pics from the vault

To compliment the newspaper article below, here is a glimpse in the basement of the Royal Cinema where I have been storing my collection. It is a sunny, hot day today here in Toronto and I am about to trek over and spend the late afternoon in the basement, cataloguing and getting the collection ready to ship off to its new home...

bava-san and domo-arigato-giallo

Always delighted by old posters and ads, I was thrilled to stumble across this link from Jason Gray to a link to a Japanese website with images of Italian horror films exhibited in Japan during the 60s/70s...

final kicks...

an article from the Toronto Star on the demise of Kung Fu Fridays...

Kicks a bit harder to find
FIGHT NIGHT Theatres' closure deals fatal blow to martial-arts movie event
Jun. 18, 2006. 09:26 AM
MURRAY WHYTE
ENERTAINMENT REPORTER

A typical late-spring weekend in Toronto might be spent in any number of urban outdoor pursuits: A lengthy, aimless window-shopping wander, maybe, or a stroll through the lush greenery of a downtown park.
Colin Geddes is spending his underground. In the basement of the Royal Cinema on College Street, Geddes is gently readying his personal collection of more than 250 Hong Kong films of various vintages — 500-plus reels, all told — to be moved out permanently.
They are the fruits of more than a decade of scavenging. As Chinese-language theatres closed down across the city in the late '90s, Geddes would find reels abandoned on street corners, or discarded in alleyways. "I like to describe myself as the Chinatown tomb raider," Geddes said.
Since 1996, Geddes has been presenting selections from his personal archive once a month or more at a high-speed extravaganza of martial artistry called Kung Fu Fridays, one of the city's most enduring cult cinema fascinations. But now, the tomb raider's time is done.
The owners of the Royal, the Revue Cinema on Roncesvalles, the Paradise at Bloor and Ossington, and the Kingsway, at Bloor and Old York have announced they will be shutting their theatres permanently at the end of this month.
That means this week's Kung Fu Friday, a presentation of the 1978 classic Crippled Avengers (also known as Return of the Five Venoms, or Mortal Combat), will be the last.
But the theatre closures did more than leave Kung Fu Fridays homeless. It put Geddes' collection in peril.
Not long after putting the word out, the offers began to roll in. Geddes spoke with the curator of Martin Scorsese's personal collection. He also pondered an offer from Harvard's film archive to house the collection. He's currently leaning towards a Canadian university's archive, who would accept the collection as a donation.
There's money to be made here, of course, selling them piecemeal on online auctions sites, or to through the networks of martial arts film aficionados. But Geddes, who's also a film distributor and a programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival, isn't in it for the money. "What would you rather do with your children — sell them, or make sure they go to a loving foster home?" he said.
There is no trace of irony in his voice. The passion is real. Truth to tell, Geddes has been one of the form's principal champions for longer than you might imagine. His story is the stuff of movies itself: In 1990, Geddes was a clerk at Suspect Video on Markham Street, a haven for alternative cinema aficionados.
At the same time, he was producing a zine called Asian Eye, about his cinematic fascination. It was prescient, to say the least. In his first issue, he had an interview with Hong Kong action auteur John Woo. His second issue featured an interview with Jackie Chan. Other Hong Kong stars no one in the West had heard of filled his pages: Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Yeo, Ang Lee.
"No one else was writing about them, but this was my life," Geddes said. And by the mid-'90s, Hong Kong had begun to slump. All over Toronto, Chinese-language cinemas were closing — hence the abandoned reels on the sidewalk. But the distinct Hong Kong brand of highly choreographed action sequences and mythic tales of vengeance was entering the collective consciousness.
Jackie Chan was on the verge of superstardom, opening the door for choreographers and action stars like Jet Li and Chow Yun Fat. Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon would reach a mass audience. Big-budget extravaganzas like Hero and House of Flying Daggers would follow not long after.
But before any of that that, Kung Fu Fridays was born. In 1996, at the Metro Theatre on Bloor Street — the city's longest-running, and now only, pornographic cinema — Geddes unspooled The Snake in the Eagle's Shadow, a 1978 kung fu classic that would be Chan's breakout hit in Hong Kong.
It had all the elements that Geddes had come to love: The stilted, stiff performances actors had learned at the Chinese opera (Chan was an opera grad himself), the lust for vengeance, and Chan's frantic, high-speed combat comedy.
Some DIY promotion (eg. flyers on lampposts) had scored the inaugural Kung Fu Friday a full house. The problem: The print Geddes had procured, he learned just before showtime, had no English subtitles. Geddes turned to the audience for help, not forgiveness. He mapped out the story and the characters' names, encouraging the crowd to cheer loudly as the characters came and went on-screen.
"I was able to turn it around and make it an event," he said. Ever since, Kung Fu Fridays have been boisterous affairs, with raffles for kitschy prizes, trailers for long-gone B-grade horror and action films, and of course, no limit on audience participation. The series moved from the Metro to the Royal and then, recently, on to the Revue, but the tone never changed.
"Of all the things in Toronto there are to do, Kung Fu Fridays was always one of the most unique," said Matthew Hendrickson, a 33-year-old computer consultant who is among the series' stalwart fans.
The crowd was eclectic, to say the least, he said, from hipster twentysomethings who were "clearly there for a giggle" to families with children to hard-core fans who knew every actor, director and studio by heart.
"One guy would come made up like he'd been in a kung fu fight on the way over," Hendrickson said, laughing. And there were always new faces showing up — and they all came to take part.
"People cheer the hero, or boo the villain, add their own commentary," Hendrickson said. "You don't get that kind of crowd anywhere else."
This, of course, was Geddes goal. "Kung Fu Fridays was not a multiplex-and-popcorn thing," Geddes said. "This was a real experience. If you didn't like what Hollywood was shoving down your throat that week, you could do something completely different."
For Geddes, the arc has been long and fruitful. He's gone from cult cinema curator to a programmer at one of the world's biggest film festivals, where he's able to champion his fascination — the presence of films like Kung Fu Hustle in TIFF is all Geddes — to a mass audience.
But the theatre closures caught him off guard. "It was all so sudden," he said. "It was my glorified show and tell. I worship these films. It just doesn't do them justice to watch them at home, on your TV. For me, it's about the shared experience of seeing these films with people on the big screen."
With four screens going dark for good this month, Geddes is left to wonder if they'll be shared in the same way again.

