Monday, June 25, 2012
Probably more than 25 years have passed since I first saw one of my most favorite martial arts film at the height of the betamax craze - behold "Shaolin VS. Ninja". I channel-surfed and and its shown on cable though the title was "Heroes of the East"! Too bad I wasn't able to catch the start of the fight scenes. What I really enjoyed about this apart from the reason for how the conflict started (who said marriage between a Chinese guy and a Japanese girl was going to be easy when cultures clash?) was the showcase of Japanese martial arts alongside the more typical Kung Fu used in most Hong Kong martial arts films at that time. I also just found out that the main character here (Gordon Liu) was one of the awesome fighting characters in the "Kill Bill" movies!
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Bilib naman ako sa memory mo. I am very intrigued by your fascination for manga and, now, for kung fu movies. I was never interested in them. Marami kasi akong kaibigan, basta my HK fight movies, panood agad. And how they would regale about them. I guess I have to look back.
ReplyDeleteCartoons have always been part of my life ever since my parents allowed me to watch tv on my own - aside from the typical children's fare of "Sesame Street" and "The Electric Company", some cartoon episodes I recall till now of are those from the Wacky Races (haha for Dick Dastardly, Mutley and Penelope). At nights, I used to watch Hawaii Five O and Space 1999 with the grown-ups.
ReplyDeleteFor comics, we always had the weekly "Bisaya" mag which featured komiks which were of course in bisaya. I think its more difficult to read sometimes versus Tagalog mags.
I can still remember radio shows like "Manok ni San Pedro" and one or two radio dramas due to either my mom or our helper at that time making sure to tune in at night (sadly, this petered out, tv defeated the radio in some aspects).
Martial arts films have always been in my favorite list of things to see ....
Daddy, being a typical male, also liked action films so I was never wanting for this kind of high when he rented beta tapes from our friendly suki at Merry Mart.
All was well in my world if I got stay at home and watch movies of Jackie Chan and all those unpronounceable HK actors (Samo Hung I can recall easily - he was incredible with his martial arts moves for such a big guy).
I also watched those of Chuck Norris and other American action films (Rambo, Terminator etc.) but it seemed to me to be a level below in terms of action.
HK martial arts movies and manga?.
For me its like a smooth segue into the latter when I think about them.
I just adore those fantastic whirling feet and fists, flying onto roof scenes paired sometimes with monks, historical snippets and characters and weapons and techniques-with-long-descriptive-names thrown in for good measure.
...so when I discovered manga (to differentiate it, eto yung sa Japanese versus yung comics from other countries) which had these elements and more, its all for me one big lovely mix...then the anime adaptations for the manga came in, and I was in 7th heaven.
Tip for those who want to give me a birthday or christmas gift LOL -
make it a set of Shaw Brothers' top-grossing films English-subtitled and clear copies - I'd be over the moooon!
Well actually pwede rin for Jap films of Akira Kurosawa but I've already started on it before....
Do you enjoy watching fantasy action films? I prefer it to epic dramas, love stories…chick flicks. If you do, does it fall into Chinese wuxia, fairy-tale battles, dragons and knights, alien worlds like those in Farscape…etc.?
ReplyDeleteDid you catch "Hero" (I preferred it to Crouching Tiger, esp its panoramic scenes)?
If you liked it, there may be some earlier HK martial arts movies you might enjoy...
Some of the earlier ones were a bit formulaic...that is why I especially enjoyed "Shaolin vs Ninja". Technically it was not literally a shaolin technique versus ninjutsu move – it dealt with Chinese fighting techniques versus Japanese ones.
Throw away expectations of - vengeance for the Chinese folk, down with the Japanese due to oppression theme, bald and pious Shaolin monks wandering the countryside or passing of hidden kung-fu moves designed to flay the enemy… there are no temples being ransacked, no gushing fountain of blood - in fact no one dies in this film :-)
Aside from comedic touches (the judo fight being won with the timely use of oil was unexpected), the first part of the movie deftly shows how the conflict developed between the couple instead of diving into action.
When the misunderstanding happens and piles up unintentionally, this just brings home on how culture plays such a big part in international relations, but that is another story (gosh, it kind of reminds me of a business case study when I think of it).
The action does roll in quickly after the Jap masters arrive at our hero's home and it is not a boring march of fighters dancing with their weapons in one setting.
Although the Chinese side does win (I enjoy the nunchucks/tonfa/three-staffs as well as the sai/short sword fights), how its handled is tactful and respectful – there is no one standard answer emphasizing the superiority of Chinese ways versus any other.
If you can stand reading through wuxia stories (hopefully those award-winning ones…but I have to point out the English translations I read were a bit tiring and quite long)...if not, mas madali tingnan na lang ang movie....
(between you and me though, the Kamiya dojo fight scene in the Rurouni Kenshin anime between Bakumatsu enemies Saitoh and Kenshin Himura was super-heart pounding versus live action films - probably because in anime you can make characters do impossible things)
I love watching Chinese Kung Ku movies. I've been doing it since my highschool days - the days of that Chinese star named Wang Yu. The movie I remember is called the One Armed Swordsman (or was it Boxer?). Anyway, in the climatic scene, this guy with just one arm killed almost all of his opponents, a whole army of swordsmen. The other thing I remember in these movies is that the combat included soaring thru the air or jumping - one moment they were fighting in the courtyard and then they jump and, lo and behold, the land in the mountains. The scenes were quite gory, too. You can see men being cut in half right in the middle of their body with blood oozing like water hoses.
