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You Got Your Hung Gar in My Drunken Tai Chi!
9 years ago
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IT'S ALL ABOUT THE STYLE: A SURVEY OF MARTIAL ARTS STYLES DEPICTED IN CHINESE CINEMA by Blake Matthews
https://www.amazon.com/Its-All-About-Style-Depicted/dp/1515037991?ie=UTF8&ref_=cm_rdp_product_img
This book analyzes the most exciting fight scenes from roughly 87 Asian action movies, focusing on traditional kung fu styles, not "gun fu" or stunt-based action films like, say, RUMBLE IN THE BRONX (1995). While "authenticity" is a loaded term in the kung fu movie genre -- the point is to film an entertaining fight scene, not to make a documentary -- it's not unreasonable to expect that a character who's supposed to be a wing chun expert will perform some actual wing chun on camera, and not try to pass off tae kwon do as wing chun (I mean you, WARRIORS TWO).
That's where this book shines -- the author's enthusiasm for a well-choreographed fight scene (some of them as short as 70 seconds) comes across on the page as he explains just how much of the fight is based on real martial arts styles, bearing in mind that we're watching actors putting on a show, not people really trying to beat each other to death. The emphasis is on the golden age of the chopsocky kung fu movie (1972 - 1982), with little or no wirework, and when such Hong Kong masters as Lau Kar-Leung, Sammo Hung, and the Yuen clan were at the peak of their creativity.
The author writes knowledgeably, not only about southern and northern Chinese martial arts styles, but about Japanese, Korean, and Thai fighting styles as well, not to mention an extensive section on traditional Chinese and Japanese weapons, from swords, poles, and nunchaku to the kwan do, san jie gun, and chain whip. (Sorry folks, the flying guillotine is a fantasy weapon.) While the book suffers from the usual faults of self-published titles -- the copy editing is nonexistent, with typos and grammatically bizarre sentences on almost every page -- it's still an essential text for kung fu fans who want to know more about the history and practice of the fighting styles depicted onscreen.
https://www.amazon.com/Its-All-About-Style-Depicted/dp/1515037991?ie=UTF8&ref_=cm_rdp_product_img
This book analyzes the most exciting fight scenes from roughly 87 Asian action movies, focusing on traditional kung fu styles, not "gun fu" or stunt-based action films like, say, RUMBLE IN THE BRONX (1995). While "authenticity" is a loaded term in the kung fu movie genre -- the point is to film an entertaining fight scene, not to make a documentary -- it's not unreasonable to expect that a character who's supposed to be a wing chun expert will perform some actual wing chun on camera, and not try to pass off tae kwon do as wing chun (I mean you, WARRIORS TWO).
That's where this book shines -- the author's enthusiasm for a well-choreographed fight scene (some of them as short as 70 seconds) comes across on the page as he explains just how much of the fight is based on real martial arts styles, bearing in mind that we're watching actors putting on a show, not people really trying to beat each other to death. The emphasis is on the golden age of the chopsocky kung fu movie (1972 - 1982), with little or no wirework, and when such Hong Kong masters as Lau Kar-Leung, Sammo Hung, and the Yuen clan were at the peak of their creativity.
The author writes knowledgeably, not only about southern and northern Chinese martial arts styles, but about Japanese, Korean, and Thai fighting styles as well, not to mention an extensive section on traditional Chinese and Japanese weapons, from swords, poles, and nunchaku to the kwan do, san jie gun, and chain whip. (Sorry folks, the flying guillotine is a fantasy weapon.) While the book suffers from the usual faults of self-published titles -- the copy editing is nonexistent, with typos and grammatically bizarre sentences on almost every page -- it's still an essential text for kung fu fans who want to know more about the history and practice of the fighting styles depicted onscreen.
luagha
~luagha
+1 -:)