two fisted reading

Over at the fabulous Groovy Age Of Horror, Curt reads and reviews two trashy pulps, the blaxsploitation inspired BLACK SAMURAI: THE WARLOCK and the rather sleezy NINJA MASTER: SKIN SWINDLE by Wade Barker. Browse through the musty dusty archives and see what other goodies Curt has flipped through.

Jupiter Foto: taking pictures of the pictures

If you are ever at a film event in Hong Kong, you will most likely notice a nimble photographer, zipping in and out of the celebreties and bystanders alike, snapping photos from odd angles. This man is Jupiter Wong aka Jupiter Foto, a talented and dedicated documentarian of the world of HK cinema. He is truly a force of gravity for the stars around him!


When in HK for my first time I was able to buy collection of his photos that I have used as the best autograph book!


In september 2004, the HK Film Archive had an exhibit of his works called Fame Flame Frame and made a companion book for it which can be purchased online. Here is a blurb on Jupiter from the book:

"Jupiter Wong's photos not only record a film and its shooting location, but also embed Jupiter's mood at that time and space. Once he got a camera in hand, Jupiter would think of himself as a film director and his pictures are actually his own directorial creation. Be it a director, a star, a crewmember or a stunt man in his pictures, there is always something happening around his focus point. The faces captured by him - be they melancholic, passionate, worried, excited, happy or sad, there is always a story to tell."

Jupiter has his own website where you can see examples of his work on screen, off screen, and some of his snapshots. A true inspiration when I play around with my camera. And here is a picture of the man and myself in 2000. No comments on the stylin' shirt. It was HK and THE MISSION had just come out after all...

I tell ya, these ones are valiant!

So if any Kung Fu Friday disciples want to get elevated in their belt rankings, I would suggest they head out to the Cinematheque Ontario for the Monday night screening of King Hu's THE VALIANT ONES at 8:45pm. Director King Hu is a grand master of martial arts cinema, and if you don't know his name, you will know his influence... CROUCHING TIGER would never have came to be without the influence his films had on Ang Lee like COME DRINK WITH ME and A TOUCH OF ZEN. Sadly his films have never gotten the proper exposure outside of Asia (and France) that they deserve.

From the introduction that I wrote for the Toronto edition of the Heroic Grace 2 series:

King Hu represents the classical side of the genre and has the distinction of being the first Chinese director to win a major award at the Cannes film festival with TOUCH OF ZEN (1975). Considered the true "scholar" of the martial arts directors, Hu had a keen eye for detail on costumes and settings, and pioneered the rapid edit and active camera techniques that would later become the standard in Hong Kong action movies. THE VALIANT ONES (1975), choreographed by Sammo Hung, who went to Peking Opera school alongside his younger "brother," Jackie Chan, features action scenes that did not particularly require physical prowess from its performers: it was the editing that endowed them with superhuman skills. In fact, Hu admittedly filmed combat scenes more like ballets than plausible fights. Obviously, Hu's style was very influential on Tsui Hark, who produced Hu's SWORDSMAN (1990) and a remake of Hu's DRAGON INN (1967) in 1992.

