No Mod Required

Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon Maybe not the best Hong Kong action film from the period, but it’s still a reminder of just how good the 80s style actioner was. This one has three of the elements I enjoy most about Hong Kong action films from that time- good fights, funny comic relief from Karl Maka and the pure presence of Sammo Hung Kam-Bo.

Here’s a clip that shows a lot of what I’m talking about.

For those of you unfamiliar, Maka is the bald guy. I think he’s a great comic actor. His timing and mannerisms are funny in any language and he’s not a bad screen fighter which makes him a perfect fit for films like this and the Aces go Places series. Sammo is just plain special. One of the best choreographers, action directors, screen fighters, etc. etc. etc. of all time, it’s just a pure joy to watch him in a fight scene. His size mixed with his ability make for a still stunning sight even after all these years. Maybe I’ll start working my way through the 80s again. Oh wait…. what’s that I hear? Police Story* is calling to me? Yes it is….

*The last reel of Police Story is the greatest action sequence of all time. It’s the purest expression of what makes Jackie so great. It’s ten minutes of blistering fights, jaw dropping stunts, and general mayhem. It’s just unbelievable. Here’s a rip of the scene on youtube. For bonus points, watch Maggie Cheung, one of the world’s great actresses, play the role of the helpless girlfriend.

I love Maggie.

Curse of the Golden Flower: This is like the ultimate expression of the 1970s martial arts film- palace intrigue; vibrant, colorful costumes and sets; poison; and a blistering, multi-reel finale (choreographed by the excellent Ching Siu-Tung. It’s like a King Hu film mashed up with a Chang Cheh actioner. I could watch this stuff all day.

This scene features the two most influential/ talented director/choreographers in Hong Kong going at it. Truly a historic fight scene.

Here’s my review of the film, by the way.

This finale is amongst the best action pieces ever put on film. Sammo here is at his masterful best. The way he uses the camera to enhance the action in this sequence is something people should be studying heavily before they make an action movie. Most directors these days work AGAINST the action, obscuring it with any number of ill-advised techniques.

This is how it should be done…

I just didn’t know it would manifest its worth in exactly this way… My old friend Ryan Law from the Hong Kong Movie DataBase showed up in today’s Bordwell Blog report from the Hong Kong International Film Festival.

The Bordwell Blog on the HK International Film Festival.

That’s an event I just decided top go to one day. I’ve (obviously) always wanted to go to Hong Kong, but now I have an actual plan on when I should go and why. Now I just need to pick a year.

Otherwise I’d buy this:

Amazon.fr : Encyclopédie du cinéma de Hong Kong

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, I’m working on a list of the ten best Hong Kong films from 1997 to the present (approximately the period following the handover.) I came up with eight (or five if I decide to exclude the co-productions) pretty quickly and am now looking to fill out the rest of the list. Here are some candidates.

Kung Fu Hustle: I liked it. I liked Shaolin Soccer a lot more, but this was a lot of fun. do I think it belongs in the top ten? No. As long as Shaolin Soccer exists, any other Stephen Chow entry will take second place…

2046: No. As good as it is, it’s not in the same league as Wong’s masterpiece In the Mood for Love, so off the list it goes.

Storm Riders: Am I really considering it? Maybe just a little. I know this movie isn’t “great,” but I still love it. I just do and I don’t care who knows it.

While I’m confessing HK movie related shit, let me just say I think Wong Jing is a genius, I love the Young and Dangerous series and I have a mad crush on Sammi Cheng.

Running Out of Time Hmmm… Johnny To has got to be on this list somewhere, right? Lau Ching Wan needs to be on the list somewhere too. And this movie kicks ass.

Hmm…

It doesn’t kick me in the nuts like the other films did, but it’s in play.

Too Many Ways to Be No. 1 Speaking of Lau Ching Wan, I loved this film when I saw it. I’d have to revisit it, but I’m feeling pretty good about it right now. Let’s call this another one in play.

More later.

I realized that it’s nearing ten years since the handover and thought “hey, that’s a good excuse for a top ten list if I ever saw one” This is what I’ve got so far:

• In the Mood For Love
• Fearless
• Infernal Affairs
• Beast Cops
• Shaolin Soccer
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon*
• Hero*
• House of Flying Daggers*

That represents the absolute no-brainer part of the list. I popped that out in about five seconds. The next two/five will take actual thought (although I also suspect I’m just forgetting some great options.) I’ll be posting my thoughts on it here as I work through those options.

The payoff, of course, will be an article ranking them and explaining my reasoning for each choice.

*I’m really torn as to whether or not I should include these co-productions. Some thought will have to go into that decision as well.

Touch of Zen (Ws Sub Dol) A real classic. I’ve got a crazy backlog of half-finished reviews that I really ought to work through, but this film really deserves a write up. I’ve actually kept it, instead of sending it back for just that reason. Maybe this weekend.

The short review? A true genre classic. Maybe not a perfect film, but its quality and place in history make it a vital film in the history of Hong Kong martial arts cinema.

No Regrets for Our Youth I was surprised by how much I liked this. I mean, I expect to like Kurosawa’s work at this point, having seen and enjoyed so many of his films, but this really had some unexpected high points. I won’t go into too much depth as it’s late and I’m tired, but No Regrets for Our Youth is absolutely littered with brilliant moments and functions almost equally well as a whole. One shorthand metric I like to use when evaluating a film is the number of distinct instances I can remember a few days or a week after watching a film and here I can remember probably a dozen.

The Amphibian Man A bizarre, bizarre film. It’s like (and it probably is) a bunch of Russians got some bootleg American sci-fi films from the 50s, watched them all in a weekend and then decided to make their own freaky Russian version that espoused the Soviet ideal.

While drunk.

And on acid.