Chandni Chowk to China (2009)

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As a woman-- over the years, I've often seen the raising of many an eyebrow when I confess my love of martial arts films. On the other hand, my devotion to musicals others can understand-- there are gender double-standards it seems even for film geeks. Likewise, my passion for old silent comedies starring Charlie Chaplin seemed perfectly natural given my profession but the idea of a rather feminine girl sitting down and watching Jet Li or Jackie Chan roundhouse kick their way to victory always seemed as foreign to most as the films that come out of India's Bollywood.

However, to me, there was always something musical about martial arts films-- choreography that worked with a dancer-like precision, blending comedic elements of the old silent masters with strict attention to tempo, timing, rhythm, and-- above all-- always making sure viewers had the same contact high of sheer joy that we had watching kung fu as we had watching Astaire or Kelly.

It only seemed like it'd be a matter of time before the two genres blended but I must admit to have been equally baffled when I heard that it was the product of the world's largest filmmaking center (outside Hollywood, that is)-- India's Bollywood that had decided to craft a full blown Bollywood kung fu movie.

Of course, purists remained skeptical that the same industry that gave us the excellent three hour plus Best Foreign Film Nominee Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (a.k.a. an epic and stunningly engrossing musical film about a cricket match) would be the best choice to serve up what screenwriter Shridhar Raghavan called "Kung Fu curry."

Still, the inclusion of legendary Shaw Brothers master Gordon Liu (known to this generation mostly for his work in Kill Bill Vols. 1 & 2), veteran martial arts star Roger Yuan (Bulletproof Monk, Batman Begins, Lethal Weapon 4, Shanghai Noon), and the incredible stunt director Huen Chiu Ku (Fist of Legend, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Matrix, Kill Bill, The Forbidden Kingdom etc.) instantly gave Warner Brothers Studio's Chadni Chok to China a much needed boost of Hong Kong street-fighting cred.

Slated to be as Michelle Nichols of Reuters wrote "the largest Bollywood release in North America," there is a lot riding on the film high-kicking into action on 125 screens in both Canada and the United States today along with a major opening in India.

As Warner's "first Indian production," the film's director Nikhil Advani articulates the challenge best telling Reuters that, "if this one succeeds, even if it marginally succeeds... I think there will be a wave of more Bollywood films."

Also set for release in thirty additional countries, time will tell whether fans of both genres will embrace the hybrid along with audiences who typically avoid subtitles to see if they'll turn out in support of a Bollywood version of martial arts, offering broad humor, elaborate sets and state of the art musical sequences featuring a sea of extras.

Boasting a remarkably catchy Indo-Chinese fusion score inspired by the sounds of both countries from Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy including the film's addictive theme song and starring Bollywood's most popular action star Akshay Kumar who first made a name for himself following his work in the profitable Khiladli series, the film intriguingly strikes a chord with the star on a personal level as Kumar was raised in Chandni Chok and later worked as a Bangkok chef before he reached Indian super-stardom.

Crafting a lovable loser underdog in the vein of Peter Sellers in The Pink Panther and Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat and infusing him with the humor of Jackie Chan, Kumar plays Sidhu, an unlucky vegetable peeler and assistant cook in Chandni Chok who-- very similar to Kung Fu Panda of all things-- is told his destiny is to become a great warrior. However, instead of being trained by Dustin Hoffman's adorable animated Master Shifu, the overly broad Sidhu whose constant pratfalls, stumbling, and over-the-top Kung Fu Hustle inspired effects for the first thirty to forty minutes wears on viewer's nerves, lands in China to star in the much more successful roughly two hour final part of the movie.

Realizing-- much too late-- that he's been duped and that he isn't the reincarnated village hero who's meant to assassinate the villainous mobster Hojo (Gordon Liu) who is overly fond of decapitating his enemies with a boomerang like hat (indicative of James Bond's shoe-throwing Odd Job in just one of several-- including one tongue in cheek dialogue reference to the 007 franchise), Sidhu finds himself embroiled in an increasingly complicated epic family mystery as the movie continues.

