Thursday, February 21, 2013 From the Vault: Flash Point

I have a lot of DVD's.  Flash Point is one of them.

Sha Po Lang may get all the love, but I enjoyed it's kinda-sorta prequel a bit more.  Not least because of the blistering climatic fight between Donnie Yen and Collin Chou.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011 Shanghai Blues

I've only seen Shanghai Blues once, but it made a great impression. It was back when I was just discovering HK cinema, making regular trips into Chinatown to rent VHS tapes from an herbalist's shop. I had also stumbled across the Film Center of the Art Institute of Chicago's annual Hong Kong festival just in time for their Jackie Chan season. I can't describe how incredible it was to experience all this eye-popping, mind-blending cinema for the first time on the big screen - and then have the man himself turn up to shake hands and answer questions from the audience. Freaking bliss.

My memory is hazy, but I believe the following year was the Film Center's Tsui Hark season. I was eagerly devouring each offering and got turned on to such classics as Zu and Swordsman II. But it was a romantic comedy called Shanghai Blues that really showed me there was more to Hong Kong cinema than just crazy stunts and hopping vampires. Twenty years and countless films later, I don't recall much about the movie other than I really enjoyed it.

I never got a chance to revisit Shanghai Blues, as it has never received an English-friendly DVD release. But thanks to a heads-up on the Mobius Home Video forum and the generosity of some nameless web denizen, I finally have the opportunity to watch a decent copy of this film. It's an mp4 rip of the old laser disc and it is available via the link below:

Shanghai Blues Laser Disc Rip

Hark's other works get a lot of love in HK fandom, especially Peking Opera Blues, but I almost never see Shanghai Blues get a shout-out. I think that's down to the film's scarcity than it's actual merits, and this is borne out by recent discussion thread on the Mobius forum sparked by the movie's "web release". It's great to see that others enjoyed this film as much as I did and I can't wait to watch it again after all these years.

If you are a fan of Tsui Hark or 80's HK cinema, don't miss this chance. Grab your copy while you can.

Saturday, October 24, 2009 Halloween Countdown: Oily Maniac

A few weeks back, I posted a story about an orang minyak terrorizing the Malaysian countryside. The orang minyak (literally "oily man") is a supernatural being that takes the form of a naked man covered in black oil or grease. It sneaks into people's homes at night to sexually assault women, especially virgins. Some of the reported encounters with the orang minyak have clear similarities with the old hag experience.

The name also seems to apply to thieves and rapists who cover themselves in black oil or grease before committing their crimes. The oil was to help them blend into the night, and to enable them to slip from the clutches of would-be captors. This practice apparently continues to this day. It's anyone's guess as to whether the legends inspired the mundane criminals or vice-versa.

One of the earliest films about the orang minyak, The Curse of the Oily Man, conflates the two definitions a bit, as it's about a human rapist whose assaults are part of black magic ritual to endow him with supernatural powers. In a more recent movie, 2007's The Oily Man, the orang minyak appears to be entirely otherworldly, a demon or spirit set loose on our world. The Oily Man has a DVD release, and the earlier film is available in its entirety on YouTube, but sadly neither feature English-language options.

So no luck with the Malay films, but a short while after posting the story, I was perusing a list of Celestial Pictures' releases of classic Shaw Brothers films. One of the titles that stood out for me was Oily Maniac. Could this be a Hong Kong version of the orang minyak legend? Well, yes, it could.

Oily Maniac is the story of Sheng, a handicapped legal assistant kicked around by life. While visiting an old family friend who is about to be executed (for killing a gangster in self-defense), Sheng learns that his late father was an accomplished shaman who bequeathed a spell of justice and power to his son... tattooed on his best friend's back. Sheng casts the spell, and is transformed into a guy in a rubber suit a living mass of greasy sludge that runs like a toddler possesses great strength and agility. Sheng uses his powers to punish various evil-doers and protect his loved ones. Unfortunately, like every movie protagonist who becomes a monster for all the right reasons, Sheng succumbs to his dark side and seems headed for a grisly fate.

Oily Maniac is part of a wave of Southeast Asian-inspired horror films that followed the success of Black Magic, a tale of jungle voodoo and black magic released by Shaw Brothers in 1975. The studio was already fairly familiar with the story of the orang minyak - check out this still from the opening credits of The Curse of the Oily Man:


That sure looks like a Shaw Brothers logo to me!

Despite its origins, Oily Maniac is less a horror film than a really warped superhero movie. It's also pretty sleazy, with lots of gratuitous nudity and a slanderous view of the Malaysian legal system. Ho Meng Hua, who directed both this and Black Magic, would go on to make The Mighty Peking Man, and if you've seen that film you should have a pretty good idea of the quality of Oily Maniac. It's a hoot.

