Ok, so the bimonthly worshipping/ disparaging of Crouching Tiger (and the inevitable odd Matrix discussion) has begun in another thread. It wasn’t the first I’d seen, it wasn’t the best, it wasn’t the worst. I’m ticked pink by the genre, though. I especially like the para-religious undertones of some of the films-- like the taoist magicians and the Anti-Buddha and such-- and not simply the wire-fu. I like the magical realism aspect, as well as the historical/mythological.
SO I want
Wu xia RECOMMENDATIONS!
Things I liked–
Chinese Ghost Story and sequels
Warriors from Mountain Zu
Comet Butterfly and Sword
I also liked Iron Monkey, Once Upon a Time series, and that kind of over the top kung fu stuff.
So what else is out there? Unfortunately I don’t read Chinese, as I know there’s a literary equivilant.
No one mention the Matrix! I mean it!
The Duel is great Fantasy Fu, and it has Vicki Zhao, so yo can’t go wrong. Plus, Shaolin Soccerhas been getting rave reviews, plus it has Vicki Zhao also!! (but will probably be butchared when it is released here as Kung Fu Soccer. Stupid distributers!)
And then the Matrix----ARGGGHH!!! ::Tars Tarkas is set upon by 100 blind masters::
Holy Weapon staring Michelle Yeoh might be up your alley. It’s got a Chinese vampire, a guy who takes a potion and turns into a woman when he gets wet, and two bad ass fighters waiting seventy years for a rematch (one of which is embued with a crazy green substance that makes him super, another that can turn into a giant blade).
Also, the Storm Riders (or is that “Raiders”?) is another really good one. Mystical weapons, super brothers, a guy with a super strong fire arm (meaning his arm gets really hot and he can hit things with it really hard). It’s one of those movies where the majority of it is filmed infront of a blue screen, so visually, it’s really awesome looking, and the fight scenes are crazy!
Gotta go with a classic: The Bride with White Hair. Probably one of the top-ten must-see Hong Kong period action dramas, if not top three. Avoid the sequel, though.
If you liked the Once Upon a Time in China flicks, you’ll probably also get a kick out of Jet Li in Fong Sai-Yuk. Not a lot of the “magical realism” stuff, but the wire-fu is unbelievably insane.
For a “chick flick” angle on this material, try Green Snake.
And if you want to try something a little different, try the Heroic Trio movies (there are two, of roughly equal quality; each has different problems). It takes the heroic-bloodshed aspect of wuxia and pushes it into a pseudo-postapocalyptic mystical future. Starring Michelle Yeoh (who you saw in Comet, Butterfly and Sword), Maggie Cheung, and Anita Mui – possibly the three biggest female performers at the time, with the exception of Brigitte Lin (who’s in Bride with White Hair).
Oh, and if you like Michelle Yeoh, you should also try to find Wing Chun, though it’s probably better for more hardcore martial-arts viewers (hardcore in terms of its kung fu philosophy, not hardcore as in spraying blood).
It seems to me that if one reads a fiar ammount of Wuxia novels, the movies and tv shows are all somewhat lacking by comaprison, esp. if they are based on the novels.
one that i liked a lot was Da dao wang wu, or wang wu the saber wielder (i guess) a nice dark, tragic movie that has a fair bit of historical undertone.
I absolutly hated storm raiders (or whatever). It has more in common with final fantasy than wuxia, and it was still a terrible movie.
Do any good Wuxia novels exist in english translations that won’t send me all over Chinatown trying to track down? Or better, what Wuxia books do you reccomend? Maybe i can keep an eye out for them. I only know about 300 some odd Kanji symbols right now, mostly from that i’m learning Japanese, i’d hate to have to buy a book that my co-workers and housemates have to read to me.
(and the first Heroic Trio movie is very enjoyable HK style fantasy action. I haven’t found the second yet, but am looking)
My favorite wuxia film is Ashes of time starring Leslie Cheung. I’m not even sure it’s considered wuxia, but it’s very mystical and has a lot of cool sword fights. The story is really confusing, it took me about three viewings before I think I got what was going on.
Wing Chun with Michelle Yeoh was also really cool.
I’ll second The Bride With White Hair and add another Bridgette Lin movie, Swordsman II. In this case, avoid the first one and the third. Lin plays the villian, a man who practices a secret form of super martial arts that changes him into a woman. Jet Li is the hero.
Also, if you liked Jet Li in Once Upon a Time in China, his best movie is Fist of Legend, a remake of Bruce Lee’s Fist of Fury (aka The Chinese Connection), and is superior in every respect to the original (as was Jackie Chan’s sequel, New Fist of Fury). There is some wire work, but it’s mostly straight forward fighting, and contains several of the best one-on-one fights ever filmed. The only available version I know of is the Dimension films version, which would be a big disappointment to anyone who is used to the excellent job Colombia Tristar does with most of it’s North American releases of HK films (Once Upon a Time in China, many early Jackie Chan movies).
there is an online translation of The book and the sword
here: http://www.earnshaw.com/b&s/b&s.cfm
I have not read it myself, so i cant vouch for accuracy but sadly, i dont think wuxia novels stand up very well to translation. a lot of the appeal of wuxia novels, i.e. the poetry and cultural historical references would be lost in a translation unless you were a serious student of asian history.
If you have access to some of the TV series, i am told that there are several which come close to doing justice to the originals. Also i believe there is an anime version of Condor Friends, which may be availible via fansub in english. It would be good for the cute girls if nothing else, and i think it sticks fairly close to the original plot
There was a serial on the asian station last month set in older times with fantasy elements. The only part of the title i recognized was “Gold”, but it centered around two women and two men, and they did various things to trick some corrupt offical (i didn’t have much clue what was going on besides that)