When he falls for the beguiling Indian TV commercial model Sakhi (supermodel Deepika Padukone, also known as the first Indian woman to become Maybelline New York Cosmetics' global face) and then mistakes the same woman for her Asian double Meow-Meow (also Padukone), Sidhu discovers a fascinating tale of a family destroyed by tragedy, twin sisters separated and more as the plot-line evolves into a fascinating high-concept soap, complete with the genres' trademarks of stylish fights and gorgeously executed musical numbers.

Although it's an uneven attempt and one feels far more engrossed in the plight of the young women as the movie improves upon its Chinese location change and Kumar's character Sidhu is able to ham less as the annoying buffoon and begin to turn more into the hero he'll become, it's still one of the most wholly original cinematic works we've seen in the theatre in a long while.

Additionally, it's one that-- even when you're completely lost by the plot or struggling to stay still during its 154 minute running time-- must be seen on the big screen for the entertaining spectacular diversion it is with characters using umbrellas as parachutes, the breathtaking Great Wall of China as a wondrous backdrop and decidedly the type of leave-your-worries-on-the-doorstep sunny offering the world needs right now in lieu of far too many hapless Oscar bait tragedies of dysfunctional families falling out of love and into loathe.

While it may be a tough sell to hardcore fans of Hong Kong kung fu and men who shudder at the idea of characters bursting into song-- once the movie picks up momentum, perhaps even the most extreme fans of martial arts cinema will at last be able to see the way the genres of slapstick and musical comedy compliment the fight choreography. Likewise, maybe they'll finally see what I've been trying to explain for years-- how in reality, the blending of the three had perhaps already been done to some extent (as in the Keaton and Chaplin styled routines of Jackie Chan) and rhythmic "greatest hits mix tape of martial arts" as Uma Thurman takes on a room full of Yakuza fighters in Kill Bill.

Fist of Legend (1994)

Inspired by Bruce Lee -- in Gordon Chan's film, Martial Arts fans met a new Li... Jet Li.

Earlier in the week, I walked out of a press screening with a group of critics and in our amazing disappointment at a hotly anticipated upcoming film that screened at both Cannes and Toronto (which shall remain nameless), we tried to summarize our disgust in various phrases. “Made me want to kill myself,” was one guy’s take while another said, “pointless; he shouldn’t be allowed to make films,” and this continued on until another critic said, “the only way it would’ve been worse is if it involved Kung Fu."
My jaw-dropped in response and before I knew it, I temporarily forgot about the bleak and jarringly brutal film we’d just witnessed and addressed the dissenter directly. “I love Kung Fu movies,” I gushed and couldn’t believe the disgust leveled my direction-- including some awe over the fact that on the surface as a white, tall, gangly female whose typical wardrobe consists of retro girly dresses and skirts—utter amazement that I could ever appreciate a good old fashioned kung fu smack-down.
However, having attended a predominantly Asian high school, I grew up with the films and while my peers at other schools lusted after Brad Pitt, I obsessed over Hong Kong cinema stars like Chow Yun-Fat.
And while admittedly, yes, some martial arts films (especially the dated classics) are cheesy and man, do I hate it when they overdub the Mandarin or Cantonese dialogue with "Surfer-Dude" styled English but to me, an excellent martial arts film is as bewitching as a breathtaking and highly stylized musical.
Both involve precision, stunning choreography, an overwhelming goal to entertain and most importantly for the medium, to tell the story visually, thrilling its audience and tricking us into thinking for one brief moment that we could dance like Gene Kelly or fight like Jackie Chan.
Chan is a personal favorite, owing a great deal of his success to silent comedians with his energetic and inventive prop styled fights but the overwhelming master of the genre that brought it to our American shores is the man himself, Bruce Lee.
Co-screenwriter and director Gordon Chan paid tribute to Lee with his wildly popular film Fist of Legend, loosely based on Bruce Lee’s classic film The Chinese Connection (also known as Fist of Fury). The film, which as film critic Elvis Mitchell notes on the DVD, “put Jet Li on the map,” provided Li with a showcase to illustrate not only his tremendous athleticism and agility but also his range as an actor as Mitchell continues that his eyes are always illustrating a though and there’s something “kind of hidden about him” in his “countenance.”
Given the deluxe two-disc treatment by the phenomenally dedicated company Dragon Dynasty, Fist of Legend arrives in its amazingly restored widescreen glory available in Cantonese Stereo, Mandarin Stereo, and English Dolby 5.1 sound with English and Spanish subtitles along with an optional feature length commentary by Bey Logan, a Hong Kong Cinema Expert, the film looks better than it ever has before as you can witness in the trailer below.
Fist of Legend: Theatrical Trailer

