flemmings | (no subject)

I don't wish to sound ungrateful, but...

I'm as new a newcomer to wuxia films as you can get. In my life I may have seen eight or ten max, and five of them were in the last week. Except for Hero and Crouching Tiger I pull them from the video shop's shelves at random, going by title and cover. I want martial arts and I *don't* want the bloody Qing hairstyle. (Ming will do just fine thank you.) And with those criteria, except for Hero and Crouching Tiger, what I've seen has all turned out to be Hong Kong films.

I treasure the HK energy and sense of humour, I really do. But christ on a cracker, guys- are you *ever* serious about *anything*? Has a HK director ever made a wuxia film that wasn't a send-up of wuxia films? The self-reference and the deliberate anachronisms and the clowning and the in-jokes are beginning to wear a bit, is all. Even the sound of Cantonese is turning into an unconscious signal for 'just kidding here guys don't take us seriously.'

Maybe this is pure luck of the draw and maybe if I didn't go looking under HK directors like Tsui Hark I'd fare better. But my only other option seems to be some iteration of Shaolin monks, and I don't want Shaolin monks. I want something in Mandarin with hair and a nod, if not at HA, at least at serious drama. Is all.

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Ah well. My political senses are atrophied after living half a century in Canada. I didn't get the current relevance at all, mostly because how could one *not* have profound distaste for the first emperor, even the one in the film? 'Necessary evil' was what I was getting. 'At last someone understand me, so one of us must die.' Doesn't compute in my round-eye world, sorry.

I work in a bubble that focuses on these topics, which also causes me to lose perspective in other ways. It's no fun focusing on the politics if you miss all the swirling leaves and silk sleeves.

Not to mention the swirling silk. I know it was the extended edition but there were times the thing looked like a Vogue shoot from the 60's, with hair-perfect models out in the Gobi amid acres of chiffon.

It reminded me of Christof (sp) and his 'art'. LOL! You'll probably like the TV historical dramas better than the HK kung fu films.

Don't think I know the man. What is he? Or who, maybe.