THOMAS PODVIN’S FREELANCE WORK
Freelance writer - translator - Editor

At 52, Jackie Chan or Cheng Long (Dragon Cheng) has appeared in more films, in Asia and the West, than any other ten actors combined. As such, he merits the box set treatment and CAV Warner’s magnificent, limited edition, collector’s box (only 3,000 copies), includes a dragon t-shirt and four Chan films from the 90s – a transitional period when the actor journeyed to the West and in the process, lost something of his style. Fortunately, one of the films here is the excellent Drunken Master 2 (1994), his last Hong Kong Kung Fu movie. Rumble in the Bronx (1996) is also impressive, but it failed to establish Chan in the American market. The big-budget Mr. Nice Guy (1997) was a more successful effort to place Chan squarely in the US mainstream. In a similar vein, the entertaining, but cheap, Hong Kong/Aussie Who Am I? (1998) was a failed attempt to make the dragon an international star, at least, a respected international star. Chan is known throughout the world, and he has many admirers. Still, his later works, for example, the foul and unfunny US flicks, Rush Hour or Shanghai Knights, are sad reminders of what could have been. Note that this set doesn’t offer English subtitles; no matter, you can wear the t-shirt.
CAV Warner

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
March 2006 issue

For the past five years, Zhang Yimou has switched back and forth from action blockbusters with mass appeal to the more personal art-house film. His latest work falls in the latter category. Or does it? With a modest budget of RMB 56 million, this movie might best be described as an ‘art-house blockbuster’. It has been promoted and distributed like a blockbuster and has enough appeal to reach audiences across Asia and beyond. But at the same time, it’s the sort of work that will wow film-festival goers. The plot concerns a Japanese fisherman who travels thousands of miles to Yunnan province in search of a local opera performer who was supposed to sing for the fisherman’s terminally ill son. The story is an excuse to throw a taciturn Japanese guy - played by ‘Japanese Clint Eastwood’ Ken Takakura - into the Chinese countryside and see what happens. While the film has definite commercial potential (just ask the Yunnan tourism board), its also addresses father-son relationships and the culture gap in a thought-provoking manner. So is this hybrid a sign of what’s to come? Perhaps Zhang’s next flick, Autumn Remembrance, will be a ‘blockbuster art-house’ film.
Toho Company

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
March 2006 issue

(c)that's Guangzhou
Guanzhou Chief editor: Christopher Cottrell
March 2006 issue

Kung Fu movies aren’t famous for providing anything more than kicks, back flips and thrills, but Fearless breaks the mold; indeed, it is a movie with a message. Produced by and starring Jet Li, this film tells the true story of Tianjin-born Master Huo Yuanjia (1869-1910), the heroic founder of the Jing Wu Sports Federation. In Shanghai, in the first decade of the last century, Hou set out to prove the superiority of his (and China’s) martial arts. He challenged all comers and in doing so earned the respect of some of the most ruthless and brutal opponents ever to appear in the ring (the fight scenes are extraordinary, choreographed by Yuen Woo-ping [the Matrix]). But there’s more to this movie than action. Huo’s motto was: ‘Never give up’ – even when he lost a fight, he came out a winner. Li seconds the motion. Like Huo, he also founded an organization with a noble aim, the One Foundation which offers support to the suicidal. Its message: ‘Life is worth living’. And Fearless, both for its cinematic qualities and uplifting message, is worth seeing. Indeed, it is the best Kung Fu film we’ve seen in years.
Columbia Tristar Asia

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
March 2006 issue

(c)that's Guangzhou
Guanzhou Chief editor: Christopher Cottrell
March 2006 issue

In 2005, the Hong Kong international Film Festival paid tribute to actor/producer/singer Andy Lau Tak-wah (A World without Thieves) for his quantitative and qualitative participation in the film industry. This book, published in English and traditional Chinese covers Lau’s thirty years in the business. For those of you not familiar with Lau, he’s known as the Chinese James Dean – although he claims Marlon Brando as an early inspiration. Of course, Lau is alive and Dean and Brando are not, so Lau aged 44, has quite a few more film credits, 120, to be exact. This book includes an excellent in-depth interview with Lau, as well as film reviews and interesting, quirky essays on topics ranging from Lau’s ‘eagle eye’ acting style, to his hair-style and his position (he’s an idol) in the industry. Strangely, there’s not one word on the man’s long and successful musical career, or the film companies he formed to produce his own movies and promote the independent filmmaking scene, or his influence on cinema, or even his personal life. In short, the editor has narrowed his focus strictly to Lau’s acting.
HKIFF Society/available at http://www.hkiff.org.hk

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
March 2006 issue

Recently, Chinese action movies have been breaking into overseas markets, opening doors with a powerful kick one might say. But far from being looked down upon as “niche films” or direct-to-video products, these Kung Fu flicks (Hero, Kung-Fu Hustle, Fearless) are vying for the top prize at all the prestigious film festivals, and winning lucrative international distribution deals.

True, way back in the early 1970s Bruce Lee had popularized sword scraping action and swift kicks to the groin, but in those days the films were not taken seriously; indeed, it has taken decades for this kind of cinematic language to enter the mainstream. But the chop-socky action picture has come of age with big budgets, Hollywood-style special effects and savvy marketing.
Take, for example, Dragon Tiger Gate (DTG), a co-production of three great Chinese studios – Hong-Kong Mandarin Films, Beijing Polybona Film and Shanghai Film Group. The film is an adaptation of the 1970s Hong Kong comic book of the same name written by Tony Wong Yuk-long. It features three upright brothers – played by Donnie Yen (S.P.L), Nicholas Tse (The Promise) and Shawn Yue (Initial D) – who fight organized crime and bring justice to Asia.
“This comic book talks a lot about righteousness … the main theme we’d like to bring to the audience,” says Hong Kong filmmaker Wilson Yip Wai-sun (S.P.L., 2005). The elements are hardly original – violence meets morality in a simplistic plot – but movie moguls have seldom gone broke by underestimating the audience’s intelligence.
Producer Raymond Wong, bills DTG as ”a big cinematic event in 2006”, and hopes the film will outperform an earlier, and rather similar, work, Seven Swords (which Wong produced in 2005). To be released this summer, DTG, like Seven Swords, has a big budget (RMB 80 million) and is chock-a-block with fighting scenes and special effects.

Indeed, the film might very well be just the sort of project Bruce Lee would trade his black belt for were he alive. It certainly carries on his tradition, including his weapon of choice, nunchakus, which is a handy instrument with which to beat righteousness into one’s opponent. Yes, this film is ultra-violent, but Yip claims the violence is not gratuitous. “As long as the motive behind [it] is to uphold righteousness, the action scenes in the film won’t be considered as violence,” he claims.
Perhaps. But when the nunchakus are flying who really cares?

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
March 2006 issue