11-03-2019, 05:51 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-03-2019, 05:53 PM by Drunk Monk.)
Here's a Shaw Brothers treasure that got by me. Until today.
The Lady is one of the greatest Kung Fu divas of them all (and my biggest martial crush) Kara Hui. She plays American come back to Hong Kong to save her father's school with modernization. The eldest brother and choreographer is the one and only Lau Kar Leung. Among her junior brothers are Gordon Liu, Hsaio Ho, Wong Yu, Robert Mak (notable mostly because he was also the HK disco king), all being super goofy hams especially when it's time to show off how hard they can throw down. The gang boss is Johnny Wang. Everyone is at the top of their game. It's a cheesey 80s HK Kung Fu comedies set in modern HK (in fact some shots look like they just walked out into busy HK traffic and shot their scenes with bystanders). It's female empowerment with Kara in full command (except for the incongruous gratuitous topless dancer scenes - I mean really, were there ever topless joints like that?) Kara says 'oh shit' a lot, in English, in that adorable accent of hers that makes you double check the subtitle. There's a bit that's hard to catch - her Cantonese is played up as poor, so there's early jokes about things said that she doesn't understand. Her describing pot to her classmates captures the times.
Oh but the choreo. This is one of Lau Kar Leung's masterworks. Disco fu, BMX fu, gymnastics fu - like full on rings, horse and beam fu, barbell fu, camera-flash fu, no sword fight but a triad butcher knife duel to a with Lau Kar Leung in full dao mode - all set to this horrible caricature disco music that completely works with the absurd brilliance of the fight scenes. Such precision and complexity, running sophiscated dozens of moves in a single shot - only the kind of Kung Fu that Lau Kar Leung could deliver with a cast of true masters of the craft.
Top DOOM recommendations. I'll probably show it to Tara despite the topless scenes (heck, she's seen all of GoT - that ship sailed years ago). I think the gymno scenes will sharpen her eye for good Kung Fu choreo.
Sometimes, my best comfort is taken in a Kung Fu movie with some nachos.
The Lady is one of the greatest Kung Fu divas of them all (and my biggest martial crush) Kara Hui. She plays American come back to Hong Kong to save her father's school with modernization. The eldest brother and choreographer is the one and only Lau Kar Leung. Among her junior brothers are Gordon Liu, Hsaio Ho, Wong Yu, Robert Mak (notable mostly because he was also the HK disco king), all being super goofy hams especially when it's time to show off how hard they can throw down. The gang boss is Johnny Wang. Everyone is at the top of their game. It's a cheesey 80s HK Kung Fu comedies set in modern HK (in fact some shots look like they just walked out into busy HK traffic and shot their scenes with bystanders). It's female empowerment with Kara in full command (except for the incongruous gratuitous topless dancer scenes - I mean really, were there ever topless joints like that?) Kara says 'oh shit' a lot, in English, in that adorable accent of hers that makes you double check the subtitle. There's a bit that's hard to catch - her Cantonese is played up as poor, so there's early jokes about things said that she doesn't understand. Her describing pot to her classmates captures the times.
Oh but the choreo. This is one of Lau Kar Leung's masterworks. Disco fu, BMX fu, gymnastics fu - like full on rings, horse and beam fu, barbell fu, camera-flash fu, no sword fight but a triad butcher knife duel to a with Lau Kar Leung in full dao mode - all set to this horrible caricature disco music that completely works with the absurd brilliance of the fight scenes. Such precision and complexity, running sophiscated dozens of moves in a single shot - only the kind of Kung Fu that Lau Kar Leung could deliver with a cast of true masters of the craft.
Top DOOM recommendations. I'll probably show it to Tara despite the topless scenes (heck, she's seen all of GoT - that ship sailed years ago). I think the gymno scenes will sharpen her eye for good Kung Fu choreo.
Sometimes, my best comfort is taken in a Kung Fu movie with some nachos.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse