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Legend of Fong Sai Yuk on UK DVD

Andrew Heskins — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 09:00:10 +0000

This one has been a while coming: a halfway decent UK release of Fong Sai Yuk, aka The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk! THis fantastically enjoyable martial arts movie stars Jet Li as the eponymous lead with Josephine Siao in a great performance as his ass-kicking mother. Directed by longtime Li collaborator Corey Yuen, director of So Close and The Transporter, and with a script by seasoned screenwriter Jeff Lau (Saviour of the Soul, As Tears Go By, Days Of Being Wild), this is one hell of ride featuring some of the most silly but inspired fight scenes in Hong Kong movie history. (You can almost feel the friendly competition between Corey and Yuen Woo-ping’s work on Iron Monkey and, of course, Once Upon A Time In China.)

Previously this has only been available in the UK under in it’s awful English-dubbed form, which even had an incorrect image of Jet on the cover from Fist Of Legend. In fact the only way to see this in it’s original form in the UK being a Channel 4 screening of both Legend and it’s sequel in the mid-90s – but this new Cine Asia release, licensed from the US Dragon Dynasty version, finally rights (most of) the terrible wrongs this picture has faced. At last we have the original soundtrack, together with a new commentary by Hong Kong movie expert Bey Logan.

There’s also two great interview features with Corey and Lau respectively, where they reveal their inspirations for the movie, and how abundance of similar films (particularly Once Upon A Time In China with Jet Li), made them consider tackling the Fong Sai-yuk legend rather differently than any of these films had done before.

Sure, there is the English dub too (if you must!), but on the whole this is a great package. Notably there is not a blu-ray release of the film – presumably because new master of the movie isn’t that great, as ironically many of the films of the early 90s seemed have been filmed on poorer stock than films decades before, so look far worse in comparison. Perhaps the only disappointment is that, like the US release (obviously!), this is the international edit and not the full length version, available on the now very-hard-to-get Hong Kong DVD release.

You can read our original review here »

The Legend Of Fong Sai-Yuk is released on DVD on Monday 6 September by Cine Asia / Dragon Dynasty.

DVD/Blu-ray: Professor Layton and The Eternal Diva

Andrew Heskins — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:32:27 +0000

“BREATHLESS ADVENTURE THAT PERFECTLY CAPTURES THE SKEWED CHARM OF THE GAMES.” (4 STARS) – IGN.COM

The star of the global phenomenon that has already become the biggest selling Nintendo DS brand in the UK, Professor Layton now faces his toughest puzzle yet in the brand new and exciting feature-length animated adventure for all the family, Professor Layton And The Eternal Diva, coming to DVD and Blu-ray on 18th October 2010, courtesy of Manga Entertainment.

Produced by Masakazu Kubo (producer of the Pokemon movies) and based on the Nintendo and Level 5 video game series that to date has sold 5.5 million copies worldwide and been played by an estimated 3 million British gamers. Both young and old have fallen in love with Professor Layton and the film brings the world’s greatest amateur super-sleuth to life like never before.

When Professor Layton receives a letter along with complimentary opera tickets from a former student-turned-opera singer, the contents of the note prove to be irresistibly intriguing. In it, she informs the Professor that a friend of hers who died one year ago has now reappeared as a seven-year-old girl who claims to be immortal.

Hoping to get to the bottom of this puzzling affair, the Professor, young Luke and Layton’s assistant Remi head off to the Crown Petone Theatre to attend a performance of a new opera composed by pianist Oslo Whistler and based upon research by Layton’s mentor, Dr. Schrader, into the legends surrounding the ancient Kingdom of Ambrosia, otherwise known as the land of eternal life. At the theatre, it soon becomes apparent that there is a common motive amongst many of the audience members when a mysterious figure appears on stage and announces the start of a brainteaser game. Incredibly, it is announced that the winner of the game will be rewarded with the gift of immortality. With Luke’s help, Professor Layton sets about solving the series of puzzles, unaware that mortal danger lurks at every turn.

Professor Layton And The Eternal Diva (cert. U) will be released on DVD (£15.99) and Blu-ray(£19.99) by Manga Entertainment on 18th October 2010.