Far more political and emotionally moving than one would normally expect of traditional martial arts fare, including the clichéd naysayers I referenced above who only dwell on the genre’s weakest links instead of the strongest ones (in which category this film belongs), it’s a historical piece about the Japanese occupation of China. In fact, daringly it tackled racism and prejudice head-on instead of the traditional emphasis on the class system or cultural differences as Mitchell explained.
And likewise, I felt as though it were nearly a martial-arts version of West Side Story as we initially meet Jet Li’s Chinese character Chen Zhen studying in Japan alongside his Japanese sweetheart. Upon learning that his martial arts master back at his former school has been murdered, Li leaves his love and returns to China where he and his allies try to figure out just what exactly happened, all the while trying to reconcile their prejudice regarding the Japanese occupiers as the groups antagonize one another.
When Li is wrongly arrested, his girlfriend willingly ruins her reputation and leaves everything behind to clear his name but now as a Japanese woman living with a Chinese man she’s unable to marry since neither side will perform the ceremony or accept them, tensions increase. Soon, they’re forced to live in the outskirts of the community in a mere hut, reminiscent of the Little Tramp’s situation in Chaplin’s Modern Times.
Although he’s most famous for helping solidify Jackie Chan’s popularity with American audiences with the Rush Hour trilogy, director Brett Ratner is also interviewed on the second Special Features disc, offering an interesting evaluation that since director Gordon Chan illustrated both sides of the conflict in a fair and balanced manner that showed the good and bad, he argued that it’s the one Chinese film that could play equally well “without censorship” in both countries. And honestly, viewing the film now as an adult instead of just an adoring teen who couldn’t wait to see those mesmerizing fight sequences (including the finale which the press release notes was listed as the #5 Best Fight Scene Ever by Rotten Tomatoes), I must admit he’s right.
In fact, I was equally caught up in the politics of the film, the romantic relationship which seemed far more earnest and relatable than actually some of the ones produced in the last few years. As Ratner explained, because Chan’s background was first and foremost as a trained writer, instead of just a martial arts expert or choreographer (which is the usual path to becoming a director in Hong Kong cinema), he was able to approach it on a “mythological” level. Thus, it’s safe to say that by addressing the project this way from the start, I’d argue that Chan ensured that even those who may instinctively feel they’d dislike a typical martial arts film would be nonetheless taken in by it.
Don’t get me wrong and that is not to say that there’s not enough action! For, when you’re dealing with choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping (The Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Kill Bill), you know that the film’s fights will surpass your wildest fantasy. And it definitely is filled with action yet instead of just a few perfunctory scenes for us to “get to the good stuff,” when the men throw-down, it’s actually justified and acting happens as well during those phenomenal sequences, including one where Li voluntarily fights blindfolded.
With a trailer and interview gallery, and deleted scenes-- the second disc is packed with extras including an exclusive and eye-opening director with Gordon Chan, another with “Kung Fu Impresario” Chin Siu-ho, a “School of Hard Knocks” which takes us inside a screen fighting seminar at the renowned Kurata Action School, and others. This being said, while Kung Fu movies can leave one feeling invincible, they should definitely come with the "don't try this at home warning" so please for the love of Pete, don't try to break concrete slabs with your head or use your hands to hammer in nails anytime soon.
And whether you want to watch as a mere fan, eager to rewind or jump to your favorite scenes that no doubt you’ll want to screen again and again (making it a “must own” for fans of the genre rather than a simple “Netflix add”) or you’re an martial arts movie aficionado, no doubt you’ll be equally overwhelmed by this fully loaded set… destined to become legendary just like Fist.

