Taiwan

[Jesse Smooth]

Are they still making movies--martial arts wise? They seem kinda MIA. Just haven't heard or seen anything from there lately.

[Mark Pollard]

Taiwan's film industry is currently in serious decline. The government has been sponsoring training for young directors and last year Ang Lee gave back $300,000 in prize money given to him by Taiwan for his film LUST, CAUTION as a way to help the industry out. The territory is making very few films nowadays and virtually none are genre pictures. That may be part of the problem though. I get the impression that Taiwanese filmmakers consider themselves the standard bearers of highbrow, artsy Asian filmmaking but that's not where the money lies.

If there is any martial arts-related productions still going on in Taiwan or with Taiwanese backing its on television.

[Jesse Smooth]

Man, that's sad to hear.

[Markgway]

'Lust, Caution' wasn't even a pure Taiwanese movie - it was a co-production with HK/USA/China.

[Jesse Smooth]

I know that they still have the talent to put something good together. I know about Robert Tai's ego/attitude, but I mean, he could of been Taiwan's premier action director. :)

[Mark Pollard]

Robert Tai never rose above making schlock though. That was part of the problem with Taiwanese action cinema in the 1980s. They were making B-grade, cheesball throwbacks to better wuxia and kung fu movies from a decade earlier while Hong Kong action filmmakers were blazing a trail into new territory with superior films that continued to capture the attention of the world.

[Jesse Smooth]

Robert Tai never rose above making schlock though. That was part of the problem with Taiwanese action cinema in the 1980s. They were making B-grade, cheesball throwbacks to better wuxia and kung fu movies from a decade earlier while Hong Kong action filmmakers were blazing a trail into new territory with superior films that continued to capture the attention of the world.

Wow...I wonder if guys Like Lee Tso Nam or Joseph Kuo could have upped their games up a bit. I know there are some rare Triad movies from Taiwan in that era. Heck, Chi Kuan Chun could have been a top-tier action choreographer. Even when the Venoms (Kuo Chui, Lu Feng and Chiang Sheng) went back to Taiwan, they could have made some wild ideas from what they learned and did in HK.