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GRANDMASTERS vs DEMONS
Feb. 20th, 2013 09:52 amAnd now, some local (as in Hong Kong) cinema reviews for you.
The Grandmaster
Director Wong Kar-wei’s take on the legend of Ip Man (the man who popularized the martial art of Wing Chun in Hong Kong and later the world). And, this being Wong Kar-wei, it’s not about kung fu fighting so much as the philosophies behind it, and how those philosophies shape and motivate the characters in the film.
Whether that works for you may depend on whether yr a fan of Wong’s artistic style of filmmaking, and possibly whether you’ve already seen the recent Ip Man films with Donnie Yen, which focus a lot more on the action. Wong’s Ip Man isn’t short on kung fu action, but the action scenes are weaved together with a narrative top-loaded with intellectual puzzles, where almost every sentence spoken is a metaphor.
I’m a fan of Wong Kar-wei, so I can say I dug it a lot. The only real problem with it is the subplot involving the character known as “The Razor”, which is underdeveloped to the point of being superfluous (reportedly the result of Wong shooting four hours of footage and having to edit it down to 130 minutes). Apart from that, it’s a nice, fresh take on an old story. Also, Tony Leung is excellent as Ip Man, and also arguably the coolest big-screen actor in Hong Kong.
Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons
The first time I ever saw HK comedian Stephen Chow was as the Monkey King in A Chinese Odyssey, and it made me an instant fan. Now Chow is back – kind of – with another take on the Monkey King legend. I say “kind of” because (1) he’s billed as writer and director, but he doesn’t star in it, and (2) the film lists Derek Kwok as co-director and credits a half dozen other writers, so it seems more like Chow (who was already producing the film) ended up taking it over.
Anyway, the film focuses on amateur demon-catcher Xuan Zang, who fights demons with nursery rhymes, making him a laughing stock with the local villagers and pro demon hunter Miss Duan. When a pig demon starts eating locals, they must team up to seek help from The Monkey King, who has been trapped by the Buddha in a mountain for the last 500 years – and compete against other demon hunters after the bounty on the pig demon.
Regardless of how much of it is Stephen Chow’s work, it does contain much of his trademark humor, and some familiar themes (underdog becomes hero, but breaks hearts because he doesn’t know true love when it’s right in front of him). It’s a bit uneven, but a huge improvement on Chow’s last film, CJ7, and it sports some game performances, particularly from Shu Qui as Miss Duan. Hardly Chow’s best, but it’s very entertaining.
Bad monkey,
This is dF
The Grandmaster
Director Wong Kar-wei’s take on the legend of Ip Man (the man who popularized the martial art of Wing Chun in Hong Kong and later the world). And, this being Wong Kar-wei, it’s not about kung fu fighting so much as the philosophies behind it, and how those philosophies shape and motivate the characters in the film.
Whether that works for you may depend on whether yr a fan of Wong’s artistic style of filmmaking, and possibly whether you’ve already seen the recent Ip Man films with Donnie Yen, which focus a lot more on the action. Wong’s Ip Man isn’t short on kung fu action, but the action scenes are weaved together with a narrative top-loaded with intellectual puzzles, where almost every sentence spoken is a metaphor.
I’m a fan of Wong Kar-wei, so I can say I dug it a lot. The only real problem with it is the subplot involving the character known as “The Razor”, which is underdeveloped to the point of being superfluous (reportedly the result of Wong shooting four hours of footage and having to edit it down to 130 minutes). Apart from that, it’s a nice, fresh take on an old story. Also, Tony Leung is excellent as Ip Man, and also arguably the coolest big-screen actor in Hong Kong.
Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons
The first time I ever saw HK comedian Stephen Chow was as the Monkey King in A Chinese Odyssey, and it made me an instant fan. Now Chow is back – kind of – with another take on the Monkey King legend. I say “kind of” because (1) he’s billed as writer and director, but he doesn’t star in it, and (2) the film lists Derek Kwok as co-director and credits a half dozen other writers, so it seems more like Chow (who was already producing the film) ended up taking it over.
Anyway, the film focuses on amateur demon-catcher Xuan Zang, who fights demons with nursery rhymes, making him a laughing stock with the local villagers and pro demon hunter Miss Duan. When a pig demon starts eating locals, they must team up to seek help from The Monkey King, who has been trapped by the Buddha in a mountain for the last 500 years – and compete against other demon hunters after the bounty on the pig demon.
Regardless of how much of it is Stephen Chow’s work, it does contain much of his trademark humor, and some familiar themes (underdog becomes hero, but breaks hearts because he doesn’t know true love when it’s right in front of him). It’s a bit uneven, but a huge improvement on Chow’s last film, CJ7, and it sports some game performances, particularly from Shu Qui as Miss Duan. Hardly Chow’s best, but it’s very entertaining.
Bad monkey,
This is dF