Kung Fu Panda

Read the DVD Review

Directors:
Mark Osborne
&
John Stevenson

Over the past few months and only slightly less annoying than “movie tunes” or the loud, obnoxious commercials audiences are bombarded with at a typical multiplex, we’ve been inundated by animated public service announcements (thankfully prompting many to switch off their irritating cell phones) with Jack Black’s Kung Fu Panda starring as the most frequent celebrity spokesperson. Typically, I’m resistant to major studios with limitless bags of gold purchasing air time and sponsorship of any and every available commodity (a major reason I grew to loathe the incessant Bee Movie months before it even opened) and although Panda wasn’t shoved down out throats the same way that Dreamworks’ Bee Movie had been, needless to say I was far more excited to scour the art-houses looking for underappreciated fare before venturing towards the latest orgy of box office greed opening in wide release. Less a snobbish protest than a genuine concern that our children’s taste is being purchased rather than earned, I knew I’d see it eventually but that’s when the e-mails began rolling in as it opened and critics I admired began not only recommending Panda but raving about it. Still apprehensive that perhaps like The Incredibles which I not only disliked but wherein I felt that watching paint dry may have been much more engrossing, I held off until Paul, one of my oldest friends who’s known me for sixteen years and hopefully by now would be able to gauge my taste sent me an e-mail telling me that I simply must go. So I went and after only a few minutes, realized in the same way that I fell instantly for Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who and Surf’s Up that there’s still amazing hope for children’s entertainment, even when it’s not released from those wizards at Pixar.

Having attended a highly ethnically diverse and largely Asian high school, I found myself fascinated by kung fu and Hong Kong action films at a young age, cherishing Jackie Chan and Chow Yun Fat similar to the way that some girls my age mooned over Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. If I didn’t have a date on Valentine’s Day—and frankly as a woman, it was never my favorite day to go out since nobody acted like themselves—I stayed in and watched a Hong Kong double feature, thinking that there was nothing more romantic than Fat making amends for blinding the beautiful woman who charmingly shared my name in The Killer or watching Zhang Ziyi take on everyone while sharing my name in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. As a lover of great action movies that I feel are as vital as excellent choreography in musicals or as Chan has said, a blend between silent comedy stars like Keaton and Chaplin with the precision of a Kelly or Astaire, I was worried about a children’s kung fu picture but when the credits began to roll after Kung Fu Panda, my first thought which I eagerly shared to my movie buddy was that the film kept the spirit, the hero’s journey paradigm and heart of a true martial arts adventure but just sweetened it up with humor.

We begin with Po the overweight panda-- a typical underdog, kung fu worshipping or Daniel Laruso like Karate Kid (voiced by Jack Black), who, although tirelessly devoted to his hardworking father who runs a family noodle shop, dreams of someday joining the famous “Furious Five” warriors he fantasizes about in his room, which are comprised of Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Mantis (Knocked Up’s Seth Rogen), Viper (Kill Bill’s Lucy Liu), and Crane (Arrested Development’s David Cross). As Po sees it in his mind, he’s the missing Bruce Lee like link to rounding out the six with witty lines he creates such as dreaming he's telling those he’s saved that “There is no charge for awesomeness or attractiveness.” While his dad relates to having a goal, having aspired to run away from his responsibilities for the dangerous lure of making tofu, he tells his son Po the adage he’s resigned himself to which is that they’re noodle folk with broth running through their veins.

