Bizarre, inspired fight scenes and farcical fun, Corey Yuen directs Jet Li in a silly but highly enjoyable movie…
Jet Li plays Fong Sai Yuk, a young man extremely talented at martial arts but something of a tear away – always becoming involved in fights. It’s a trait he gets directly from his mother (Josephine Siao), who sells linen but is ALSO a talented martial artist. Much to the embarrassment of Fong’s father (Chu Kong, The Killer, Once a thief).
Fong enters a tournament for the hand of Tiger Lu’s (Chen Sung Young, Prison on Fire II, Gorgeous) daughter. All he has to do is beat his wife in combat, neither must touch the ground. Sounds easy, only Siu Lee Wan (Sibelle Hu) is yet another extremely talented Martial artist! The two dive into the audience, continuing to combat on peoples heads – until Fong catches sight of (who he thinks is) Tiger’s daughter and throws the fight. Ashamed that her family name might lose face, Fong’s mother enters the competition as Fong’s older brother. This time Wan loses the competition, and in the process falls for Fong’s disguised mother. (When Fong hears of this he retorts ‘Lesbian? Cool!’)
The marriage is forced on Fong’s family, and with no older brother in sight the daughter is pushed on to Fong himself. He spends a lot of time avoiding her before realising that he was wrong, Tiger’s daughter is the enchanting Ting Ting (Michelle Reis, Chinese Ghost Story II, Swordsman II) – someone Fong definitely wants to spend time with! Then Fong’s father turns out not to be so feeble after all – he’s leading the local Han Chinese rebels against the ruling Manchu empire! The Manchu Governor (Chiu Man Chuk) captures him, and Fong must face him one last time to save his fathers life…
With the phenomenal success of the Once Upon a Time in China series it was no surprise to find Jet Li starring in no end of imitations, each trying to take the expectations of the audience a little further. Longtime associate Corey Yuen Kwai(Saviour of the Soul, So Close, The Transporter) embraces the challenge with confidence. In fact, when Fong tells his friends he’s given them and himself false names, so his father won’t find out the latest trouble he’s gotten himself into, he assumes the familiar pose of Wong Fei-Hong from OUATIC, it’s theme music playing in the background, announcing he will call himself ‘Wong (long pause) Jing’. It’s a double in joke, as Wong Jing is the famed writer/producer who worked with Jet Li on Evil Cult Master and Last Hero in China. (One of the other friends he’s called Yuen Kwai!)
Working with Yuen Tak, who had also worked with Li on Once Upon a Time in China 3, Corey raises the level of action even further. Usually by taking it on bizarre tangents, like the would-be assassin surfers. This has some of the most surreal action sequences this side of Ching Siu Tung. The editing is as tight as ever, and director-to-be Jingle Ma (Tokyo Raiders) helps give the film a slick sheen.
The film benefits from a great ensemble cast, with Josephine Siao whose comedic turn as Li’s kung fu fighting mother often steals his scenes. This also creates one of the most interesting relationships seen in Hong Kong films. Even Chiu Man Chuk (The Blade, The Black Sheep Affair) in his first major screen role plays the villain with aplomb.
A sequel quickly followed, developing both the outrageousness of the action scenes AND relationship between Fong and his mother. Corey has continued to work with Li as action choreographer on many of his films since, particularly those in America. He’s also about to break into the mainstream, directing a US production written by Luc Besson (Leon, The Fifth Element), starring Jason Statham (Snatch, The One) and Shu Qi (Gorgeous, City Of Glass, A Man Called Hero) – so expect to hear a lot more about him soon!
The Legend Of Fong Sai-Yuk is released on DVD on Monday 6 September by Cine Asia / Dragon Dynasty.
DVD details
Distributor: Universe (Hong Kong)
Some defects, but a good transfer keeps the detail particularly in the stylised lighting fo the night shots.
Distributor: Cine Asia / Dragon Dynasty (UK)
This one has been a while coming: a halfway decent UK release of Fong Sai Yuk, aka The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk!
Previously this has only been available in the UK under in it's awful English-dubbed form – 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.