ReplyDeleteThen there's the old familiar Japanese blind swordsman known as Zatoichi, who, inspite his being blind knows exactly where and arrow has been shot and is able to split it into two, right in the middle, with his samurai.
I like them as movies with live human actors, but I don't like them as anime they way most of these are show now.
And I think reading those white colored fonts of English subtitles actually taught me how to speed read especially when they are in a light background :-).
Then, of course, Bruce Lee came along.
Chito!!
ReplyDeleteme too..from high school din (kc naman pag elementary ko e wala namang beta and its not as if martial arts movies as being shown left and right sa theaters) din upwards to college till now...
can we have a Kung Fu movie marathon one of these days?
kaso I don't have DVDs of those...hahaha...
these days, sa cable tv na lang ako naghahanap ng ganon na movies...coz those I saw once or twice beings old na dvd e pangit quality...
ah yes, Zatoichi, but what I saw was yung pinakita nung 2004 or 2005 ba yon..if it was shown before, di ko nakita yun...
I will look for a groovy anime action scene which might hit the spot with you....most of these days naman kc its a bit different in how they come out sa anime, and I can understand the no-thrill aspect you are talking about if you see it in anime.
However, take for instance those gushing bloody stumps scenes sa Kill Bill...
it makes me recall the similarity of some wuxia animes I have seen....although of course, I can recall one or two live-action Chinese or Japanese films which has that particular bloody effect *wiggles in excitement*
Indeed, there's that advantage of reading subtitles...haha...personally I don't care if I might miss something on the scene as long as the original dialogue is there and its English subtitles...I feel its a bit corny na when they dub it ...especially in Tagalog pa ha...although am not enamoured of English dubs din....
take for instance the dub of the movie "Heroes of the East"...supposedly at the end, he asks for the Japanese guy (specializing in ninjutsu) to translate his Chinese into Japanese for the other Japense masters...haynaku, nawala ang nuances of his explanation and apology...grrrr...
hey, did you see that action movie loosely based on Bruce Lee's teacher Yip Man?
galing din ang action...I think it may have come out as Ip Man..I think that was the last na medyo I replayed more than once...
that effect of flying about has always made my heart beat for martial arts film :-)
ReplyDeleteas for that bloody spurt...napunta pa nga sa camera lens eh...mwahaha
I think what makes me giggle (though I also feel some sympathy for the hero in this film) is how the marital quarrel spirals into an misunderstanding which could be described as of an international flavor hehehe...and oh yes, the crab style of fighting also made me did a LOL
ReplyDeletespeaking of Bruce Lee..if you see Heroes of the East..check out that guy versus Gordon Liu in the nunchucks versus 3-staff (?) fight....para yatang gusto na i-clone si Bruce Lee hehehe...
Of course I saw it! Loved it, too. Siempre patalo-talo muna. Tapos all-heart effort! And the fight all the more appealed to me because the Ip man was fighting a caucasian! And for all the "na a-aping" locals.
ReplyDeleteI like Shaolin movies, too. But unfortunately I wasn't able to catch that movie. Did you know that in my collegiate days, my house was called a Shaolin temple? Sometime in my college days, when my mom was already living w/ my sister in Manila and I was staying in our house by myself, a group of friends moved in with me. Being students all of us, we did not have money but allowance lang. hat house only had several bottles of water in the ref and nothing else. So talagang palakasan ng sikmura. Patigasan ng loob. Walang kain-kain. It was an endurance test. We considered ourselves Sahaolin disciples during at time, hehehe...
ReplyDelete(Actually, ang tatamad lang mag-luto o bumili ng lu-lutuin. Kasi may mga pera naman)...
Okay. Basta meron House of Daggers, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Heroes, Reign of Assassins, and all those with Zang Ziyi in it (and of course those with Michelle Yeoh as well)!
ReplyDeletehaha...yan ang formula, but this time, it fits naman :-)
ReplyDeletesa totoo lang, di ko kaya yan...I think my stomach would be walking towards the kitchen for me and dragging the rest of my weary body...or at least kakain ako sa labas no! (why not think of it as meeting chicks if you go out to eat)
ReplyDeletehmm...di ko nakita Reigh of Assasins..and not all of kay Zang Ziyi (I hope puro action yan ha, di lang drama)...Michelle Yeoh not so much na but I hope her earlier movies were good?
ReplyDeleteI wish I could find where my collection of Akira Kurosawa's films (somebody borrowed some of the dvds)...not martial arts pero some of the most classic movies naging basis of other very good movies...
hay naku, sana nga may SB films best collections...sa film na to pala "Heroes of the East" the Japanese ninjutsu guy Yasuaki Kurata is known for his extended battle against Jet Li in Fist of Legend and also met Bruce Lee during his career.
Director L. Kar-leung of this film also is quite well-known. One of his most famous works is The 36th Chamber of Shaolin which had Gordon Liu...and as well as Drunken Master II which starred Jackie Chan. May cameo pa sya dito sa HotE as the drunken boxing teacher where Gordon Liu tried to learn for his fight versus karate (?)