For more info, check out this essay by a close friend of Kung Fu Fridays, Concordia film professor Peter Rist: A Touch of Hu: A Fan’s Notes and an Appreciation.

Here is the French poster and some enticing stills...

Arrrrrrrrrgh! It's Sammo Hung as a Japanese pirate!

Incoming fists!

double bill part 2 - lots of guts

And the second film was BOXER FROM SHANTUNG, part of the Heroic Grace 2 series at the Cinematheque Ontario. The print was stunning, looking like it was fresh from the lab. Sadly, there was only around 30 or so people. Not too sure what was up with that, but hopefully the numbers will get better as the series progresses. And last night was KING BOXER, and equally beautiful print. We even got an extra treat as a friend of the Fu from Montreal, King Wei, brought along the original trailer for OPIUM AND KUNG FU MASTER which the projectionist lovingly threaded up. And what better reason then to share the two pics of the original posters from my collection. Enjoy.

double bill part 1 - blue peanuts

Tonight I camped out for a double bill at the Cinemathque Ontario. First up was the remastered print of David Lynch's BLUE VELVET. Never had the chance to see it projected in the past and this beautiful print made the experience worthwhile. As soon as it was done I wanted to rush out and watch WILD AT HEART and the whole TWIN PEAKS series, but I had another film at 8:45, but more on that in the next post. It was incredibly nostalgic and I can't remember the last time I watched it, but I can't remember as a teen how much of the seedy sex scenerio I really was able to absorb or understand. So in honour of the screening, I was able to find a subversive little mash up by Toronto's own, Todd Graham, the man responsible for the classic APOCALYPSE POOH... yes, I am talking about BLUE PEANUTS! And if you want to watch POOH, here is the link for the you tube posting.

chop off your arms

Sharpen your swords and chop off your arms - TONIGHT! at CINEMATHEQUE ONTARIO! THE NEW ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN! and in honour of the event, above and below, the poster and image from the US release poster.

fists of fury at the Cinematheque

Well, despite the last gasp of Kung Fu Fridays on June 23rd, there is a reason for fu fans in Toronto to celebrate. Starting June 1st at the Cinematheque Ontario is a series of 10 classic fu flick that I helped select. These are very rare screenings and is a must for Shaw fans. They will be screening the film the most requested by Kung Fu Fridays disciples, THE FIVE VENOMS as well as many other classics... Read on grasshopper...

Three years after the original Heroic Grace series electrified Toronto audiences, the thrilling and frenzied Heroic Grace: The Chinese Martial Arts Film, Part II takes over Cinematheque Ontario's screen from June 1 until June 13. Featuring many titles by legendary Hong Kong producers the Shaw Brothers, some even including the off-screen talent of current Asian cinema icons Sammo Hung and John Woo, this collection of fast-paced cinema includes Zhang Che's THE NEW ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN (1971), a restored print of THE FIVE VENOMS (1978), THE JADE TIGER (1979) by Chu Yuan, and Lau Kar-leung's ingenious DIRTY HO (1979).

Thursday, June 1 - 8:45
THE NEW ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN
(1971, Hong Kong) Directed by Zhang Che
Shaw Brothers. Producer: Runme Shaw. Screenplay: Ni Kuang. Cinematographer: Gong Muduo. Editor: Guo Tinghong. Martial Arts Director: Tong Kai, Lau Kar-leung. Cast: David Jiang, Di Long, Li Jing, Gu Feng. Presented in Mandarin dialogue with Chinese and English subtitles. 35mm, 94 min.

Zhang Che revisits the premise of his epochal ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN (1967) but with a gruesome difference. David Jiang portrays an arrogant warrior humbled by a nefarious opponent and forced to hack off his own arm. Years of waiting tables fortify his single-handed dexterity, but what finally launches him back on the path of bloody retribution is the untimely death of his comrade Di Long. The actors were Zhang's preferred pairing of heroes in his '70s films, and like other of the director's films about male bonding, THE NEW ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN is charged through with latent homoeroticism. Fuelled by the estimable action choreography of longtime collaborators Tong Kai and Lau Kar-leung, the film builds to an astonishing finale traversing the entire span of a bridge and then some.

