, but in the beginning of the film, San Te doesn’t seem like somebody who can kick ass.

This is San Te after he has graduated from the Shaolin training regimen.

Again, you can’t tell from the screenshot, but San Te moves with such stillness (oxymoron, I know) and stands with such poise that I really felt that he had matured a great deal.

The Chambers

This, of course, is the highlight of the movie. The various chambers are even more imaginative than the fights. As a viewer, I learned to look forward to each chamber, wondering what bizarre new training technique I would see next.

This is my favorite chamber. San Te has to learn how to move his eyes without moving his head.

San Te has to keep his eyes on the candles.

If San Te moves his head, he will get burned by one of those incense sticks.

Commentary on Contemporary Buddhism

One of the points made in the film is that it’s wrong for the Shaolin temple to hoard its martial arts techniques while the common people suffer outside under the cruel Manchu dynasty. I am no expert on Buddhism, but I know there have been various calls in the past century that Buddhism became too disconnected from the problems real people suffer, and people have tried to reform it to increase the involvement of laypeople and make more concrete efforts to improve the human condition.

The example of this I am most familiar with is the Tzu Chi Buddhist Foundation in Taiwan. It was founded by a Buddhist nun, Cheng Yen, after she saw a poor woman die in childbirth. It is the largest charitable organization in Taiwan, and in addition to providing quality medical care in areas of Taiwan where medical care is otherwise difficult to get, they run recycling centers, provide relief for disasters, and run at least one organic tea plantation which is open to the public (I’ve visited that tea plantation—the views are beautiful).

I don’t know if the filmmakers were consciously putting this message into the film, but I can’t help but think that it is a reflection of modern attitudes towards the religion.

Something Else I Want to Mention

Dropping a lot of flour upon horse riders is cool.

That is all.

Availability in English

It is really easy to get a DVD with English subtitles. This movie is probably better known in the English-speaking world than anything else I have discussed in this column so far. And that observation leads me to my conclusion.

Conclusion

Chinese-language martial arts movies are far more available in English than the novels, TV shows, or manhua. For most people in the English-speaking world, almost all of what they know about Chinese-language martial arts fiction comes from these movies (this, by the way, also applied to me before I started studying Chinese).

Basing one’s knowledge of Chinese martial arts fiction solely on these movies would be like basing one’s knowledge of English-language science fiction solely on blockbuster Hollywood sci-fi movies. Sure, movies such as The Matrix, The Terminator, Forbidden Planet, and so forth certainly represent some of English-language science fiction. But individual 2-hour movies cannot support long, complex plots, nor can they employ the literary devices available to novelists. Even the Star Trek movies don’t demonstrate what makes the Star Trek TV series so outstanding. And blockbuster Hollywood sci-fi movies certainly don’t give viewers a sense of what novels like 1984, The Dispossessed, Dawn, or Diaspora or the short stories of James Tiptree Jr. offer.

This, of course, is not the movies’ fault. But in this column, I certainly hope to poke a hole through the language barrier so English-speakers can peek at just how broad Chinese-language martial arts fiction is.

As for this movie, I actually liked it even more after I saw it for the second time. This is a very good sign. Recommended.

Next time: The Celestial Zone (manhua)

Sara K. thinks it’s a pity that there is no kung-fu musical staring Gene Kelly and Gordon Liu. At least the dream sequence in The Pirate offers viewers a clue what a Gene Kelly kung-fu movie would be like.