The film will also be available as a three-disc DVD/Blu-ray Collector’s Edition Combi Pack(£24.99) that includes the feature presentation on DVD and Blu-ray, plus a bonus DVD featuring ‘Mystery Of The Last Song’, ‘Professor Layton And The Mystery Of The Production Company’, ‘Professor Layton And The Mystery Of The 3D CG’ and a promo video for the Professor Layton games.

Additionally, there will be a three-disc DVD/Blu-ray Deluxe Collector’s Edition Combi Pack(£49.99) featuring the same components as the standard Combi Pack plus a super-collectable 630-page Storyboard Book and rigid art box outer packaging.

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Congratulations to winners of out Kamui: The Lone Ninja competition

Andrew Heskins — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 09:00:40 +0000

Three lucky winners of our recent Kamui: The Lone Ninja DVD competition should be receiving their copy in the post in the next few days! We had over 140 entries this time, so thank you to all that entered, and if you didn’t win this time do stayed tuned – we’ll be running more competitions soon…

You can read our full review of the film here »

2010 Tokyo International Film Festival to commemorate Bruce Lee

Andrew Heskins — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 09:00:46 +0000

The 2010 Tokyo International Film Festival will commemorate the life and enduring influence of Bruce Lee with a special tribute at the festival’s Winds of Asia Middle-East section, entitled The 70th Anniversary: Bruce LEE to the Future.

Screenings will include the film that finally catapulted him into the mass populace, Enter The Dragon, sadly released just after his death, and a rare chance to see the Japanese version of Game Of Death, distributed in 1978. There will also be exciting new films that pay homage to Lee nearly 30 years after his death, including Derek Kwok and Clement Cheng’s Gallants and Luu Huynh Luu’s The Legend Is Alive.

The 23rd TIFF will be held from October 23-31, 2010 at Roppongi Hills and other venues in Tokyo.

Hong Sang-soo retrospective at the BFI Southbank, London

Andrew Heskins — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:00:44 +0000

It’s often easy to forget korean cinema has much more to offer than taught thrillers and action films, and Hong Sang-soo is a great example of a much ‘quieter’ filmmaker whose work is often overlooked, despite his film Hahaha being awarded the Un Certain Regard prize this year at Cannes this year.

From Wednesday 1 to 28 September, the BFI Southbank celebrates his work with a complete overview of his work, including a preview of Hahaha and a personal appearance by Hong Sang-soo himself this Friday. Curated by the ICO, the 10-film retrospective will tour major cities in the UK over the next few months.

For more information on the retrospective and to book, see the BFI’s website »

Blood Simple gets the Zhang Yimou makeover

Andrew Heskins — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 09:00:35 +0000

Sure, I know what you;re thinking, but it’s true – Zhang Yimou (Hero, House Of Flying Daggers, Not One Less, Raise The Red Lantern) has remade the Coen brothers classic Blood Simple as a historical Chinese drama called A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop,aka A Simple Noodle Story.

Will it work? Who knows. Either Yimou is being rather clever or lost the plot completely, but it’s about time an Asian filmmaker got their own back for all the Western remakes. (Even if, if this trailer is anything to go by, it’s all a little close to the original…)

Coming soon to American theatres, from 3 September. As for when we’ll see it in the UK…?

Coming soon: The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk on UK DVD

Andrew Heskins — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:00:26 +0000

Yes, The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk aka Fong Sai Yuk, another Jet Li classic, finally makes its way onto UK DVD in its original language (though sadly still the US Dimension cut of some 10 minutes less!) – courtesy of Cine Asia / Dragon Dynasty. Directed by Corey Yuan it’s fun, silly, and with some of the most inspired fight scenes ever – this is unmissable!

Don’t believe me? Just check out this clip…

Mother

Andrew Heskins — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 09:00:47 +0000

A masterful piece of cinema from Bong Joon-ho, director of The Host and Memories Of Murder…

A single mother and practitioner of alternative medicines, Hye-je’s (Kim Hye-je, Mayonnaise, Late Autumn [dir. Kim Soo-yong] ) world revolves around her son, Do-Joon (Won Bin, Taegukgi , My Brother) a naïve and gullible young man with the mind of a child. When the body of a young girl is found in a derelict building, Do-Joon quickly becomes the first and only suspect by a police force seemingly only too happy to wrap up the case quickly, even if the evidence is hardly substantial.