Friday, June 2 - 8:45
KING BOXER
(1972, Hong Kong) Directed by Chung Chang-wha
Shaw Brothers. Producer: Run Run Shaw. Screenwriter: Jiang Yang. Cinematographer: Wang Yonglong. Editor: Jiang Xinglong, Fan Gongrong. Martial Arts Director: Lau Kar-wing, Chen Quan. Cast: Luo Lie, Wang Ping, Wang Jinfeng. Presented in Mandarin dialogue with English subtitles. 35mm, 97 min.
Korean director Chung Chang-wha was among the foreign talent hired by studio mogul Run Run Shaw in the late '60s to help meet Asian audiences' growing taste for tough action films. KING BOXER's gritty revenge tale met that challenge and more; it became the first kung fu film to be a hit in the West and paved the way for the Bruce Lee phenomenon to come. Actor Luo Lie brings characteristic intensity to his role as an "Iron Fist" adept whose fingers are viciously shattered by a rival gang. (The film was released internationally under the title FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH). In paradigmatic fashion, he then trains his way back to peak form and wreaks vengeance on his adversaries. Joining ferocious hand-to-hand combat with a nationalistic subtext (as did the contemporaneous Bruce Lee titles), the film unabashedly ascribes villainy (and inferior fighting methods) to the Japanese.

Saturday, June 3 - 8:45
THE BOXER FROM SHANTUNG
(1972, Hong Kong) Directed by Zhang Che and Bao Xueli
Shaw Brothers. Producer: Runme Shaw. Screenwriter: Ni Kuang, Zhang Che. Cinematographer: Gong Muduo, Ruan Dingbang. Editor: Guo Tinghong. Martial Arts Director: Tong Kai, Lau Kar-leung, Lau Kar-wing, Chen Quan. Cast: Chen Guantai, Jing Li, David Jiang, Ma Lannu. Presented in Mandarin dialogue with English subtitles. 35mm, 126 min.

This brutal fight film adapts the proverbial rise-and-fall gangster formula to the mean streets of '30s Shanghai. Chen Guantai is a poor hick from Shandong ("Shantung" according to the old Wade-Giles romanization) whose fearsome boxing ability allows him to muscle his way to the top of the Shanghai underworld. Bursting with typically Zhangian bloodshed and distinguished by Chen's authentic kung fu technique (the film proved to be the actor's breakout vehicle), BOXER also features Shaw luminaries David Jiang as a charismatic gangland don and Jing Li as a principled songstress. Among its highlights that have inspired a host of imitators: an iconic match between Chen and a Russian wrestler, and ruthless hatchet-wielding thugs, most recently revived as the "axe gang" in Stephen Chow's comic tribute to the martial arts cinema, KUNG FU HUSTLE.

Monday, June 5 - 8:45
THE VALIANT ONES - Restored by the Hong Kong Film Archive
(1975, Hong Kong) Directed by King Hu
Producer: King Hu. Screenwriter: King Hu. Cinematographer: Chen Qingqu. Editor: Xiao Nan. Martial Arts Director: Sammo Hung. Cast: Roy Chiao, Xu Feng, Bai Ying, Sammo Hung. Presented in Mandarin dialogue with English subtitles. 35mm, 107 min.

King Hu's kinesthetic poetry gets distilled to its essence in a late masterpiece suffused with a deep sense of melancholy. Set characteristically for Hu in the Ming Dynasty (14th-17th centuries), THE VALIANT ONES refers to the crack team—including a coolly enigmatic swordsman (Bai Ying) and his taciturn wife (Xu Feng)—assembled by military strategist Roy Chiao to defend the Chinese coast against Japanese pirates. Tantalizingly abstract in its fight choreography—action is expressed in calligraphic strokes such as the brief clanging of blades, the whizzing-by of arrows and the rhythmic flight of bodies—the film is nevertheless majestic in its evocation of landscape. But unlike the preternaturally gifted heroes of most swordplay films, Hu's valiant ones are mortal. His "Picture of Valor" (the film's Chinese title) is ultimately ironic; its somber resolution undercuts any triumph in victory.

Thursday, June 8 - 8:45
CLANS OF INTRIGUE
(1977, Hong Kong) Directed by Chu Yuan
Shaw Brothers. Based on a novel by Gu Long. Producer: Runme Shaw. Screenwriter: Ni Kuang. Cinematographer: Huang Jie. Editor: Jiang Xinglong. Martial Arts Director: Tong Kai, Huang Peiji. Cast: Di Long, Betty Bei Di, Nora Miao, Yue Hua. Presented in Mandarin dialogue with Chinese and English subtitles. 35mm, 99 min.

