Note: This blog expresses only the opinions of the blog owner, and does not represent the opinion of any organization or blog that is associated with RONIN ON EMPTY.
Today’s retro review is one my favorite Hong Kong films of all-time — the Tsui Hark-produced, Ching Siu-Tung-directed Swordsman II (1992). Although I’m quite fond of the first film, this winning sequel improves on its predecessor considerably, largely due to a compelling story, great action, and the (mostly) all-new cast. The film stars my favorite actor of the 1990s, Jet Li (replacing Sam Hui), Rosamund Kwan (replacing Cheung Man), and Michelle Reis(replacing Cecillia Yip). By far the biggest addition to the cast is the singular Brigitte Lin Ching-Hsia, who takes on the challenging role of Asia the Invincible, a character who is quite possibly the most memorable villain of 1990s Hong Kong cinema — spawning a sequel of “his” own and a handful of parodies, too.
For me, this is a movie of introductions. Not only was Swordsman II the very first wuxia film I ever saw, but it was also the first film I’d ever seen to feature a transgendered character. What stands out now nearly twenty years(!) later is the portrayal of Asia, who while remaining a “villain” in the traditional sense is also very human and sympathetic. He/she also happens to possess superhuman powers, badass martial arts skills, and Brigitte Lin’s striking good looks — all qualities that have helped insure the character’s cinematic immortality for some time now.
Swordsman II was an early review of mine for LoveHKFilm.com; whatever I lacked in skill or style, I hopefully made up with humor and enthusiasm. Funnily enough, Swordsman II was the first review I ever wrote to get quoted on a DVD; in this case, Optimum Asia’s UK DVD. At the very least, my parents seemed to get a kick out of it.
Anyway, for Hong Kong cinema fans, this is another must-see flick.
While rifling through my collection of unwatched DVDs the other day, I stumbled upon Witch Hunter Robin, Vol 4 — Fugitive. Why did I have a) only one entry in the series and b) the fourth installment rather than the first? Well, I purchased the disc at the Dollar General years ago when I saw a much-needed copy of Kaze No Yojimbo there for the low, low price of $5. Figuring I’d give another series a try, I snapped this one up as well, but never got around to watching the actual show until recently. Here is the premise, culled from Wikipedia:
It follows the STN-J, the Japanese branch of a secret global organization called “SOLOMON” or the “Solomon Toukatsu Nin’idantai” (roughly “Solomon Executive Organization”), abbreviated as “STN”.Solomon fights the harmful use of witchcraft using a database of witches, those who have obtained the power of witchcraft through genetics, and those who carry the gene called “seeds” in order to arrest or eliminate them should their powers “awaken”. The series focuses on one of the STN-J’s members, Robin Sena.
Aside from the overly technological gobbledygook, the idea of specifically hunting down witches (rather than vampires a la Buffy or all of the supernatural a la the Winchester Brothers) seemed compelling enough. Unfortunately, the episodes themselves were less than stellar. The one thing I love about Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, and Samurai Champloo is that you can jump in on pretty much any episode and it’s still fun to watch, even if you aren’t aware of how certain events featured in the episode tie into the show’s larger mythology/season arc. The same cannot be said of Witch Hunter Robin.
Not only does the story seem largely incomprehensible to the unitiated, but there’s absolute zero atmosphere in terms of setting and tone. To make matters worse, the character designs and personalities for the supporting players are probably the blandest I’ve seen in a major anime production. And guess what? The main players aren’t that interesting either. Robin Sena is the confused, female lead who’s trying to figure why she’s attracted to some brooding, dark-haired, and pale-faced guy named Amon. Believe me, watching Twilight is more enjoyable than three episodes of this. And I am no fan of Twilight. This picture represents my thoughts on the direction THAT teenybopper series should go.
Blade IV: Twilight of the Vampires
But I digress.
I hate to slam something I’ve only watched three episodes of, but in my opinion, three episodes is probably enough. Here’s a sample line of dialogue that pretty much summarizes the overall quality of these three eps:
ROBIN SENA (breathy tones):
I don’t really know…for sure…but on the other hand…I do.
As the ladies said in the Eighties, “Ugh, gag me with a spoon.”
If you’re new to anime or looking for another series to watch, do yourself a favor and avoid this one. Or, to be fair, at least start with Volume 1; it probably makes more sense.
I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who sent their positive thoughts, well-wishes, and prayers for my Dad. He’s been out of the hospital for a little while now and doing much better.
I just wanted to say that it’s been incredibly touching to see the love and support emerging from our family members, friends, colleagues, and the like, and I’m especially thankful for those of you who took the time to reach out to us in whatever way you could. As this is a situation that is ongoing, it is difficult to know the proper venue, if any, to express these thoughts. Since I have this blog, I thought I would do it here.
As to the LoveHKFilm.com readers who have sent their well-wishes via blog comments or e-mail, I am very grateful for your kind words. In addition, I’d like to thank Kozo for allowing me to share this deeply personal situation on this otherwise fun-loving blog and, more generally, for providing me with such an excellent venue to talk about the wild world of Asian-related cinema and entertainment news. My apologies to anyone who had their comments deleted in the last month or so, as all our blogs have been inundated with spam. As a result, sometimes — quite unfortunately — a legitimate comment unintentionally gets the axe.
In any event, I just wanted to take time out to thank you folks for your support and concern. Much obliged.
Lau Ching-Wan and Anita Yuen in C’est La Vie, Mon Cheri
With a few exceptions, it’s somewhat difficult to conceive of a scenario in which a person sees the absolute wrong movie at the wrong time in his or her lifetime. But conversely, it is wholly possible to pinpoint a moment in one’s life when the right film was seen at the right time — a movie that was not only good, but spoke to the viewer personally, perhaps even in reference to something that happened in their own lives sometime in the past or may have been happening at that very moment.