After Po grudgingly wheels the noodle cart to the Chinese Jade Palace to try and catch a glimpse of which member of the five will be dubbed the Dragon Warrior and thus the one who will bring peace to the land, Po’s attempts to get inside backfire and he’s flung via firework right into the ceremony itself, shockingly being given the coveted honor himself. With a dubious Master Shifu (an adorably drawn and earnestly voiced Dustin Hoffman) following orders from his own higher up turtle Oogway (Randall Duk Kim), Po must contend with the new challenges of trying to master the highest level of kung fu while in the presence of his five far worthier heroes as well as an extremely dissatisfied Shifu. Prone to nervous eating and pratfalls, Po the panda’s journey grows far deadlier when the feared master enemy, the snow leopard Tai Lung (Ian McShane) escapes his maximum security prison and returns to the village, obsessed with getting revenge against his former associates at the Jade Palace.

With a brisk running time of roughly ninety minutes, admirably not overstaying its welcome in a way that has become Pixar’s Achilles Heel in their last few offerings including the dully paced Cars, Panda offers a terrific action story in the mold of some of our best loved kung fu classics complete with several obstacles, a training montage, and seeking wisdom from eccentric elders, and seems to be the perfect introduction to children for the genre and one that, not only am I considerably glad one of my best friends told me to see but also one that I wouldn’t hesitate to purchase for my nearly five year old Star Wars obsessed nephew as soon as it’s released. And of course, the added bonus to that is thanks to the Panda’s promo public service ads, he’ll learn that valuable lesson early that there’s nothing more inconsiderate than people using their cell phones at the theatre.

The Forbidden Kingdom

Director: Rob Minkoff

In Michael Mann’s Heat, audiences felt their breaths catch waiting for Al Pacino and Robert De Niro to converse together onscreen in the diner, each sizing the other man up in a way that feels nearly Shakespearean. In the movies of Nora Ephron, we felt a similar thrill when Tom Hanks fell in love with Meg Ryan and the two began their happily ever after in the sunny, flower-filled Central Park conclusion of You’ve Got Mail. And in the first onscreen pairing of legendary action stars Jet Li and Jackie Chan for director Rob Minkoff’s The Forbidden Kingdom, as soon as Chan stumbles into the same scene as Li and utters, “Do you come here often?” the last thing I wanted for the men was the two to chat or fall in love. Instead, like nearly every other audience member and undoubtedly Chan and Li themselves, I wanted to see them fight. And fight they do in this uneven but gorgeous spectacle before their characters end up on the same side in helping a modern day South Boston teen who, via a pawnshop and a magical Bo Staff that’s propelled him back in time to ancient China, return the staff to its rightful owner, the Monkey King (Li in a second role).

Beginning as a near homage to Back to the Future, the movie opens with Kung Fu movie obsessed Jason (Shia LaBeouf look-alike Michael Angarano) being forced to aid in a robbery by a band of dangerous bullies that goes wrong and hurls him into the past where he soon meets Chan’s Drunken Master inspired Lu Yan, a perpetually wine-chugging fighter specializing in Drunken Fist which he explains is the “secret Kung Fu of the south.” To restore the order of the land, Jason and Yan decide to bring the Bo Staff back to the Monkey King, who the evil Jade War Lord (Collin Chou) has frozen in stone for roughly five hundred years “give or take a few decades,” and on their peril filled journey to the Five Elements Mountain, they find their team increasing with the addition of a beautiful vengeance seeking orphan Golden Sparrow (Yifei Liu) along with the monk Lan Cai He (Jet Li). The characters and indeed plot from Young Guns screenwriter John Fusco (who is currently writing the questionable new version of Seven Samurai), were derived mostly from “Chinese mythology and adventure pulps” as well from the “Chinese epic story Journey to the West [which is] one of the four great classic novels of Chinese literature,” according to IMDb.

When the battles with an evil witch with stark white hair and other dangerous allies of the War Lord become far more treacherous, Back to the Future morphs into The Karate Kid as Yan takes it upon himself to teach Jason how to fight. The introduction of this element not only provides the characters with more plot from scripter Fusco who went through, as IMDb reports five rewrites (some during the film’s shoot) but also gives the film’s producer and fight choreographer the legendary Yuen Woo-Ping (Crouching Tiger, The Matrix trilogy, Kill Bill 1 & 2) a chance to style some of the most thrilling and high flying fight scenes we’ve seen in years which, even when the film becomes self-consciously cheesy, are worth the price of admission alone.

