10-25-2023, 12:56 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-25-2023, 01:01 AM by Drunk Monk.)
This is considered one of King Hu’s masterpieces. It was a foreign Oscar submission. First time for me.
It’s gorgeous. Every shot is postcard perfect. Filmed at Korea’s Bulguksa Buddhist temple, a UNESCO site, the landscapes and temple buildings are all real and stunningly beautiful. King Hu knows this, and is almost shooting those postcards with ornately adorned costume figures.
It’s way too long. 2 hours? The first 20 mins are two thieves running around the castle trying to find the treasured sutra. It’s literally only that - these two characters running around the temple dodging monks for way too long. But then there’s a fight and things pick up. Not because the choreo is good - it’s not - lots of trampoline flying with wind rustled clothes. It’s just a lot of characters come into play and it gets complicated in that spy vs spy way.
There’s this one monk that kills me. He comes in on a palanquin carried by Amazon nuns with lotus hats. A whole brilliantly colored parade. He’s immune to sensual pleasures. Master Wu Wai. And then for his dharma talks, all the monks sit chanting by the river as his entourage baths, playfully having water fights and all those sexy things women do when they all bath together in a lush pond. And the monks have to concentrate or they catch the master’s Buddhist stink eye.
And then there’s the longest middling game of Kung Fu keep away - kinda fun because the setting is lovely, partly dumb because the choreo is weak.
Then there’s some amazing scenes of dozens of monks in formation in various settings like temple halls and mountain cliffs. This would be incredible on the big screen.
Ultimately this is more of a Buddhist movie than a martial arts movie. It does showcase King Hu’s eye and style, which has an uncanny beauty but sometimes spends too much time admiring itself. The pacing is lingering. You gotta love the location. And the Buddhist twists, which I found predictable mostly but perhaps everyone will, were mini-studies in karma and dharma. I always enjoy those.
I don’t know if I should recommend this for D00M. If you like Buddhist temples and mountain scenery, this is great. If you like King Hu, and I’m guessing that’s only a very few of you, it’s a must see. Don’t see it for the Kung Fu.
I liked it, but I gave up on the soundtrack which was dated and poor to begin with, turned on the Reggae Express, and just read subtitles.
Seen on Kanopy
It’s gorgeous. Every shot is postcard perfect. Filmed at Korea’s Bulguksa Buddhist temple, a UNESCO site, the landscapes and temple buildings are all real and stunningly beautiful. King Hu knows this, and is almost shooting those postcards with ornately adorned costume figures.
It’s way too long. 2 hours? The first 20 mins are two thieves running around the castle trying to find the treasured sutra. It’s literally only that - these two characters running around the temple dodging monks for way too long. But then there’s a fight and things pick up. Not because the choreo is good - it’s not - lots of trampoline flying with wind rustled clothes. It’s just a lot of characters come into play and it gets complicated in that spy vs spy way.
There’s this one monk that kills me. He comes in on a palanquin carried by Amazon nuns with lotus hats. A whole brilliantly colored parade. He’s immune to sensual pleasures. Master Wu Wai. And then for his dharma talks, all the monks sit chanting by the river as his entourage baths, playfully having water fights and all those sexy things women do when they all bath together in a lush pond. And the monks have to concentrate or they catch the master’s Buddhist stink eye.
And then there’s the longest middling game of Kung Fu keep away - kinda fun because the setting is lovely, partly dumb because the choreo is weak.
Then there’s some amazing scenes of dozens of monks in formation in various settings like temple halls and mountain cliffs. This would be incredible on the big screen.
Ultimately this is more of a Buddhist movie than a martial arts movie. It does showcase King Hu’s eye and style, which has an uncanny beauty but sometimes spends too much time admiring itself. The pacing is lingering. You gotta love the location. And the Buddhist twists, which I found predictable mostly but perhaps everyone will, were mini-studies in karma and dharma. I always enjoy those.
I don’t know if I should recommend this for D00M. If you like Buddhist temples and mountain scenery, this is great. If you like King Hu, and I’m guessing that’s only a very few of you, it’s a must see. Don’t see it for the Kung Fu.
I liked it, but I gave up on the soundtrack which was dated and poor to begin with, turned on the Reggae Express, and just read subtitles.
Seen on Kanopy
Shadow boxing the apocalypse