I’ve written previously on this site about how some of Wong Kar-Wai’s films have had just such an effect on me. While I’ve asserted that Wong Kar-Wai has his finger on the collective pulse of disaffected twenty/thirtysomethings everywhere, I also feel strongly that his films often prove to be particularly moving if seen at the right moment in one’s life — especially at a moment of transition or loss. But this is not a trait solely reserved for the cinema of WKW; I find this true of other films from other filmmakers as well. Despite differences in language, nationality, geography, and/or epoch, movies can be transcendent viewing experiences. Not to sound pretentious or sappy, but to me, this speaks to the very power of cinema, of literature, and of art — the power to move people.
Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to watch Derek Yee’s 1993 film, C’est La Vie, Mon Cheri. I have been a fan of Yee’s directorial work for quite some time now, but this film — I’m embarrassed to say — was one of those movies that simply got away from me. Unless you’re just plain awesome like Kozo, there are very few people in this world who have seen every Hong Kong film that’s ever come out since the early 1980s. Whether we’re talking about movies or books or music, there are gaps in everyone’s knowledge, as “expert” as we might claim to be at times. I have no problem admitting that. Whether it’s missing out on Moby Dick or Bob Dylan or this award-winning Derek Yee film, we only have so much time to go around, so it’s bound to happen. But still, we persevere.
The first LoveHKFilm.com reader who correctly translates the above text for me wins an as-of-now undetermined prize of some sort. I know that doesn’t sound very promising, but believe me, your assistance will be greatly appreciated. Thanks to any and all participants!
Why hasn’t The Street Fighter (1974) gotten a decent DVD/Blu-Ray release yet? You would have thought that after Sonny Chiba’s appearance in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill that some entrepreneurial DVD company would have gotten the rights and put out a special edition DVD to coincide with that two-part film’s release. But so far, no dice. A quick check of Amazon.com and Yesasia suggests that two of the budget-priced versions I own are out of print, save a pretty good one that’s bundled with The Return of the Street Fighter and listed for the low, low price of $3.95!
As with Swordsman (1990), The Street Fighter was one of the earliest reviews I wrote for this site, and I think the style (or lack thereof) probably shows. What the review lacks in serious critical examination of cinematic technique, it more than makes up for in unbridled enthusiasm and largely tongue-in-cheek attempts at humor. If you’ve never seen The Street Fighter, please do yourself a favor and check it out for yourself. It’s not that hard to get a hold of the flick, and it makes for a fun evening’s viewing with the right crowd. Sometimes, watching “cult classics” that you’ve always heard about, but never watched doesn’t always pan out the way you’d hope, but, for me, The Street Fighter is definitely a rewarding Grindhouse experience — lots of laughs, lots of flinching at violent acts, a rockin’ soundtrack, and plenty of WTF? moments. I’m not even kidding when I say you will see things in The Street Fighter that you’ve NEVER seen in an action movie before.
Check out my old LoveHKFilm.com review here, if you’re interested. Here’s a trailer to whet your appetite:
“With the job out of the picture, I felt a surge of relief. Slowly, but surely I was making things simpler. I’d lost my hometown, lost my teens, lost my wife, in another three months I’d lose my twenties. What’d be left of me when I got to be sixty, I couldn’t imagine. There’s no thinking about these things. There’s no telling even what’s going to happen a month from now” (Murakami 175).
We now come to the third, but not-so-final installment of Haruki Murakami’s “Trilogy of the Rat” — A Wild Sheep Chase. The English title, an invention of translator Alfred Birnbaum, provides a clever hook to an ever-so-engaging novel. Published as Hitsuji o meguru bōken in 1982, Wild Sheep Chase was later translated by the aforementioned Birnbaum in 1989 for the Kodansha English Library. I have that copy, which is split into two volumes; the Vintage paperback; and a first edition hardcover I found for a small sum in a dusty old bookstore in Santa Cruz, CA.*
A Wild Sheep Chase begins with the death of a woman that the protagonist knew back in college. In those days, she had a reputation for being promiscuous, and at one point, she was even casually involved with the narrator. However, upon learning of her death, he cannot recall her name, referring to her only as “the girl who would sleep with anyone.” After the narrator returns home from the funeral, we discover that his home life is in disarray, as he’s in the process of getting a divorce. He tells his old friend, the bartender J, that it’s lucky they didn’t want kids. He says:”I don’t really know if it’s the right thing to do, making new life. Kids grow up, generations take their place. What does it all come to? More hills bulldozed and more oceanfront filled in? Faster cars and more cats run over? Who needs it?” (105). Hope doesn’t exactly spring eternal with this guy.
In no time, he finds himself dating a call girl-turned-model, who is known for her two best assets. No, not those — her ears. They are, in the narrator’s estimation, the most beautiful ears he’s seen in his entire life and they possess near magical properties. Weird, eh? But as mysterious as his new gal pal is, what our hero really longs for is a sense of sustained normalcy. He soon tells his new girlfriend, “Most people, they’re trying to escape from boredom, but I’m trying to get into the thick of boredom” (43). However, like any hardboiled dick, he soon finds himself right in the thick of trouble…with peculiar results.
WordPress database error: [Expression #1 of ORDER BY clause is not in GROUP BY clause and contains nonaggregated column 'webkozo_wordpress.roe_posts.post_date' which is not functionally dependent on columns in GROUP BY clause; this is incompatible with sql_mode=only_full_group_by] SELECT DISTINCT YEAR(post_date) AS `year`, MONTH(post_date) AS `month`, count(ID) as posts FROM roe_posts WHERE post_type = 'post' AND post_status = 'publish' GROUP BY YEAR(post_date), MONTH(post_date) ORDER BY post_date DESC