Chu Yuan continued his cinematic transmutation of the Gu Long literary oeuvre with this gripping wuxia "whodunnit" set in the timeless realm of martial chivalry. Famed swordsman Chu Liuxiang (Di Long) is framed for the murder of three clan chiefs. Leaving behind leisure and connoisseurship—a resplendent houseboat and poetry-spouting friends—Chu embarks on an investigation that leads him from a mystery woman to Buddhist monks and a grotto-dwelling clan of female fighters led by a lesbian (Betty Bei Di). Gradually he uncovers a convoluted conspiracy that culminates in an unforgettable gender-bending twist. Fantastical and fringed with risqué sexual flourishes, CLANS OF INTRIGUE is echt Chu, a baroque martial arts saga replete with artifice and larger-than-life archetypes engaged in elegantly choreographed mortal combat.

Friday, June 9 - 8:45
THE JADE TIGER
(1977, Hong Kong) Directed by Chu Yuan
Shaw Brothers. Producer: Mona Fong. Screenwriter: Gu Long, Chu Yuan. Cinematographer: Huang Jie. Editor: Jiang Xinglong. Martial Arts Director: Tong Kai, Huang Peiji. Cast: Di Long, Gu Feng, Li Lili, Luo Lie. Presented in Mandarin dialogue with Chinese and English subtitles. 35mm, 101 min.

Chu Yuan's penchant for labyrinthine plotting reaches its zenith in this dizzying adaptation of the Gu Long source novel. Di Long heads an all-star cast as a Zhou warrior catapulted by the threat of his father's decapitation, delivered on his wedding day, into the middle of a no-holds-barred war between his clan and the Tangs. The outrageous characters, exotic weapons and proliferating layers of subterfuge are hyperbolic even by the standards of an already excess-saturated subgenre. Chu's characteristic visual splendor contributes to the air of delirium, but a self-conscious pathos about the futility of martial rivalry lends the film thematic ballast and anticipates the reflexive tone adopted in the melancholy wuxia by the Hong Kong New Wave of the '80s.

Saturday, June 10 - 6:30
THE FIVE VENOMS
(1978, Hong Kong) Directed by Zhang Che
Shaw Brothers. Producer: Runme Shaw. Screenwriter: Ni Kuang, Zhang Che. Cinematographer: Gong Muduo, Cao Huiqi. Editor: Jiang Xinglong. Martial Arts Director: Liang Ting, Lu Feng, Dai Qixian. Cast: Jiang Sheng, Sun Jian, Guo Zhui, Lu Feng, Wei Bai, Luo Mang. Presented in Mandarin dialogue with English subtitles. 35mm, 97 min.

Long a favorite of martial arts movie fans, THE FIVE VENOMS was the defining showcase for late-career, all-male-ensemble Zhang Che. The dying master of the Venoms House tasks his one remaining disciple to bring to justice the young man's five predecessors, now dispersed and fallen into ignominious criminality. The elder Venoms quintet, however, possesses formidable skills, each in a distinctive fighting style: scorpion, snake, centipede, gecko and toad. The youngest Venom locates them in a small town, and in this nexus of gold loot, shady cops and corrupt judges, a suspenseful mystery plot unfolds, punctuated by some of the most lucidly articulated and imaginative fight sequences of the martial arts cinema. Uncharacteristically—and unlike even the previous Heroic Grace selection, BLOOD BROTHERS—Zhangian brotherhood is rent asunder by greed and betrayal among men.

Monday, June 12 - 6:30
DIRTY HO
(1979, Hong Kong) Directed by Lau Kar-leung
Shaw Brothers. Producer: Run Run Shaw. Screenwriter: Ni Kuang. Cinematographer: Huang Yuetai, Ao Zhijun. Editor: Jiang Xinglong, Li Yanhai. Martial Arts Director: Lau Kar-leung. Cast: Wang Yu, Gordon Liu Jiahui, Kara Hui, Xiao Hou. Presented in Cantonese dialogue with Chinese and English subtitles. 35mm, 100 min.

Fighting without seeming to fight—that's the ingenious premise at the heart of this dazzler by martial arts grandmaster Lau Kar-leung. The director's mainstay Gordon Liu plays a prodigal prince (and hyper-cultivated epicurean) targeted for assassination by his elder brother. Enter Wang Yu (not to be mistaken for the star of ONE-ARMED SWORDSMAN) as the eponymous Ho, a boisterous ruffian who reluctantly apprentices himself to the expert Liu. With the killers disguised as a wine merchant and an antiques dealer, the prince finds himself parrying dangerous kicks and blows while in art appreciation mode. The climactic fight-back-to-the-palace pitting prince and apprentice against a battery of swords and arrows is a set piece for the ages. Like the title it belies, this movie about the art of the martial arts brilliantly distills its director's penchant for discoursing on the beauty and rigor of a genre that's clearly more than chopsocky.