You can download Oily Maniac in avi format via the Rapidshare links below. The film uses an external subtitle file, so you will need to have VobSub or a similar program installed on your computer. (Most DVD players that handle avi files should already have the capability to handle external subtitles.) A final note - this is not my rip or my upload. But I don't think the uploader will mind the extra Rapidshare points.

Oily Maniac pt 1
Oily Maniac pt 2
Oily Maniac pt 3
Oily Maniac pt 4
Oily Maniac pt 5
Oily Maniac pt 6
Oily Maniac pt 7
Oily Maniac pt 8

It's like a Swamp Thing made of poo.

Thursday, June 11, 2009 DVD Shuffle: Random Play 3

SPLINTER
Toby Wilkins - 2008

An urban couple on a camping vacation wind up as the hostages of an escaped murderer and his junkie girlfriend. While stopping for gas, the group find itself stranded at a remote service station, trapped by a blood-crazed parasite that can stitch together and reanimate dead tissue.

Splinter distinguishes itself from the recent spate of horror films in several ways. For starters, it's an honest-to-Bela monster movie and not another slasher flick. Furthermore, it actually comes up with a new critter instead of simply trotting out the zombies again. And the SFX are mostly practical. I didn't really notice any CGI at all - which is exactly how CGI should be used. Sure, by the end of the picture the monster was essentially a lump of meat flaying about, but there's no real way good CGI could have improved things and lots of ways bad CGI could have made things worse.

Most surprisingly, the characters come off as real people and not caricatures. No one, not even the nameless victims, does anything stupid simply to advance the plot. In fact, the leads exercise their wits more than their leg muscles, and each comes up with at least one clever idea. It makes for a great change from CW Stars Get Chased by Rednecks 3: Rednecks in Europe.

Highly recommended.




OUTLANDER
Howard McCain - 2008

Jesus crashes on Earth and gets captured by Vikings led by a glam rocker and the Elephant Man. Jesus escapes so he can track down the monster that escaped from His ship and is now killing said Vikings. Hellboy shows up to help. Eventually, Jesus, the glam rocker, and some redfurs kill the monster and rescue the hottest Viking ever. Jesus decides to live with the Vikings and teach them about indoor plumbing. The end.

I saw Outlander under what should have been optimal viewing conditions for a film of this ilk, while sharing a few beers with a group of friends. It was fun enough, but it never really clicked with me. It wasn't bad enough to enjoy as a trashy movie and it wasn't good enough to make it on its own terms.

It came pretty close, though. The costumes, props, and set design were all great (loved the carvings on the village gate) and that cast was certainly game (though John Hurt is an unconvincing Viking). I think only a couple of minor tweaks would have made everything fall into place. A bit bigger budget to improve the CGI effects, or going the man-in-a-suit route in the first place, would have done wonders. And it definitely needed more Ron Perlman cracking skulls with twin hammers, but then what movie doesn't?

Rent it, preferably with lots of mead.




INVISIBLE TARGET
Benny Chan - 2007

A group of ruthless robbers knock over an armored car, killing lots of civilians and cops in the process. Two detectives swear vengeance on the gang and - oh, just look it up on Wikipedia.

Invisible Target is way too convoluted, with the filmmakers constantly adding and losing track of subplots. And yet of the three leads, only Jacyee Chan (who looks just like his father if he had spent a little time in Willy Wonka's taffy pulling machine) is given anything to do besides pout and posture. He comes off likable enough in his nice guy role, but he's not really up to the dramatic beats required of him.

The fights are nothing to get excited over, apart from a few nasty moments during a brawl in an cramped office. The stunts are hindered by some obvious wirework and some even more obvious CGI. And at over two hours, the movie is just too bloody long.

Dragon Dynasty is turning out so many great discs of new and classic HK films that I can forgive them for the occasional clunker. That said, Invisible Target is still the worst of the DD titles I've yet seen, beating out Dragon Force due to its extra length and distinct lack of Sammo. As always, Dragon Dynasty has done an excellent job with the presentation and extras, but the movie itself is barely worth a rental.

BTW, every time I see the movie's title I keep thinking it's going to star lolcats.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009 Wu Xia vs. Gunslinger

Below is the trailer for a new Korean-New Zealand co-production about your typical moody sword saint wandering into your typical spaghetti Western town.

Looks like it could be fun.

Trailer via Kung Fu Cinema.

Monday, January 26, 2009 DVD Shuffle: A Mighty Wang

I've finally started to make my way through the huge stack of unwatched DVD's I've accumulated. I'm not going to attempt to review or analyze the films in question (because let's face it, you can find better informed stuff just about anywhere on the 'net - I suggest Todd Alcott's insightful blog for a start). Instead, I'm just going to blather on whatever topics they inspire.