Although it’s hard to fault a film with this much sheer entertainment value for its inability to sit side by side with works like House of Flying Daggers or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to which, I believe most of the audience was hoping the first collaboration of Li and Chan would compare, for fans of the actors, especially my personal favorite-- the hilarious and charismatic Chan, it’s definitely a treat. And hopefully it’s also one that will lead to even more pairings and possibly a grander cinematic approach, aside from the film's major standout that comes in the form of the jaw-dropping, majestic cinematography by Oscar winning Peter Pau (Crouching Tiger). However, until we get there, The Forbidden Kingdom is a great place to start.

Finishing the Game

Complete Title:

Finishing the Game:
The Search for a New Bruce Lee

Director: Justin Lin

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from film school or more correctly, dating fellow film students, it’s to beware of aspiring male directors who compare themselves to Eisenstein and Godard, especially when they’re the son of a studio president only given a shot because of nepotism and for their first project are deciding to finish what some say would have been Bruce Lee’s Gone With the Wind-- his uncompleted final film, The Game of Death. Yet that’s exactly the type of director we meet just moments into Better Luck Tomorrow director Justin Lin’s largely uneven yet mostly hilarious 70’s mockumentary that begins after we learn that just twelve minutes of Game of Death had been shot with Lee wearing that legendary yellow costume (made famous by Uma and Quentin in Kill Bill) before the master’s untimely death at the tender age of 32. Instead of honoring his memory and the beloved films Lee had finished, the studio decides that it’s time to exploit the legend and set about finishing Game of Death by searching for a new Bruce Lee stand in to sort of photograph him wandering and possibly getting into a few fights in order to pad the running time and sell lots of tickets.

Ronny Kurtainbaum (Joake Sanvig), a temperamental young director just coming out of adolescence himself without a cinematic clue save for his references to foreign greats, aligns himself with veteran casting agent Eloise (the hilarious frequent scene-stealer Meredith Scott Lynn) in weeding out the potential Lee substitutes from the overwhelming number of turnouts at the cattle call. Among the frontrunners are Roger Fan’s Breeze Loo, a Bruce Lee styled B movie actor who swears that acting is only in the eyes and that actors shouldn’t demean themselves to stage-fighting when there’s stuntmen to be hired, gorgeous and young Cole Kim (Sung Kang) who, along with his domineering Columbian girlfriend turned agent ventured out from racist Alabama to try and launch Cole’s career. Rounding out the pack is a 100% Caucasian looking Tarrick (McCaleb Burnett) who calls himself half Chinese and feels like he has the greatest shot since he’s sleeping with the casting director’s assistant, Indian Raja (Mousa Kraish) who became a doctor just to follow through on a promise to his dying mother only to give it up to become an actor once he’s an official M.D., and many others including a former TV actor turned vacuum salesman and a Oscar winner from New Zealand.

Filmed in a grainy 70’s style color palette with an emphasis on orange and yellow and a belief that gaudier is funnier (which, in this case, it mostly is), Lin’s likable, innocuous comedy was an Official Selection at Sundance and thankfully reunites the talented director with excellent material such as his terrific directorial effort Better Luck Tomorrow before he moved to more commercial fare such as Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

Fun and original, co-writers Lin and his colleague Josh Diamond layer their script with the belief that-- similar to an early Woody Allen making films in the era in which they are shooting-- pouring on the jokes and ridiculous situations is the key to entertainment do in fact hit much more than they miss, even when some of the outrageous comedy of the beginning starts turning repetitive later on (inevitable for the format). Despite this, Finishing the Game has enough hilarity that you may find yourselves wanting to watch it twice just to pick up on or re-experience all of the mockdocumentary's jokes. And while those familiar with Lee’s story know that this isn’t the crew who would end up taking over Game of Death, Lin and Diamond manage to get across some deft points about Asian stereotypes and the film business that elevate the work from simply being an irreverent time waster to a comedy that sometimes culls us laughs from truth.