The
End of An Era
It
all hit me when my wife said to me “He’s
a lot slower than he used to be.” My wife, who
really can’t stand kung fu movies; My wife who,
with each new DVD purchase I make, says to me “Why
don’t you get some in English this time.”
We were watching Shanghai Knights and Jackie Chan
was doing his thing, only this time, with a little
less energy, a little less inventiveness. And this
is his best film in a long time.
This
column isn’t here to simply rag on Jackie because
honestly he’s impacted the Hong Kong film industry
probably more than any other filmmaker. It’s
more to remind us of all those years of great films
we took for granted and now remind us of yet another
piece of our history that will never be back.
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"
It’s more to remind us of all those years
of great films we took for granted ..." |
The
next night we watched Police Story. My wife peeked
up between page turns of her book to catch a few seconds
here and there, laughing at the comic execution of
the squabbles between May and Ka Kui. Nodding as Jackie
did his thing, faster and with more energy than a
real fight. Cringing as a bad guy, nailed by Jackie,
flew through a glass window and did a clean two-story
fall onto the ground below.
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"
...Jackie did his thing, faster and with more
energy than a real fight. " |
After
that it was Police Story 2 where she paused much longer
during the brilliant playground fight and laughed
as Bill Tung ran to the bathroom or let one slip in
the elevator, blaming it on Jackie. She won’t
admit it, but she watches more of these movies than
she lets on.
It’s
this sort of magic I miss—the kind that makes
even the most hardened Sweet Home Alabama fan impressed.
It was the same way with my dad, when we saw Rumble
in the Bronx in the theater. It was the same way with
most of my friends too, who even put up with the subtitles
on Drunken Master 2 because it’s Drunken Master
2 and they’d never experienced anything like
it. And I’m assuming it was the same way with
everyone else who really felt the power of Hong Kong
cinema.
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"...
It could just as well have been Sammo Hung,
who I caught on a Saturday morning in one of
his early kung fu films ..." |
For
me it was Jackie Chan, because he was accessible and
drew me in like no other actor had. It could just
as well have been Sammo Hung, who I caught on a Saturday
morning in one of his early kung fu films, sporting
a ridiculously dubbed voice, moving and kicking ass
like no one that size should be able to. It could
just as well have been Gordon Liu, who I watched during
USA Kung Fu Theater in the wee hours of the morning
joining the Shaolin Temple and advanced from student
to master in just a handful of commercial breaks.
It
could have been any number of the dozens of brilliant
Hong Kong personalities who managed to bring me in
like Hollywood never could. And for that I thank the
Hong Kong film industry. I’m saddened as most
of us are at the inarguable demise of what was once
one of the largest and most prosperous film industries
in the world. But we each have our stories of the
films that sucked us in, of the ones that stay with
us still, and the ones we are compelled to show others.
Andrew
Calvin
aka ssbomberman
08/12/2003
