Chinatown Video releases for March 1999
Weasel Alert: I occasionally do a bit
of work for Chinatown Video. This month I wrote the back covers for both Dr Wai
and The Blade.
DR WAI IN THE SCRIPTURE WITH NO WORDS (1996) Rated M. Rental only.
This is a delight, as you'd expect from Ching Siu Tung, the director
of Swordsman 2 and all three Chinese Ghost Story films. The film is
neatly split between fantasy and reality. In the real world, pulp writer Chau (Jet
Li) is morose at his impending divorce with Monica (Rosamund Kwan).
His idea box is empty, but he has a deadline to finish the latest thrilling instalment of
Doc Wai, the Adventure King. He writes for a bit, but gives up, so his helpful assistants
Shing (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and Yvonne (Charlie Yeung) try
to finish it for him. Here's where the fun lies. Every time Chau sets down a chapter, the
film cuts to the events of the story - a full blown 1930s action serial starring Jet
Li as Doc Wai, complete with crashing trains, freedom fighters, mad scientists,
scheming Japanese, men who turn into demons, and the hunt for the mysterious Scriptures
With No Words, a magic scroll which can tell the future. Moreever, everyone in the story
is remarkably similar to the characters of the real world - so again Takeshi
Taneshiro is the plucky assistant, and Rosamund Kwan is
the enigmatic Miss Kamiko. The nifty part is that every time a character in the real world
picks up a pen, it is usually with a shake of the head and a cry of "No no no, that
character is not like that, it should be like this...", at which point we
cut back to the adventure story, but the plot has taken a sudden 90 degree turn. This
gives Ching leeway to be completely unfettered by any bonds of continuity
within the adventure serial, in common with the fine old pulp spirit. It also gives the
action carte blanche to be completely cheesy, because it is in no way meant to be taken
seriously. In the meantime, the unfolding of the relationships between the characters in
the real world plays like a light romantic drama, as each writes his or her own secret
hopes into the fictional setting of the Doc Wai tale. I just adored it, so as long as you
are ready for the shift between modern day and pulp action (hint: if Jet is
drinking coffee and wearing glasses it's reality, but if he's leaping around an enormous
stone altar it's fantasy), I think you will too.
THE BLADE (1995) Rated M. 104 mins.
Rental only.
Tsui Hark fills the screen with clouds of dust and rivers of blood in
this grim and gritty swordplay epic. In the opening shot, bandits lay bets on how long it
will take a stray dog to be caught in a trap. You know from that moment that this is not a
light-hearted romp in the vein of his Peking Opera Blues. The story is centred
around the Sharp Manufacturers, the most famous sword makers in the region. Young
apprentices On (Chiu Man-Cheuk) and Iron Head (Moses Chan)
spend all day stripped to the waist sharpening weapons, which attracts the eye and fancy
of the master's daughter Ling (Ding Ni). But before she can decide, the
pair get embroiled in events that not even the sharpest sword or the strongest love can
cut them out of. A monk is brutally and dishonourably killed in the local village, leaving
Iron Head screaming for vengeance, but On holds him back. However, when On discovers that
his father met an even worse fate at the hands of the infamous tattooed bandit Lung (Hung
Yan-Yan), he is unable to restrain his own passions. Tsui has
striven for a down and dirty film here. The death of the monk is in some ways a debunking
of his own wonderful Once Upon a Time in China series, as the noble ways of
Shaolin are no use when a gang of thugs in an alley bushwhack you when you're not looking;
and the character of Ling is a definite swipe at Ashes of Time - her naive Wong
Kar Wai-style introspection is out of place in this violent man's world. Instead,
things spiral from one violent confrontation to another; when anger cannot be held in
check, blood must flow. Honour alone won't win the battle - you need training, discipline,
and occasionally a deep hole in the ground to hide in when too many of your enemies stop
by to trash your house. Chiu Man-Cheuk is handsome and stern as the
embittered warrior On, and you can see why Tsui Hark cast him as a
replacement for Jet Li in Once Upon a Time in China 4 & 5.
All in all, a fantastic but unrelenting film - don't expect any yocks from this one, but
do expect to wear out the edge of your seat.
LOVER OF THE LAST EMPRESS (1995) Rated
R. 98 mins. $29.95.
Chingamy Yau. Category III. That's probably all that most of you need
to make up your minds one way or the other about this Ching dynasty flick. Expect lots of
scheming, silken clothing and the odd misty-lensed montage of exotic love techniques.