First up is One-Armed Swordsman, a classic martial arts epic starring Jimmy Wang Yu. I've never much cared for Wang Yu's work. I find him stiff and uncharismatic and a pretty poor martial artist - at least on screen. Off-screen, Wang Yu is much more interesting than any of his performances.

Wang Yu was a competitive swimmer who joined the Shaw Brothers acting school in the early 1960’s. Naturally athletic and capable of doing his own stunts, Wang was cast in a variety of action hero roles (including the Shaw-Nikkatsu James Bond knock-off, Asia-Pol, above) before landing the lead in Cheng Cheh’s One-Armed Swordsman. It was this role that would catapult Wang Yu to stardom.

Wang's character in OAS is a rugged, unshaven rebel, a sword-swinging James Dean, a one-armed Brando. He is the son of a servant, a poor boy on a scholarship to a rich boy’s school, treated with contempt by his colleagues and the master’s daughter. The hero seems to have little patience for them in return, or for the traditions that force him to acknowledge them as superiors. By the end of the film, Wang Yu overcomes both his social and physical handicaps through innovation and hard work, and passes over the snooty rich girl for the nice gal from the block. One-Armed Swordsman struck a chord with Hong Kong audiences and became a huge hit, followed by many sequels and a raft of imitators.

It’s hard to over-estimate the cultural impact of One-Armed Swordsman. It was the bridge between the old style of wu xia film and the modern kung fu movie. Wu xia films had typically been fables set in an idealized martial world populated by handsome, noble, and usually noble-born swordsmen. Kung fu films were usually far grittier and bloodier, showcasing working-class heroes who, if they expected to beat the baddie in the final reel, would have to earn victory through rigourous effort (typically via a training montage). While OAS is set in a wu xia world, its protagonist is the prototype for the blue collar kung fu heroes that followed.

Off screen, Wang Yu lived up to this rebellious image. The drinking and brawling were tolerated; the womanizing and illicit affairs much less so. He did end up marrying one of his conquests, a famous HK actress named Lin Tsui, but not before the scandal of the affair and the shame of divorce proceedings drove her husband to suicide. Lin and Wang would themselves divorce amidst rumors of wife-beating six years later. Wang’s second wife was an airline stewardess; when she began conducting her own affair, Wang Yu infamously interrupted the couple’s rendezvous with reporters and police in tow (adultery being a crime in Taiwan at the time).

Wang Yu's defiant nature extended to his professional life as well. Chafing under the control of the Shaws, Wang broke from the studio in a bid to gain more control over his films and the profits they generated. His first movie after leaving Shaw Brothers was One-Armed Boxer for Golden Harvest, a role that combined the gimmicks from his two most successful films, One-Armed Swordsman and The Chinese Boxer (the latter often cited as the first "true" kung fu movie). The film was a box-office success, but Wang's actions had consequences. He was sued for breaking his contract with Shaw Brothers, and was barred from working in Hong Kong as a result of the settlement. Wang upped stakes to Taiwan.

In his Hong Kong Action Cinema, Bey Logan suggests that many Shaw actors and stuntmen joined up with the Triads in order to supplement the meager salaries the studio paid out. Whether or not this was true for Wang Yu – he came from a well-to-do family and did not have to support himself with his Shaw earnings – it’s pretty much an open secret that he was “connected”. His (alleged) mob ties (allegedly) only strengthened during his years in Taiwan. This is borne out by the fact that Wang Yu was pretty much the "go-to guy" for HK actors having trouble with the mob.

The best known example of this is when Wang Yu helped out a burgeoning superstar named Jackie Chan. As he details in his biography, Chan had found himself under the thumb of producer/director Lo Wei, who was determined to turn the young actor into a carbon copy of another former protege, Bruce Lee. After a series of flops, Lo had taken to loaning Chan out to other production companies. Free of Lo Wei's influence, Chan managed to assert creative control over his films and the result was box office gold. Finding himself suddenly in demand, Chan tried to exercise the buy-out clause in his contract to accept an offer from Golden Harvest, but Lo wasn't about to let a second superstar slip from his grasp. The producer called in some Triad buddies to "persuade" Chan to stay with Lo, and things got pretty tense pretty fast. Chan's manager asked Wang Yu to broker a settlement between Lo, the Sun Yi On Triad, and Golden Harvest. The first meeting didn't go too well - the police were called in to break up the fight - but a compromise was finally reached. To this day, Jackie Chan credits Wang Yu with saving not only his career but his life.