Tuesday, June 13- 6:30
MY YOUNG AUNTIE
(1980, Hong Kong) Directed by Lau Kar-leung
Shaw Brothers. Producer: Run Run Shaw. Screenwriter: Lau Kar-leung, Li Taiheng. Cinematographer: Ao Zhijun. Editor: Jiang Xinglong, Li Yanhai. Martial Arts Director: Lau Kar-leung, Jing Zhu, Xiao Hou. Cast: Lau Kar-leung, Kara Hui, Xiao Hou, Wang Longwei. Presented in Mandarin dialogue with English subtitles. 35mm, 114 min.

A young widow (Kara Hui) arrives in Guangdong to deliver a fought-over deed of inheritance to the rightful heirs, her crotchety nephew-by-marriage (Lau Kar-leung) and his westernized son (Xiao Hou). Age and gender role reversals allow for a wealth of kung fu funny business: the nephew is easily twice as old as the aunt but still bound to respect family hierarchies; the fetching aunt has serious warrior chops despite her traditionally feminine appearance. Freely mixing martial arts moves with allusions to popular Hollywood genres (musicals, swashbucklers and even war movies), MY YOUNG AUNTIE is an unalloyed triumph of kung fu comedy. Hui delivers a winning performance as the woman who unsettles the standard teacher-student paradigm of Lau's oeuvre.

Tuesday, June 13 - 8:45
ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA - New 35mm print from Columbia Repertory
(1991, Hong Kong) Directed by Tsui Hark
Golden Harvest. Producer: Tsui Hark. Screenwriter: Leung Yiu-ming, Elsa Tang Bik-yin, Tsui Hark, Yuen Gai-chi. Cinematographer: Arthur Wong Ngok-tai, Bill Wong Chung-bo, David Chung Chi-man. Martial Arts Director: Lau Kar-wing, Yuen Shun-yi, Yuen Cheung-yan. Cast: Jet Li, Yuen Biao, Rosamund Kwan Chi-lam, Jackie Cheung Hok-yau. Presented in Cantonese dialogue with English subtitles. 35mm, 134 min.

Tsui Hark takes on the popular Wong Fei-Hung (Huang Feihong) legend in this rousingly revisionist film, the first in a six-part series that re-imagines the martial arts paragon for the wuxia-meets-kung fu "wire-fu" action of the '90s. A Jet Li in peak form summons a whirling arsenal of "shadowless kicks," somersaults and leaps to repel the incursion of opium and slave trading by corrupt Westerners into China in the 19th century. The film makes room for grand historical drama and slapstick comedy, sumptuous period décor and whimsical romance, but is best remembered for its virtuosic choreography of combat, most famously the breathtaking fight to the death atop bamboo ladders.

All Cinematheque Ontario screenings are held at the Art Gallery of Ontario's Jackman Hall, 317 Dundas St. West (McCaul Street entrance), Toronto. Regular tickets are $6 for Members; $5.50 for Student Members and Seniors; and $10.10 for Non-Members. Limited Runs and Special Presentations are $7.25 for Members and $11.50 for Non-Members. Cinematheque Ontario Lecture Series tickets are $10.25 for Members and $15.50 for Non-Members. All screenings are restricted to individuals 18 years of age or older, unless noted otherwise. The Toronto International Film Festival Group Box Office is located at Manulife Centre, 55 Bloor Street West (Monday to Saturday, 10am - 6pm).

Cinematheque Ontario thanks its supporters Bell, Ontario Media Development Corporation, Canada Council for the Arts, the City of Toronto, Economic Development Office, Toronto Film School and The Toronto Arts Council.

For more information call 416-968-FILM or click, bell.ca/cinematheque.

on the bright side...

On the bright side, the posting below was made from Dufferin Grove Park down the block from my house. Together with Wireless Toronto they just set up wireless in the park so I took my computer and bike down to the park on Saturday afternoon and got some work done under the shade of a big tree. You can read more about it here. Summer is looking good...

the last kung fu fridays show...

