martial arts films: The Magic Blade / Lone Wolf and Cub etc.

Martial Arts Films I have recently watched:

The Magic Blade directed by Chu Yuan and starring Ti Lung, Ching Li and Lo Lieh. I really enjoyed this film. Each fight scene was more elaborately staged than the last and the film abounds in fabulously contrived set pieces. Many people I know would moan and bitch that this is what is wrong with chop sockies and why they are crap movies but I disagree. The bizarre gimmicks and baroque choreography that drive many of these fight scenes are precisely what I love about these movies, and why I think they are so imaginative, dynamic and just damned good fun.

Lone Wolf and Cub – Baby cart at the River Styx. There are a whole series of the Lone Wolf and Cub films that were made in the 1970s. These are Japanese samurai films with an interesting gimmick. Sorry but I am going to be lazy here and just cut and paste a paragraph I wrote about another film in this same series. The comments stand:
Great title huh! Directed by Kenji Misumi. OKAY CALL THE SOCIAL WORKERS! The toddler in this film is pushed through the countryside in a wooden pram by his assassin dad as he trudges from 1 gory fight to another. The wee tacker is constantly exposed to scenes of death and brutality and this has me seriously worried about his future psychological development. I haven’t been so horrified about the fate of a child since Jet Li’s character tied a rope around his own son and used him as a weapon in My Father is a Hero. Apart from this I actually enjoyed this film – there was a beaut fight scene every 5 minutes and I felt that it was quite nicely filmed.

The Prodigal Son – directed by Sammo Hung and starring Sammo, Yuen Biao, Lam Chi Ying and Frankie Chan. I really enjoyed this film enormously. It has plenty of humour, a little pathos and, as you would expect, excellent movement sequences.

I had only seen Lam Chi Ying in Mr Vampire before and I found both his character and his portrayal of that character to be fascinating. Lam plays a Chinese opera performer who specializes in playing young female heroine roles. Offstage his character is an expert martial artist. There is a scene early on in the film that derives its humour from the fact that some men try to pick up Lam’s character without realizing that the she is a he. I am developing a fascination for the history of the martial arts film genre. This is motivating me to find out more about things like Chinese Opera and Wuxia literature (both of which have had a huge influence on kung fu and swordplay films), and I always really enjoy seeing Chinese Opera sequences in martial arts films as it is very interesting to see these 2 art forms juxtaposed against each other. Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao (along with other key MA film figures such as Jackie Chan and Corey Yuen) all studied at the same renowned Chinese Opera school as children and teenagers, whereas Lam Chi Ying also studied Chinese Opera at a rival academy. In the extras on this DVD there is an interview with Sammo Hung saying something along the lines that he had confidence in Lam playing his character because he had been schooled in Chinese opera and therefore knew the correct style and movements when performing female parts. As well as Lam, the acting from the rest of the cast is uniformly good. Sammo Hung, in particular, steals some scenes when his character is introduced in the middle of the film. He is an excellent character actor and in this film he uses his wonderful comedic gifts to full effect.

Another element I enjoyed in this film was the choreography. Sammo Hung has a formidable reputation as a choreographer and director of martial arts films. The choreography in this film was the most enjoyable for me out of all of Hung’s films that I have seen. Again, the DVD extras furnished some interesting information. The prevailing kung fu style featured in this film was Wing Chun, which apparently had not been used in many films up until The Prodigal Son. Apparently, the aesthetic of its movements does not lend itself to creating interesting or entertaining choreography. I know nothing about martial arts so I have to take the word of the martial artists in the DVD extras on this (and I am happy to do so, of course). But if this is true then Sammo Hung and his team have done a great job with the choreography. It never looks boring; instead this film is full of dynamic sequences of movement filled with interesting angles, shapes and rhythms.

Also:
Kung Fu Hustle
Revenge of the Dragon
The Spiritual Boxer
The Trail of the Broken Blade
Human Lanterns
Duel of Fists
Dragon Swamp
Duelist
Sword of Doom
The Lizard
Tai Chi Master
Project A.
Golgo 13: Kowloon Assignment
The 12 Gold Medallions
Shaolin Hand Lock
Ong Bak.
Sex and Fury
Female Yakuza Tale
Lone Wolf and Cub – Baby Cart in the Land of Demons.
Bruce Li in Snake Island
Bichunmoo
The Bride with White Hair 2
Duel to the Death