Triple Feature episode 2: Flirting Scholar, Swordsman, House of Flying Daggers

Flirting Scholar is a 1993 comedy film directed by Stephen Chow, and the only word that can adequately describe it is absurd.  Completely and totally off the wall, pure, unadulterated insanity, the plot was whimsical and did not take itself seriously whatsoever, yet it was extremely fun to watch and hilarious, even with the language barrier.  That being said, this was probably the most enjoyable film that I have seen in this class as of yet, followed only by Drunken Master.  This film never failed to raise up my expectations for what to come next, then take a comedic turn, going off on an unexpected path and therefore eliciting laughs.  By no means was this film needlessly random with jokes thrown into the fray with no sense of correlation or direction, but it seemed to have a perfectly logical (yet completely insane) flow to the film itself.  Perhaps this is why the film worked so well; it was completely random in terms of humor but not random in terms of execution.  Since this film was so… unique in its style, I do really want to find more of Stephen Chow’s films and see if the absurdity in those will match up to the ones present in Flirting Scholar.

Originally directed by King Hu, Swordsman is a 1990 film based on the one of Louis Cha’s novels.  From what I hear, the source material for this movie was very lengthy, so the fact that they managed to fit it into a two hour epic is somewhat amazing.  Unfortunately, I thought the film was a bit lackluster, though it did have its high points.  Since the source material was so dense, only the most important of parts could be put into the film, leading to a lot of skipping over many parts, allowing things like skips in time, or characters gaining knowledge or experience in very short portions of time and things in that vein.  The intermitterary portions where the characters began to sing the Xiaoao Jianghu was a bit… oddly placed too, and I could not really figure out the significance of the piece, but perhaps this too is due to the editing of the material.

However, the fight scenes were pretty interesting in terms of how the characters fought, especially Linghu Chong after he learns from Feng Qingyang, as instead of simply leaping from place to place, he instead does some of acrobatic spinning which looks really impressive in execution.  I am sad that King Hu did leave in the middle of production, since his meticulous attention to detail could have really pushed this film to a whole different level, I would like to think.

Directed by Zhang Yimou, House of Flying Daggers is a 2004 film, and probably the most visually appealing film in the class as of yet.  The masterful usage of color schemes and art directions are exceptionally uncommon in the films that I have seen, so this was a very welcome change of pace.  The sheer amount of care put into each shot is easily felt and I can thoroughly appreciate that.  The part that stood out the most to me was probably the finale, since the colors and really using the setting as a way to change the mood of the film was phenomenal, in my opinion.  Changing from a forest to a warmly lit forest, to the withering beauty of the fall colors of the open field, and finally to the nearly bone-white and pillar-like birch(?) trees where Captain Jin waits for Mei; such a beautiful use of colors, with their beautiful costumes contrasting nicely against the colors of the backdrop.

My major qualm with this film was the editing though.  Some of the scenes lasted much longer than they needed to, having the unfortunate side effect of sometimes turning serious scenes into ones that were awkwardly humorous.  It was not like a “hold this scene for a long time to make the audience more intimate with the characters” sort of scene, but ones that just felt as if they overstayed their welcome.  That, and the film seemed to take itself too seriously in the romance, which also added an unfortunate humorous element to the film.  Romance in itself is never an unwelcome element in a film based around fighting, but the execution in this was something else entirely. However, if any out there are sticklers for color usage in film, I would highly, highly recommend this film.

Triple Feature: The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, the Big Boss, and Drunken Master

For this post, I will focus on the 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978), the Big Boss (1971), and the Drunken Master (1978).

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is a Shaw Brothers' film, directed by Liu Chia-Liang and starring Gordon Liu.   Following the revenge story of a student who becomes a monk, it is a very masculine film, focusing heavily on shirtless, muscular men with a lack of female roles.  That is not to say that this film is bad in any way, shape, or form, but simply a note about the characters present in the film.  Since some of the film did take place on the Shaw Brothers' studio lot(?), I did notice some recurring places, the teahouse/shop in particular, from previous films such as One-Armed Swordsman, but they did a much better job of capturing a more "natural" feel than its predecessor in terms of lighting and setting up props in those areas.

I especially enjoyed the use of the training montage that showcased the titular character's transformation into a monk over a span of six years, as it followed the development from a run-of-the-mill student into one of the strongest monks at the Shaolin temple.  Since this also showed the blood, sweat, and tears being put into this period of time, it also made me as a viewer more sympathetic and impressed at the character's transformation into a seemingly unstoppable force of nature.  I do feel as though the losing battles between the monastery's Justice Officer was the most exciting part of the film, which was a shame since it was placed in the center of the plot since no one was as strong as him afterwards.Though the final battle was a bit... lackluster, in my opinion, in comparison to the happenings at the Shaolin temple, it was still a somewhat fitting end for the film.

The Big Boss, a Golden Harvest film, directed by Lo Wei.  Probably the most exciting martial arts film I've seen to date, it felt more realistic than any of the films before it, probably due to the case that Bruce Lee and Han Ying-Chieh were actual practitioners of martial arts, and it definitely showed through the fight sequences showcasing their abilities, choreography, and varied cinematic shots.  However, the thing that probably stuck the most out to me was the leitmotif(?) for the charm that Cheng Chao-An (Bruce Lee) held, using it as a sort of reminder to not fight. Whenever it would appear, an unnaturally uplifting and happy theme would play, instantly destroying any of the tension that may have been established in that scene previously.  Though it only appeared a few times through the first half of the film, it seemed to break the immersion that the film had earlier.

I also was not sure how to feel about the portrayal of Chiao Mei (Maria Yi) in the story.  It was a bit uncomfortable to watch at times knowing that they were cousins, but moreover, the fact that Chiao Mei was simply a damsel in distress and nothing more than a plot device was quite disappointing, to say the least.   I hoped that she would have a larger role, but alas, she did not in the end.

Finally, we end with the Drunken Master, a very comedic martial arts film starring Jackie Chan.  Probably out of all the films for far, this was the most enjoyable one yet.  Perhaps it was due to Jackie Chan's unique fighting style, taking advantage of whatever is in the environment around him, or perhaps it was the almost nonsensical and generally whimsical plot (with serious elements mixed in at the right parts), while always maintaining interesting fights and training montages.  From an overconfident boy to an... overconfident boy with a drinking problem, it was an interesting and hilarious character arc to watch, while still retaining the fidelity to the underlying serious plot.  I am glad that Jackie Chan managed to develop himself as a comedic performer, since I really cannot see him in many other roles unlike this.