With little help from her apathetic lawyer, Hye-je becomes determined to find the girls real killer and prove her son’s innocence.

The plight of the wrong man is a common theme in film, from the majority of Hitchcock’s main pretexts to Lu Chuan’s The Missing Gun and Roy Chow’s Murderer. It’s not often we see it from the perspective of the accused’s own mother, though.

It’s a clever spin that brings director Bong Joon-ho’s recurring themes of family – continually coming back to perpetual love/hate relationships and misplaced loyalties like some warped Yasujirō Ozu – to the fore once again to centre on the topic of unconditional love. Just how far will Do-Joon’s mother go to find the truth, and will she like what she finds?

Only his fourth feature length film, Joon-ho’s confidence as a director grows as he follows the blockbuster and box office success of monster film The Host with a far more subdued and personal journey that doesn’t necessarily play out as you might expect. But then even from his first film, Barking Dogs Never Bite, Joon-ho has been an expert at subverting audiences’ expectations.

With typical Korean black humour Hye-je’s journey quickly descends into darker tones. Her encounter with her lawyer and his friends in a karaoke bar, surrounded by escorts, for instance, swirls around in an increasingly surreal world reminiscent of Hitchcock’s often underrated and forgotten The Wrong Man. It’s a similar decent into an underworld far out of the control of it’s leading participants, or perhaps the real key is that Hye-je has spent her life distanced from reality to avoid mistakes she’d rather forget. The superb cinematography by Hong Kyung-Pyo matches this descent, following Hye-je’s journey to darker and more unpleasant environments.

It’s a poignant, heady mix that explores her devotion to the hilt, to conclusions that will force the audience to ask disagreeable questions of themselves and their own relationships. Last year in conversation Joon-ho admitted that he’d shown the film to his own mother and she’d not spoken to him about it since. Indeed, it shows just how horrific that devotion can become.

Veteran actress Kim Hye-je is superb in the lead role, whom Joon-ho saw as a ‘mother figure’ in Korean TV and film. In the role of Do-Joon, he amused himself and audiences casting heartthrob Won Bin (something co-star Jin Goo, in the role of Do-Joon’s iffy friend Jin-tae, thanked him for as audiences saw his role as far sexier). Indeed, Won makes a good job of not playing his character over sympathetically, but making him more realistic – full of flaws that can be exploited by those who wish to.

A fine cinematic experience by a master storyteller that stands up to repeated viewings.

Back in November 2009, Bong Joon-ho spoke at the BFI Southbank in London, which we reviewed here.

Mother is released by Optimum Releasing and ICO in cinemas from Friday, 20 August, and will be released on DVD by Optimum Home Entertainment on 20 September.

Out today: Goemon and more

Andrew Heskins — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 09:00:32 +0000

Yep, Kazuaki Kiriya’s (Casshern) latest and arguably far more enjoyable Goemon is released today, along with Tokyo Gore School and 14 Blades.

Something of a bumper day then!

14 Blades

Andrew Heskins — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 09:00:24 +0000

Director Daniel Lee is back, this time with Donnie Yen and Vicky Zhao in tow – thank god this is an improvement on Three Kingdoms then…

The 14 Blades in question are a special weapon only bestowed on the leader of the Jinyiwei, a select group of secret guards to the Emperor honed from childhood into deadly martial art experts, subservient to his every merciless whim. Their current leader Qinglong (Donnie Yen, Ip Man, S.P.L.: Kill Zone, Bodyguards And Assassins) becomes aware of a power play by the leader of the Imperial Court eunuch Jia, abusing his monarch’s disinterest, but is bound by the Jinyiwei laws to follow the Emperor’s orders – even if in reality they come from Jia – only to find himself betrayed by one of his own men.

