May 31, 2021

The Artist: Reborn: The Painting, Reframed

No one's about to say that the creator of The Artist: Reborn doesn't have something to say. Kim Kyoung-won's dark comedy about a painter who skyrockets to fame after her supposed death is peppered with wry commentary about the art market, the creative process, and good old amoral capitalism. But, as the writer-director himself states, "It's like Frankenstein without the monster part." What's the missing monster exactly? Is it the art? Could be. The oils depicting floating mandalas and simpler geometric shapes are too minimal for Kandinsky, too muted for Hilma af Klimt. Is it the script? Also possible. Yet Kim's writerly shark jumps are intentionally outlandish: the artist's resurrection in the morgue is pure sight gag; the marketspeak of her fabricated backstory is satirical grotesquerie. ("Let's say she was raped by a priest!")

What's that leave us? The cast? Okay. So if so, who? Ryu Hyeon-kyeong's turn as the visionary abstractionist is out of sync with the other performers... as she should be; Park Jeong-min is overly earnest ...which seems appropriate, too. Lee Soon-jae and Moon Jong-won may be broader in their interpreations of a cultural minister and a cultural pariah but can you blame them? For me, it was as if nothing quite worked and nothing quite failed. "Nothing's wrong," the artist states near the end. I'd add, "Nothing's right either." But what are you looking for? Perfection?

May 24, 2021

Bruce Lee's Ways of Kung Fu: Sisters Who Slay the Dragon

It's not Dragon Lee's first movie. Not even close. It's more like his 15th! So Bruce Lee's Way of Kung Fu could be accurately described as the midway marker of Dragon's big screen career. Which had me puzzling: Why do the credits list him as "Bruce Lei"? Was the allure of Bruce Lee that great six years after the movie icon's death? Or was Dragon ashamed of this particular pic? One fact is clear: This movie has nothing to do with the late Bruce Lee or his singular technique. So the title is doubly misleading: No Bruce Lee, no Bruce Lee moves. What do you get instead?

A surly king has a cadre of kung fu babes who defend him against a series of male martial artists; over 700 have died so far according to the blind codger who works as the local coffin-maker. If anyone would know, he would! According to the wise one, Dragon Lee — in Mowgli garb and a pageboy haircut — is the first guy to go into the palatial caves and come out alive. Barely. I mean, he gets his ass whupped in a cave, on a beach, in the forest, and in the ocean. Amid these various landscapes, our hero is subject to fishing nets, steel coils, and dart-throwing fans. Maybe Dragon chose the pseudonym for this flick because he didn't like getting beat up so much. As one character tell him fairly late in the movie, "Your only weakness was you didn't have the strength." That's pretty damning in a martial arts movie.

May 19, 2021

Jaws of the Dragon: In Praise of John Woo's Neighbor

When is a Dragon Lee movie not a Dragon Lee movie? When the actor's only got a bit part. Which means there are two ways to watch Jaws of the Dragon. One involves paying attention to every minor character and seeing if you can spot Mr. Lee. The other is to let it go and settle in for a decidedly noir experience. With moody cinematography and a soundtrack illegally lifted from Shaft, James Bond, and other crime pics, Jaws of the Dragon bleeds existential dread. James Nam (a.k.a. Nan Kung-Hsun) takes on the roles of star and director; he's a low-rent action autuer who made a handful of fight flicks but never achieved the same level of fame as say, John Woo, who apparently lived in the same apartment complex at the same time. That doesn't mean we shouldn't pay attention to what Nam did, though.

Jaws of the Dragon, his first film as a director, has a twisted viciousness coursing through its action as characters bring especially nasty weaponry into the fights: a clawhead hammer, a steak prong, an especially ingenious razor-whip, et cetera. With knives, dynamite, and darts thrown nearly as often as kicks, this flick's violence consistently draws blood and never laughs so if the choreography isn't impeccable, at least the cast makes the most out of each murder. The backdrop of a story entails heroin, a suitcase of money, gang rape, and rival gangs but all you really need to know is the female folk-singer (Kim Jin-hui) is about to witness enough material to fill two albums' worth of tragic ballads.