Been in a gloomy mood as just over a week ago I got news that three of Toronto's rep houses, including the Revue where the Kung Fu Fridays series is held, will close their doors June 30th. Just what this city needs, less screens to show films. As a mini/indie distributor, I can rant about this, but I choose not to at this point. So with a busy summer ahead of me with my job at the Toronto International Film Festival, I regret to announce the death of the series. I don't want to do it and had films lined up until the end of 2007 or the middle of 2008. But at this point I don't have the time and energy to find a new venue and set up shop in less then a month. Who knows, maybe it will relaunch as something else in the fall, but right now I just can't handle it. Been doing in for roughly 10 years, first as a once every few months show then moved into the Royal in 2000 with a once a month show, eventually bumping it to twice a month due to the popularity. That is a long fight for the fu. The LAST Kung Fu Fridays show will be CRIPPLED AVENGERS aka MORTAL COMBAT on Friday June 23rd. The end of an era and the marking of a new chapter in my life...

blood of the dragon

going away for 6 days so might not get a chance to post anything while on the road... here is the wild poster for BEACH OF THE WAR GOD starring Jimmy Wang Yu. I have a nice original that I hope to pull out and snap a better picture in the future.

"pussyfoot phallus" & "regurgitation asphalt"

WARNING: This post has nothing to do with kung fu...

I seem to have a groovy little beatnik jam session going on in the junk mailbox of my email. If you haven't noticed/heard, spammers are using random subject generators to bypass junk mail filters and you get a crazy assortment of little poems. The content of the email is always a jpeg announcement of some stock that is "Going To Explode Next 2-3 Days!". I really don't want to throw these in the trash. I mean, what comes to mind when you hear about the "Arab pineapple" or, snigger... the "alcove snatch"?

Signed,
yours with "overflow self-interest"
Jiangtou

return of One-Eye

May 6/06 - this update from on of the 5 original KFF blog disciples, Lars Erik Holmquist on the blog posting about the film They Call Her One Eye:

"I'm just back from Los Angeles where I attended a 3-film screening of Christina Lindberg films at the Egyptian - with the lady herself in attendance! It was great fun and Christina really enjoyed it, so maybe there will be more to come..."

the Monkey Trilogy

From Kung Fu Fridays disciple Ben Murray comes some nutty little shorts. Send the monkey some bananas. Please!? In Ben's own words:

"On the urging of my friend Myrocia Watamaniuk, I've submitted the Monkey Trilogy to mobifest, an online film festival dedicated to content made for cell phones. As some of you know, the Monkeys have already built a bit of a cult following, and now it's time to take them to the masses. Simply click on the links below, watch and then rate them. The 30 most popular titles will be screened on May 17th here in Toronto. If you're asking yourself as you watch them "man, those things sure look a lot like a monk-e-mail" you're right! They are monk-e-mails reconstituted and captured in Quicktime. Let's just say I'll be crossing the copyright bridge if I get to it. Special thanks to Justin Stayshyn for transferring the films, and to Myrocia for suggesting I do this in the first place. Happy viewing..."

The Monkey Trilogy 1: "I Live In A Toilet"

The Monkey Trilogy 2: "I Am Still Yet To Receive The Bananas"

The Monkey Trilogy 3: "Peruvian Adventure"

random kung fu poster image #1

One of the reasons I started this blog was to share images from my poster and lobbycard collection. Okay, so I don't own this one, but sure wish I did.

Last ninja: 'Be able to kill your students'

After our great Kung Fu Fridays screening of LIFE OF NINJA along with a special pre-show by local Toronto turntablists, INSIDE A MIND, honourary disciple David Simmons dropped us thie article on the supposed, "Last Ninja", Grand Master Masaaki Hatsumi from The Mercury News. Below are pics from the fabulous set that INSIDE A MIND did for the audience as the film DESCENDENT OF WING CHUN played behind them without sound. Hopefully the two masters of the needle will grace us with another performance in the future.

finally! I can read kung fu!

Oh glorious Buddha! Thank you!

I just made the best discovery in ages!