On the run from his own deadly Jinyiwei, Qinglong fins sanctuary with wine merchant Jiao Zhong (Wu Ma, A Chinese Ghost Story, Swordsman, Deadful Melody) and his daughter Qiao Hua (Zhao Wei, Mulan, Red Cliff, So Close) – until they realise just how dangerous a man Qinglong is to be around. In order to create a diversion and uncover eunuch Jia’s plan, he kidnaps Jiao.

He soon finds out that Jia plots with the exiled Prince Qing (Sammo Hung, Ip Man 2, Three Kingdoms, S.P.L.: Kill Zone) to take control of the kingdom, qnd has sent his deadly daughter Tuo Tuo (Kate Tsui, 72 Tenants of Prosperity, Contract Lover) to do his bidding. Qinglong must stop this alliance from happening, but finds unlikely allies in the Sky Bandits led by Judge (Chun Wu, Butterfly Lovers), but can he truly start to feel beyond his duty?

After the abysmal and frankly embarrassingly condescending Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon, Daniel Lee goes a long way to redeeming himself with this better paced, more fun action thriller. Sure, there are many common themes: Kate Tsui’s fem fatale is the spit of Maggie Q; there’s all that stupid, stupid dreadlock hair; hell, even most of the costumes look like they were left over. The film makes more of that spin on spaghetti westerns, and not just on the soundtrack this time.

Yet this time the characters get more of a chance to breathe. Wei Zhao is always a welcome presence (though my previously aired thoughts on Zhao in period dramas still stand – what, cast as another doting daughter?), and actually Yen is not at all bad. I rather like the way the film turns into a wuxia It Happened One Night for a while after Qinglong takes Jiao hostage. It’s all fairly predictable, but well played out.

And the action is particularly well choreographed by action director and Yuen Woo-ping collaborator Ku Huen Chiu (The Warlords, Fearless, Kung Fu Hustle, The Forbidden Kingd0m) – who even got a Best Action Choreography award at this years Hong Kong Film Awards for his troubles. After seeing Donnie Yen in so many more ‘grounded’ fight scenes, it’s actually rather fun to see him in a more ‘wire-fu’ based movie for a change. With such a long career in Hong Kong movies it is, of course, something he excels at.

The fights themselves are a delicious take on old school martial art movies, combining wire-fu with modern techniques they don’t overstep the use of CGI, a regular complaint of ours. (Though those hoping for a pre-emptive clash from Yen and Hung will still have to wait for Ip Man 2.)

Indeed, the whole film rather pays tribute to the martial art films of the 70s and 80s, updating them to a true 21st century look. The 14 Blades weapon itself recalls the increasingly inventive designs by Tong Kai for the Shaw Brothers for films like The Magic Blade and Deadly Breaking Sword, whilst the clandestine plan evokes Killer Clans. The pale eunuch a recurring figure during 80s/90s wuxia films, but most notably the villain of the original King Hu version of Dragon Inn. And just like then, it seems Hong Kong filmmakers hardly make films in Cantonese anymore, this is just in Mandarin.

Not perfect, but a lot of fun – this has enough going for it to appeal to Eastern and Western audiences alike.

easternkicks.com » Country

Legend of Fong Sai Yuk on UK DVD

The Legend Of Fong Sai-Yuk is released on DVD on Monday 6 September by Cine Asia / Dragon Dynasty.

Related Posts:

DVD/Blu-ray: Professor Layton and The Eternal Diva

Professor Layton And The Eternal Diva (cert. U) will be released on DVD (£15.99) and Blu-ray(£19.99) by Manga Entertainment on 18th October 2010.

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Congratulations to winners of out Kamui: The Lone Ninja competition

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2010 Tokyo International Film Festival to commemorate Bruce Lee

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Hong Sang-soo retrospective at the BFI Southbank, London

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Blood Simple gets the Zhang Yimou makeover

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Coming soon: The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk on UK DVD

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Mother

Back in November 2009, Bong Joon-ho spoke at the BFI Southbank in London, which we reviewed here.

Mother is released by Optimum Releasing and ICO in cinemas from Friday, 20 August, and will be released on DVD by Optimum Home Entertainment on 20 September.

Related Posts:

Out today: Goemon and more

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14 Blades

14 Blades is released on DVD and Blu-ray (£17.99) by Icon Home Entertainment from Monday 16 August 2010.

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