Action Month Review: Canton Viper / 광동살무사 (1983)

Much like what last weeks ‘Miss, Please Be Patient’ was to the filmography of Kim Tai-jung, ‘Canton Viper’ is the same to the filmography of Korean super-kicker Hwang Jang-lee. For anyone not familiar with the most formidable kicker ever to grace the silver screen, please check the blog post I wrote during the Korean Film Blogathon earlier this year for a lowdown on why this guy has the reputation he does.

‘Canton Viper’ was another of many Korean movies long thought lost, only to be discovered and pulled up out of obscurity by the guys at ‘Houndslow Team’, and on 15th November it got its premier showing in Australia. With the help of Jon-James Hodson, a film-maker currently in post-production on his Hwang Jang-lee documentary ‘The Anonymous King’, we were able to film an exclusive interview with Jang-lee, who is now almost seventy but certainly doesn’t look it. Shown before the movie started, he shared some interesting anecdotes from filming and the difficulties they had to overcome, giving a unique insight into what it was like to make a kung-fu movie in Korea back then.

There is no mistaking ‘Canton Viper’ as a Korean movie for a number of reasons, but perhaps first and foremost it’s because of the story. While most people watching Hong Kong kung-fu movies did so purely on the basis of the fight action on display, with little to no attention paid on storyline or characters (indeed, many Hong Kong movies of the era didn’t even film with a script, instead just making it up as they go along), the case with ‘Canton Viper’ is quite different.

Action Month Review: Miss, Please Be Patient / 아가씨 참으세요 (1981)

‘Miss, Please Be Patient’ was a movie which was considered lost for a long time, until finally in 2011 the guys at ‘Houndslow Team’ - a group of martial arts cinema fans spread across the globe dedicated to tracking down rare kung-fu movies to remaster and release - managed to locate a bruised and battered practically unwatchable VHS copy, and so began the journey to finally give people a chance to watch it.

Why was it worth tracking down? ‘Miss, Please Be Patient’ is one of Kim Tai-jung’s rare movie appearances in his homeland. Tai-jung was a martial artist who, after Bruce Lee’s untimely death in the middle of filming ‘Game of Death’, was brought in to fill in as Lee’s double so that they could finish the movie, due to his similar mannerisms and characteristics. Tai-jung stuck around in Hong Kong, going on to headline ‘Game of Death 2’, which pitted him up against fellow Korean super-kicker Hwang Jang-lee, and he even got to play Bruce Lee himself in the Hong Kong / American co-production ‘No Retreat, No Surrender’. In the movie he plays the ghost of Bruce Lee, who trains a young American student in the art of kung-fu, so that he can beat the evil Jean Claude Van-Damme, here making his screen début.

Amongst these movies, Tai-jung made a couple in his native Korea. Sadly due to Korea’s reputation at the time for producing largely low quality, poorly choreographed kung-fu movies when compared to its Hong Kong counterparts, a lot of them simply disappeared into movie oblivion. However as with anything, there are always a few diamonds in the rough, the sad thing in the case of Korea’s kung-fu movie output is that those diamonds got swept up in the same oblivion as all the rest, lost in the crowd of mediocrity.

When ‘Miss, Please Be Patient’ was finally wrapped up, remastered to the best it could be and sporting English subtitles for the first time, I planned to watch it more out of curiosity purposes than anything else, hardly expecting to gain any real enjoyment from the experience. So imagine my surprise when I found a real gem of a movie, genuinely funny comedy paired with high impact fight scenes, topped off with a cast of cool characters strutting around in early 80s Seoul and Pusan.

When I first suggested to Kieran, the festival director at the Korean Culture Office, that the movie could be shown as part of the ‘Cinema on the Park’ program, I was delighted that he was really open to the idea, and the movie could get a real screening like it deserves. Of course when he asked me to introduce it for the audience my demeanour quickly turned to one of nerves and anxiousness, talking in front of people is not really my forte, but how could I say no?

Action Month Review: The Kick / 더 킥 (2011)

When rumours first emerged of Korea & Thailand getting together to create an action movie co-production, fans of the genre could hardly contain their excitement, including myself. Thailand was leading the charge on the action front for a good while since the release of ‘Ong Bak’ in 2003 starring Tony Jaa, which was quickly followed up in 2005 by ‘Tom Yum Goong’, filmed right here in Sydney. The bone crunching action in both movies was choreographed by Panna Rittikrai, which had he been born in Hong Kong would no doubt be on a par with Jackie Chan. But as it was he made a name for himself in his home country of Thailand, churning out shoestring budget action fests over a period of more than 20 years, before finally getting international recognition through ‘Ong Bak’.

The movies of Korea should need no introduction, known for its gritty gangster revenge thrillers and unflinching takes on violence, it should have been a match made in heaven. While Thai movies deliver on action, the plotting and screenplays often leave a lot to be desired, so the thought of a movie helmed by a Korean director, featuring the chorography of Panna, sounded too good to be true.

Food & Film Experience: The Recipe / 된장 (2009)

On Monday 22^nd October, the lucky few of us who worked at this years Korean Film Festival in Sydney were given the opportunity to attend the DENDY Cinema in Newtown’s screening of the 2009 movie, ‘The Recipe' (된장). A movie that revolves around the traditional Korean dish of doenjang jigae, or soy bean soup as it’s most closely translated in English. Hats off to whoever it was that came up with the stroke of genius to get local Korean restaurant, Paju, to put on a buffet style Korean feast in the cinema lobby before the movie started.

Being a guy whose mood is dictated by how much food is in his stomach, I was immediately put into a state of euphoria by the stacked plates of bulgogi, kimchi, and various others on display.  Not even the woman sat close to me who was educating her husband about the “Japanese superstar”, Psy, could distract me from the plate, and to top it all off Hyun provided us with a beautiful performance of a traditional Korean dance.

With appetites satisfied and senses awakened, it was time for the movie.  As someone who considers himself pretty familiar with the Korean movie scene, I have to hold my head in shame and say that ‘The Recipe’ flew completely under my radar, not even the name was familiar. Although once I saw the poster art I knew I’d seen it before, obviously for someone who tends to lean towards the grittier side of Korean movie making, I realized that I’d obviously dismissed a film about a spicy stew without a second thought. After all, how can you make a whole movie that revolves around a dish that’s normally eaten within 10 minutes?  (or is that just me?)

Well, ‘The Recipe’ answers that question in an interesting way. To define the genre of the movie would depend of which part you were watching, as if someone only saw the beginning, middle, or end, I’ve no doubt all three would come back with separate answers. At times it appears to be a murder mystery about a serial killer, then it shifts to a comedy about a bumbling reporter, for a few moments it seems it’s going to have elements of the supernatural, before eventually it seems to become the tale of two doomed lovers.

Antenna Review: Planet of Snail / 달팽이의 별 (2011)

Sneaking into the cinema in Newtown is regularly going to bring you to a world away from the bustle of King St, especially on a Friday night. This time however more so than ever the does the contrast show itself as the movie in question is not the fast paced and polished cinema one associates with films out of Korea but the gentle and reflective low budget, and yet heavily acclaimed, Planet of Snail at this year’s Antenna Documentary Film Festival.

Just as the darkness of the cinema envelopes you, so too does Planet of Snail take you over with its show of the human spirit and enduring love. The protagonists, the deaf and blind Young-chan and Soon-ho, who suffers from a spinal condition, work harder than most on their relationship helping each other with everyday tasks. Each using their strengths to help the other’s ailment, is no better shown than in a 9-minute long light bulb changing scene.