So after watching kung fu films for sometime, I always wanted to go to the source, the countless martial arts "pulp" novels that were the basis for some of the films I was watching. Plus, the romantaized depiction of Tony Leung Chui-wai writing the novels as cig smoke drifted in the air as seen in WKW's IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE certainly didn't help. Then I came across the English translations of the works of Louis Cha, known to most by his penname Jin Yong (or Kam-yung in Cantonese), one of the most influential modern Chinese-language novelists who is also the co-founder of the Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao. Oxford Press published in three parts, his epic wuxia (martial arts) saga, "The Deer & The Cauldron" and while the hefty hardcovers are pricey, you can find them at most public libraries. This tale is filled with kung fu monks, traids, secret snake poison sects, deadly vixens, blind leathal eunuchs, and more characters and plot twists than you can imagine. And at the centre of it all, is the quick talking son of a brothel whore, Trinket. The tagline that Newsweek gave it, "Martial Arts meets Monty Python" hits the nail on the head. Cha's novels have been turned into lots of HK movies and TV series, with DEER being filmed as ROYAL TRAMP 1 & 2 and the Shaw Brothers version TALE OF A EUNUCH. Other titles include THE SWORD STAINED WITH ROYAL BLOOD, SWORD OF MANY LOVES, EAGLE SHOOTING HEROES, ASHES OF TIME, KUNG FU CULT MASTER, SWORDSMAN, SWORDSMAN 2, THE EAST IS RED and many others, not counting the TVB series. Plus his best buddy is Ni Kuang, who wrote a mind boogling amount of the best Shaw Brothers films like THE ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN, THE FIVE VENOMS, THE CRIPPLED AVENGERS and ENTER THE FAT DRAGON (not Shaw) and even created the sci-fi/horror hero Wisely (SEVENTH CURSE). Check his brief (and incomplete) bio here. So how does this fit in with my new discovery?

Well, earlier this week I was writing the into for the Heroic Grace 2 series that will play at the Ontario Cinematheque here in Toronto this June (announcements to follow here including news on a FIVE VENOMS screening!). There will be two films by the prolific director Chu Yuan who made lavish martial arts films based on literary works by another martial arts author, Gu Long. While I know a little about Louis Cha, I know nearly nil about Long, aside from the films based on his novels that I have enjoyed including: THE MAGIC BLADE and CLANS OF INTRIGUE. Yuan's style matched Long's writings, and their films were all the rage before the kung fu comedies of Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan (does he really need a link?), Yuen Wo-ping and Lau Kar Leung. Then when TV series came along, that format was better suited for the complex plots and many characters and audiences swithced to the tube.

But what about this discovery!?! I have always lamented that there were never any subtitles on the multipart television serials that star decent film actors and have great behind the scenes talent. The other night while idlely flipping through websites, I learned that the big HK television studio TVB has released a classic Louis Cha series starring Andy Lau, THE RETURN OF THE CONDOR HEROES on dvd with English subtitles at last! I love decent television series so can you imagine a Sopranos or Deadwood set in the martial world!? And with a script by Wai Ka Fai (director of TOO MANY WAYS TO BE NO. 1 and FULLTIME KILLER) and martial arts by Ching Siu Tung (where do I start? from CHINESE GHOST STORY to HERO)! Now the price is a little steep at around $70-80, but for a 12 dvd set, but maybe not a bad investment with some friends (Kagan, Don, Pauline, Carol... reading this?). How can I test this new fangled concept to a gweilo like myself? Maybe with another series...

Some sleuthing just turned up bit torrent links for the first two episodes of another TVB series with English subs starring some legends of kung fu cinema! Yuen Biao! Gordon Liu! Yuen Wah! Lau Kar Yan!


REAL KUNG FU is a period series about Leung Tsan, a talented Wing Chun master, with Biao as the lead character.


Now if you get hooked on the first two episodes, I believe that the dvds with subs can be rented at TVB outlets, so head to your nearest Chinatown. I just downloaded these today and haven't watched them. They could be crap, might have too much romance and filler, but til I crack open my wallet and pencil in some time for CONDOR HEROES, I doubt I will be complaining! Get ready for bit torrent kung fu action with Episode 1 and Episode 2!

(links for this blathering, giddy post come from the Hong Kong Movie Database, Kung Fu Cinema, LoveHKFilm and the discovery was found on Kung Fu Fandom)

in love with a one eyed avenging angel

Never heard of Christina Lindberg? Then race to your coolest video store (in Toronto go to Suspect natch!) and demand they rent you THRILLER aka THEY CALL HER ONE EYE. Want to know what you are in for? Buddha praise youtube.com! Maybe not safe for work... And for more info on this dealy dame, visit the links over at PCL LinkDump and be in awe of the PS Britney Spears tweaking!



Need to know more? Then descend into Rick Trembles' demented Motion Picture Purgatory cartoon review from the Aug 4th, 2005 ish of the Montreal alt weekly the Mirror.


May 6/06 - this update from on of the 5 original KFF blog disciples, Lars Erik Holmquist:

"I'm just back from Los Angeles where I attended a 3-film screening of Christina Lindberg films at the Egyptian - with the lady herself in attendance! It was great fun and Christina really enjoyed it, so maybe there will be more to come..."