May 18, 2021

Secret Ninja, Roaring Tiger: Dragon as D'Artagnan

From what I can tell, most Dragon Lee martial arts flicks start off kinda boring then get better as they go along. I myself go from itching to stop the video to smiling wholeheartedly as the sound-enhanced hijinks kick into high gear. Neither a lack of plot twists nor a shortage of fights is ever the issue with Dragon on-screen. In this particular bit of nonsense, Dragon goes from winning the hand of a young heiress (Seo Jeong-Ah) to three mustketeering with a lady ninja in unconvincing drag and her soon-to-be, babelicious boyfriend (Jack Lam). Since a sadistic kung fu magician (Hwang Jang-lee) has stolen away Dragon's fiancee who happens to be the lady ninja's sister and who happens to share a familial tattoo with her captor, the graphic softcore porn scene is especially perverse. Yet even acknowleding my suspension of disbelief, I remain dumbfounded by the final turnabout: An evil spell can be undone when a young maiden exposes her whipped breasts to the wind!

Tits aside, Dragon's up to his usual acrobatics and physical gags in Kim Si-hyeon's Secret Ninja, Roaring Tiger: He fights — and strips — a transvestite in one scene; he kickboxes while holding a bathtowel around his waist in another. The final face-off has some pretty spectacular gymnastics and features the only time I've seen two men perform a double handstand to strangle their opponent between their ankles. Call it the upsidedown chokehold.

May 14, 2021

What to Fear in Bong Joon-ho’s "The Host"? Not Just the Monster, My Friend

None other than the sinister scribe H.P. Lovecraft wrote that “the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” And that’s generally true for most fright flicks. What lurks in the dark, what comes out of nowhere tends to trigger the loudest scream. But unlike the unseen stalker in It Follows or the shadowy figure in The Babadook, two of the scarier movies in recent history that subscribe to that belief, Bong Joon-ho’s now classic The Host terrifies us with a panic rooted in everyday realities that only intensify its over-the-top Godzilla nightmare. We feel the struggles undergone by its family of mistfits — desperately seeking to rescue the youngest of their tribe from a sea monster — because we’re either living them or fear living them… all the time.

The Fear of Pollution
Oil spills in Bay Long and the Gulf of Mexico. Tainted water in Flint, Michigan. Millions of dead fish washed up on the coast of New Jersey. Is it any wonder that Native Americans were protesting the construction of the Dakota Pipeline? Corporate and governmental negligence can be akin to eco-terrorism at times. In The Host, the disregard for the environment comes early on when an American scientist (played coincidentally by The Walking Dead’s Scott Wilson, no stranger to deadly viruses of epic proportions) orders his Korean subordinate to pour hundreds of dusty old bottles of formaldehyde down a sink, and thereby into the Han River, as a way of disposal. So what if it’s toxic, right? Flash forward a few years: Mutant Monster Causes Nationwide Panic! When will we ever learn?!

The Fear of Poverty
How poor is our hero Gang-doo (Song Kang-ho)? Well, he lives with his dad in a tin can of a snack bar, has no accounts with Wells Fargo, and has been stealing change from the family business in order to upgrade his daughter’s cellphone. (She scoffs at his half-filled, disposable soup-bowl of coins.) And being poor is going to pain him more than that home-job hair frosting. It’s also going to limit his ability to help his imperiled daughter, thereby leaving grandpa (Byeon Hie-bong) to fork over all his cash and max out his credit cards in order to get a black-market fumigation truck, a couple of rifles, and a pair of Hazmat suits that aren’t even the right regulation color. Ultimately, poverty means your best weapon against the proverbial creature from the Black Lagoon may be some stolen gasoline poured by a homeless man (Yun Je-mun) then ignited by an arrow shot from the heart. (Here’s to Olympian archery!)

