by James Robert Parish.
Thunder's Mouth Press, NY. 2002, 218p
James Robert Parish is a veteran Hollywood chronicler (The Multicultural Encyclopaedia of Hollywood). He is a true Hong-Kong movie aficionado and he took the opportunity of the fast-growing international fame of Kung Fu prodigy and kind-hearted actor Jet Li, to deliver a comprehensive biography of the man; a meaningful and educative content that is, unfortunately, delivered in a poorly-designed packaging. But this first American book ever about Jet Li isn't going to disappoint his fans.
The author has chosen the chronological approach throughout 18 chapters. Each of them is indeed dedicated to a key event or a set of determining events in Jet Li's life. The choice to order chronologically the events illustrates Parish wish to root Li's career strategy into his country's and his own historical, cultural, social and even religious backgrounds, which can sometimes appear very obscure for western filmgoers. In this respect, the first chapters constitute a history lecture of an early-20th-century China, mixed with historical details on Jet Li's hometown (Beijing) and with his family background and everyday life struggles. All this is done in order to get a general picture of the martial artist persona and aspirations. The last paragraphs deal with each of the movies he made in the USA from 1998, at the rate of a movie per chapter (from Lethal Weapon 4 to The One). They are then followed by a substantial filmography and a bibliography.
Despite an apparent linear continuity in dealing with every movie Li's made, Parish doesn't make a mere list detailing their faults or merits. His work is much deeper since he systematically reveals ups and downs of a feature production, he adds a plot summary, not spoiler free though, he specifies the dates of release (in HK and in the USA) and the box office grosses and successes. He usually finishes it off by describing the audience and critic reception adding various American journalist quotations. Sometimes Parish fails to make his point crystal clear since he may dilute his analysis of the situation with so much wealth of detail. But this thorough approach is logical and serves well the author demonstration.
Li sees each movie as an excuse to a new challenge and he is motivated by new experiences, by meeting new people or to improve his acting skills. During the production of Once Upon A Time In China, director Tsui Hark unexpectedly brought him new perspectives on his acting approach, which helped him to improve his performances. The chronological progress is therefore logical since it perfectly follows Li's evolution in his private and professional life.
To support this private and intimate approach, a multitude of Jet Li's own words are quoted in addition to various excerpts on film critic reviews. Again, it leads the reader to understand Li's own reflections on his career ups and downs. For instance, repeated failures to find a proper project, multiple injuries or witnessing Hong-Kong people misbehaving with Mainlanders made Li seriously think of giving up. But, Parish demonstrates that Li worked as hard to become an accomplished movie person (in production, acting, action choreography, script-writing and even film direction) as he did to become a Wu Shu expert, in spite of some misfortune.
Parish knows that his readership may be a mix of Li's fanatics and mere moviegoers. He takes then the opportunity to be educational, but never boring. He explains indeed what are the typical constraints in the HK movie productions and the local film genres and techniques (e.g. Wu Xia Pian or Kung Fu, and wire works). This has the double advantage to never lose the reader into the complexity of a chaotic Hong Kong film production system, which is miles away, in its conception, from the Hollywood asepticized methods. And it helps the reader to contemplate Li's merits in dealing with such traditional and demanding system and still displaying his tremendous skills whilst promoting Chinese cultural heritage. The tough production of Hong-Kong/China co-production Shaolin Temple 3: Martial Arts From Shaolin (by Lu Chia Liang, 1986) is a perfect example.
This comprehensive biography is obviously recommended. Captivating explanations are cleverly illustrated by various meaningful anecdotes and quotations. Unfortunately, Parish's words failed to be beautifully illustrated by gorgeous and attractive colour pictures. Despite their originality, thirty odd black and white vaguely framed pics don't satisfy the eyes of the fans, craving for magnificent photos of his/her hero. On top of that, the cover is a clumsy collage, associating Jet Li's face to a fist and a 'kicking-ass' session in a black background. This is a simplistic association of ideas to depict Li's personality and this gives nothing exciting nor attractive to look for in bookshops for the proper fans, not to mention the curious moviegoers. They have the right to expect better, especially since exuberant aesthetics and graphic virtuosity are the HK film industry trademarks; a film industry that has generated, at the end of the day, the Jet Li's phenomenon.
(c) HKCinemagic.com
Chief editor: Thomas Podvin
Published: 06/2002
Book courtesy Thunder's Mouth Press
www.hkcinemagic.com
