[Something about] Once upon a time in China
Once upon a time in China, by Tsui Hark (Hong-Kong 1991)
The offer in the movie theaters in Rochester has not attracted me a lot lately, so I turned to watching again this movie in its DVD version.
It is a bit naive as a movie, with the good guys, the bad guys and so on, but let me tell you how and why I liked it, with a proviso: if you do not like this one, you will never like any movie based on kung-fu.
To the point, the kung-fu is extraordinary: in one of the final scenes (the one on the ladders, for those who have seen it) one realizes that space is *really* three dimensional and that we use only about two and a half of the dimensions in everyday life.
Apart these athletico-geometrical considerations I wish to comment on another theme in the movie: the relationship between tradition and innovation, especially the innovations that come from outside one's world. One of the most interesting aspects from this point of view is developed through the character of Master Yim (one of the antagonists of the hero, the hero's name is Wong Fei Hung): the passion for one's own traditions without attention to the surrounding world is a self-destructive frame of mind.
I could actually be forcing this interpretation on the movie, but the blindness of Yim comes out above all in the scene in which he applies a wisdom dictum ("Virtue is often found among the lowly") without realizing that the context is not suited for applying the dictum he is relying on; and this after he has been using kung-fu (the tradition) in order to entertain a group of people that were just interested in mocking him. This could be seen also as a naive theme, but I don't see it that way.
The offer in the movie theaters in Rochester has not attracted me a lot lately, so I turned to watching again this movie in its DVD version.
It is a bit naive as a movie, with the good guys, the bad guys and so on, but let me tell you how and why I liked it, with a proviso: if you do not like this one, you will never like any movie based on kung-fu.
To the point, the kung-fu is extraordinary: in one of the final scenes (the one on the ladders, for those who have seen it) one realizes that space is *really* three dimensional and that we use only about two and a half of the dimensions in everyday life.
Apart these athletico-geometrical considerations I wish to comment on another theme in the movie: the relationship between tradition and innovation, especially the innovations that come from outside one's world. One of the most interesting aspects from this point of view is developed through the character of Master Yim (one of the antagonists of the hero, the hero's name is Wong Fei Hung): the passion for one's own traditions without attention to the surrounding world is a self-destructive frame of mind.
I could actually be forcing this interpretation on the movie, but the blindness of Yim comes out above all in the scene in which he applies a wisdom dictum ("Virtue is often found among the lowly") without realizing that the context is not suited for applying the dictum he is relying on; and this after he has been using kung-fu (the tradition) in order to entertain a group of people that were just interested in mocking him. This could be seen also as a naive theme, but I don't see it that way.
posted by JTS at
Monday, June 05, 2006
4 Comments:
The Eastman Theater showed three of these, and I liked them. Sure they get nationalistic, but who cares? That said, I've gotten the impression that Jet Li is a jerk.
By
Mike Beversluis, at 05 June, 2006 22:24
I seem to recall that we watched together the first one.
By
JTS, at 06 June, 2006 11:40
Yeah - I think we saw Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain, too. I can't remember much about that film except that I thought it was okay. These films are wire-work martial art confections.
By
Mike Beversluis, at 06 June, 2006 12:23
Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain had several scenes in which the audience laughed because they were so improbable; and I laughed as well ...
I have heard that "The blade" by Tsui Hark is excellent - one day or another I'll watch it.
By
JTS, at 06 June, 2006 15:05
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