The Fear of the Law
Follow the rules at your own risk is one not-so-subtle message in The Host. (And we KNOW how that’s been playing out on the streets of America lately. Not good.) So while the grandfather advocates listening and obeying – at least at first, his three kids know better from the get-go. When the military’s organized quarantine strips them of their rights, they plot their escape. When the government won’t provide them with the info they need to locate Gang-doo’s daughter, the alcoholic brother (Park Hae-il) pulls a Snowden. This is a government that has no issue with gassing the populace with the same poisonous fumes it’s using to kill off the giant monster. Power and ethics should be hand in hand for certain careers. Politics, for instance. Yet the most ethical person in The Host may be a thief who teaches his starving son to “borrow” things in order to survive but to never steal money.

The Fear of the Medical Establishment
Ah, if only the Hippocratic Oath actually meant something. But at this point we all know about the Tuskegee Experiments and the cell harvesting of Henrietta Lacks. Which may be why one of the most frightening scenes in The Host doesn’t involve the man-eating amphibian but instead concerns a forced brain surgery executed to “discover” a deadly virus that the military has already determined does not exist. That Gang-doo’s narcolepsy seems to counter the anesthesia only makes the sound of a cranial drill that much more terrifying. It’s not a bloody scene but it is a bloody horrifying one. “There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them,” said Andre Gide. But Gide had forgotten all about human beings.

The Fear of the Loss of a Child
Sure, everyone’s scared of death but as any parent knows that’s nothing when compared to the loss of a child. And The Host taps into that fear, and the bravery such a threat can inspire, without ever exploiting it. Part of the movie’s success can definitely be credited to actress Ah-sung Ko who seems more like a gritty survivor than a helpless victim despite her years. You always get the feeling that she may save herself, despite the odds against her. Will she survive? Well, you’ll need to see the movie to see. You won’t regret it.

Note: This article originally appeared on Tribeca Film Festival's now-retired blog Outtake.

May 11, 2021

Martial Monks of Shaolin Temple: Couture Vs. Catalogue

Under the influence of my recent viewing of Kung Fu Fever, Martial Monks of Shaolin Temple had me thinking about high fashion versus mall-wear and how Tyra Banks used to opine about runway versus catalogue on America's Next Top Model. Who would emerge as the real hero of this tale of battling Buddhists? Would it be the long-legged, sinewy, bald-headed guy with the big wooden beads? Or the pleated-pants, black-vested, white-T-shirted dude with '80s hair? My allegiances were conflicted. My curiosity piqued. Then I remembered: The answer was inevitably whichever high-kicking clotheshorse is played by Dragon Lee.

The master né student né master has an arduous road ahead of him on his way to reclaiming the Shaolin Temple for a monkhood not devoted to murder: He'll be doing cartwheels in the court, backflips in a field, and disentangling himself from a rope that comes out of nowhere and must be turned against its wielder to survive. So what if his look isn't couture? He's earned the loyalty of one impeccably attired monk whose self-sacrifice (and teeth) are what will make victory possible. No more boot licking for Dragon Lee!

May 7, 2021

Dragon Lee Vs. the Five Brothers

Co-directors Kim Si-hyeon and Liu Yueh-lin have made a delirious diversion that has nothing to do with its B-movie headliner or his hairweave and old-fashioned braid. The real stars of Dragon Lee vs. the Five Brothers are the mysterious woman in the veiled hat (Qiu Yuen) and the malicious man with the iron hand (Choi Min-kyu). The former is a sometime ally of Lee; she's a better fighter too — able to springboard off walls and run across the tops of trees — and wields her hat like a deadly boomerang equipped with spring-activated knives. Dragon's primary foe is the other draw of this kung fu caper. His ability to pummel opponents with his prosthetic paw is equaled by his mastery of misleading mustaches and beards. (His old man disguise is a wonder to behold!)

Our heroine wants to free her imprisoned brother. Our villain wants to get a list of the rebels. What does Dragon want? I'm afraid his needs aren't as clearly articulated. We know he wants to get a bracelet from his uncle to go with the decoder ring he already possesses but what the ultimate goal is of these two objects somehow got lost in the shuffle for me. When the body count starts to rise, jewelry becomes so much less important. It's a semi-precious movie. But it shines, man, it shines.