In 1981, Wang Yu found himself in court facing a murder charge. Info on this incident is hard to come by, at least in English, so I don't know if it was related to Wang's Triad activities or his penchant for picking fights in bars. The fact that the charge was dropped due to lack of evidence doesn't really point one way or the other. In any case, in an interview included on Dragon Dynasty's DVD of One-Armed Swordsman, Wang cites the affair as a wake-up call that got him to turn his life around.

Unfortunately, Wang Yu's Triad ties (allegedly) waxed as his box office appeal waned. His Taiwanese films lacked the gloss and budget of the Shaw studios' releases, and Wang's screen fighting skills simply weren't up to the standards set by Bruce Lee and those that followed in his wake. And, as Jackie Chan said, audiences really weren't interested in seeing Wang Yu with two arms. His attempts at breaking into the Western film industry with the Bondian The Man From Hong Kong (co-starring former 007 George Lazenby) and the WWII actioner Attack Force Z (as a baddie opposite a young Mel Gibson) didn't fare much better. According to scuttlebutt, the cast and crew on Man From Hong Kong found Wang to be temperamental and difficult to work with, which helped stall out any further overseas work.

In 1982, Wang decided to try a new direction with a comeback vehicle called Fantasy Mission Force. He called in a debt to have Jackie Chan appear in the film, a bizarre, incoherent "comedy" that did nothing to help Wang's career or that of anyone else involved (including Taiwanese film legend Brigitte Lin and singer/TV star Adam Cheng). Wang gave it another shot eight years later with Island on Fire, a gritty crime drama co-starring Chan, Sammo Hung, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, and Andy Lau - apparently, a lot of people owed Wang Yu favors. Island was publicized as an attempt to raise money to build a new headquarters for the Hong Kong Directors Guild, but rumor has it that it was really to help the director pay back a heavy cash debt to the triads. The Guild HQ was never built; let's hope the director cleared accounts with the gangsters.

Aside from these two comeback attempts, Wang made only a handful of cameos and guest appearances in film and television during the 80's and 90's (though he did tally a few producer credits as well). He pretty much retired from the industry after that and has kept a low profile for the most part.

He did make a public appearance in late 2007 as one of the hundreds of mourners appearing at a top Taiwanese triad leader's funeral. Right around this time, Wang made an incredible statement to the Taiwanese press, claiming that the Kuomintang had asked him to assassinate a political dissident who had moved to the United States. Wang said that he had to turn down the KMT because he couldn't get his orders in writing, which caused him to doubt the legality of the assignment.

Let's put this into context; it's as if Richard Nixon had asked Charles Bronson to do some wetwork for the CIA. If it were any other actor making the claim I'd dismiss it out of hand. But for Jimmy Wang Yu, it's just another incident in a life as colorful as anything essayed on the silver screen.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS

From Bruce Lee to Ninja: Martial Arts Movies (Richard Meyers, Amy Harlip, & Karen Palmer, 1985)

Hong Kong Action Cinema (Bey Logan, 1995)

I Am Jackie Chan (Jackie Chan, 1998)

Kung Fu: Cinema of Vengeance (Verina Glaessner, 1974)


FILMS

Fantasy Mission Force (1982)

Island on Fire (1991)

A Man Called Tiger: Modern-day crime thriller featuring Wang beating up lots of gangsters. My brother was impressed by the streetfighting in the film, but I just don't see it. The film is only available on VCD and a handful of YouTube clips, like this one.

Master of the Flying Guillotine (1976): This sequel to Wang's One-Armed Boxer is also a follow-up to the Shaws' The Flying Guilllotine. As in One-Armed Boxer, Wang faces off against an international smorgasboard of lethal fighters - including an Indian with abilities that will seem darn familiar to Street Fighter fans, and a blind senior citizen with a deadly beanie. The special edition DVD from Pathfinder is very nice, with a commentary track and other extras that are suprising to see in a release of a low-budget kung fu flick.

One-Armed Swordsman (1967)

Zatoichi vs. the One-Armed Swordsman (1971): Language and cultural barriers lead to a tragic misunderstanding when two Asian film icons meet. This is my personal favorite Wang Yu film, and it's widely regarded as his best screen work. I especially love how Wang's chi-powered superleaps, so common in kung fu flicks, freaks the yakuzas' shit out!

Two flicks I haven't watched but really wanted to for this article were Beach of the War Gods and The Man From Hong Kong. I've just put in an order for the new Australian release of the latter. I still have to track down a good copy of Beach, which is infamous as one of the bloodiest kung fu films ever and a movie that will convince you that Wang Yu really, really, really hates the Japanese.


WEB

WikiPedia: Jimmy Wang Yu

BBC News: Hundreds mourn Taiwan gang boss

Taipei Times: Prosecutors launch investigation into Jimmy Wang 'murder contract' case

Jimmy Wang Yu's MySpace Page! (He still lists street fighting as an interest!)