May 6, 2021

Kung Fu Fever: Dragon at His Dressiest

I'm the last one to complain when a shirtless Dragon Lee demonstrates the fabled "finger technique" during Kung Fu Fever's opening credits. I'm equally amenable to seeing his top ripped off near the end of the same witless flick. But I'd also like to point out what a fashion plate he is in this particular piece of Brucesploitation. For anyone who's enjoyed his jaunty swagger, you're going to find him even more appealing when he's wearing a tailored yellow onesie with black racing stripes up the sides; a snug, wide-collared, cobalt-patterned disco-shirt paired with graduated aviator glasses; a black polyester top with its drawstring front tucked into tight, white bell-bottoms; and a white shirt with chocolate accents on its pocket-tops to match his cocoa-colored, form-fitting pants. Nearly every scene, the guy's got a new outfit! (Except at the end when he brings back the onesie... Why not? He looks fabulous in it.)

As to the film housing this fashion show, the surrounding characters — many with enviable late '70s wardrobes as well — are clamoring to get their hands on a technique booklet left behind by the late great superstar Bruce Lee. One guy is even willing to pay $50,000 for it! (That's the equivalent of nearly 200k today.) But for Bruce Lee's best student — the American Rickie Chan played by Dragon Lee — mere monetary gains are beside the point. He'll fight off the likes of Ron Van Clief to ensure that instructional manual doesn't get into the wrong hands. If that means punching you in the nuts to stop you, so be it!

May 5, 2021

The Dragon's Infernal Showdown: Looney Tunes Retribution

You know you're in for a treat when a movie villain ruthlessly quips, "Our only purpose in life is to make as much money as possible." When that same nefarious character adds "Kill the kid as well" about a baby cradled by its dead parents, I, for one, get even giddier. Lucky for us too, there's three children not one and the two surviving sons are going to grow up to be next-to-unstoppable black-belt vigilantes: the cooler, older brother favors a blue dobok with a high-end ricehat; the goofier younger one (Dragon Lee) wears whatever's available — including the shredded menswear of his crossdressing girlfriend (Cheryl Meng) after she's fended off three ruffians.

Though neither brother initially knows the other is alive, they're united by their quest to revenge the man who slaughtered their parents then abducted their sister. To win back the family plot, they're willing to leap on roofbeams, demagnetize a treacherous sword, squawk like chickens, spank a man's foot, steal a roast fowl, chew on an arm, tickle an armpit, and execute silly-savage moves straight out of a Three Stooges short. That their acrobatic showdowns are accompanied by a Foley track lifted from a Warner Bros. cartoon is key to your enjoyment. Or at least it was to mine. This one is a pure confection!

May 4, 2021

The Clones of Bruce Lee: Dragon Is Clone Number One

It seems a bit of a stretch to classify Joseph Velasco's The Clones of Bruce Lee as a Korean movie despite the presence of North Korea's Dragon Lee as this scifi flick's Number One Clone. But considering Dragon's leading man status in the Brucesploitation genre, I'm somewhat obliged to give the movie its due. So here we are. So how does Dragon fare as one of three genetically engineered offspring of the most iconic kung fu fighter ever? I classify him as a decent impersonator who's got the tone all wrong. Watching Dragon in The Clones left me wishing the performer's career had been less beholden to Bruce's onscreen persona. Dragon's more like a precursor of Jackie Chan than Jet Li if you know what I mean.

If you don't then you might be the type who take this particularly plot seriously. You'll accept men bronze simply because they wear bronzer; you'll believe nurses carry wirecutters in their uniforms; you'll mistake Bruce Li (Clone 2) for Bruce Lei (Dragon) for Bruce Lai (Clone 3) for Bruce Thai (Clone's best friend) and assume that any of them could escape alive when battling Enter the Dragon 's Bolo Yeung while wearing a Bruce Lee wig. And if you're that type of person, why are you reading this blog? Probably because you need someone to verify that this film features topless ladies. Brucesploitation is sexploitation, too.

May 3, 2021

Champ Against Champ: The Clang of Victory

The central gimmick of Champ Against Champ, one of many Dragon Lee flicks helmed by director Godfrey Ho, is a gloriously ridiculous one: All-but-killed by a poisoned dart from the paranoid potentate Master Kai, our young hero must have his leg amputated in order to survive. Luckily for him, his betrothed is the granddaughter of Steel Leg the Great, the late martial arts amputee and grandmaster of the eighteen kicks. So once Dragon forges himself a new leg and studies the conveniently discovered training manual, he's ready to take on everyone from a man with blowtorch breath and a small harem of lady ninjas who can disappear in the blink of an eye.

The fight sequences aren't Dragon Lee's best, although he does have a running gag involving one opponent's ass! Still, it's wonderful to hear his fake leg clang periodically when an opponent strikes it or when he stomps his foot on the ground. The sound can resemble the pealing of a church bell or the bong of a slammed metal dumpster's lid. I imagine it hurts when that steel leg hits you but the noise is never not funny. Which is why you can easily get restless wishing they'd included the clang of contact every damned time. Instead, we're left to figure out why Dragon's father is named Master Tai, his nemesis Master Kai, and one featured elder Master Wai. Why the rhyming names? Why? Wai? Beats me!

May 2, 2021

The Deadly Silver Ninja: Masked Man or Masked Woman

Am I alone in knowing that if someone killed my dad, I would not track down the murderer? I feel bad admitting this but as far as I know, most people wouldn't exact revenge with their own hands either. Are we scared of the bloodlust? Or are we not that close to our fathers? I ask because the Oresteian quest for justice has been around since Ancient Greece and surfaces in movie after movie after movie. In Godfrey Ho's and Kim Si-hyeon's The Deadly Silver Ninja, the son on the hunt for human flesh is played by the ultra-charming Dragon Lee. Before he attains street justice though, he's going to go mano a mano with endless bullies — with a man on ice, with a man who wears a horned bull hat, with a crowd that hates flowers.

But is he also the mysterious Silver Ninja who dresses like a Mexican wrestler — white bodysuit, white ski-mask, white cape — and repeatedly saves the day? Or is that unknown, silent folk hero someone else we've yet to meet? Could it be the kicky daughter (Qiu Yuen) of the blind man who outfights nearly everyone with a bamboo stick and hypersensitive hearing? I don't know if the screenwriters themselves knew until they got there. The script literally feels like it was written based on spur-of-the-moment ideas based on mouth movements and little else. But the fights are fun. And isn't that what you came for?

May 1, 2021

The Dragon's Snake Fist: Hapkido Hunk Fights Everyone

If you've watched all the Ip Man movies (as I have) then you're fully aware that a rivalry between two martial arts schools is a perfectly worthy central conflict. That was true in the 21st century for Donnie Yen. And it was true back in the last one for equally hunky Dragon Lee (a.k.a. Moon Kyung-seok/Bruce Lai). In The Dragon's Snake Fist, North Korea's pulpy male pin-up headlines as a star pupil who eventually must take on a rival school's entire graduating class pretty much by himself. Numbers aside, this battle is not to be taken lightly; the evilest sensei (Kim Ki-ju) is teaching a vicious fighting-style incorporating acupressure techniques capable of making victims cough up blood.

Not that this diabolical contact-sport stands a chance against The Dragon's Snake Fist Hapkido heartthrob. Oh no. Our hero will triumph, maybe because he lives in a proto-Instagram land where gold filters and blue filters pop up without warning. In this chromatically shifting world, Dragon must beat up numerous Crane Fist practitioners, including a preposterously mustachioed man (Chang Yi-tao/Bruce Lai) whose main weaponry is a pair of metal rings, and a brother-sister duo who have little compuction regarding the kill and its consequences. My favorite character, ultimately, is a barechested baddie — often seen dry-shaving his cheeks with a straight-edged razor — who employs fire-breathing in his attack methodology. Now that's hot!