sixamsedna
07-30-2009, 06:31 AM
Hi all, new here.
Massive appreciation of kung fu cinema. Absolutely love these films. I'm a fan of the stylized camerawork (which so inspired Tarantino as well) of these films and just overall love the genre.
However, if there is a sub-genre I hold much love to, then it would definitely be the films that are like Master of the Flying Guillotine.
Looks just like a regular kung-fu film yea? NOPE. Not to me, there is something that separates that film from the rest of them. Again, I have not seen hundreds of kung fu films so I may well be just talking out of my ass. But from what I HAVE seen. This film grabbed me the most.
Not to ramble, I'll tell you what it is that really draws me to these films.
First of all...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0e/Flyingguillotine.jpg
Definitely that. I love the kind of "unconventional" in the kung fu films. Or the mysterious and the surreal. Like the blind guillotine master. I love characters that are not cardboard, but there's some SPICE to them, whether they're blind, they way they are dressed that sets them apart from everyone else, or be it some kind of trademark in the fighting style - basically something FRESH. Let's face it, there are hundreds of martial arts films, and if I'm wrong - feel free to correct me and call me a dumbass - but most of them just have simple guys fighting off some mob or something.
But what about originality?
I recently have watched. Sammo Hung's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and while it has him basically fighting a bunch of other guys, I loved, LOVED the whole scene in the cabin with the ghost. The way it was shot, with a blue filter, the way the "witch" guy would go into his trance, and it would cut between him and the scene in the cabin.
THAT is what made the film so much more enjoyable to me.
What else? MYSTERY. This awesome scene was probably one of the most interesting parts of the entire film to me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX6EHqcvqyo
The way it's shot, the sound effects, the masks. That mystery.
I could go on and on about what I love about kung fu films, but in a nutshell what I have described is what I'm looking for. I hope there are films that "satisfy the criteria" so to say, at least one of them, and that would make me happy.
I'm looking for martial art films that are stylized, gritty, mysterious, ORIGINAL, surreal. Not just guys beating up other guys because the bad guy came in and killed his family.
Yes, that's fine if you want to kill time and watch something fun - I don't even mind it all that much, but if that formula had even something MORE to it. That'd be great.
If anyone needs more elaboration please let me know. I hope some of you guys can recommend something for me that's refreshing as I have not seen the entire collections of SB, or other studios' films.
Thanks.
Massive appreciation of kung fu cinema. Absolutely love these films. I'm a fan of the stylized camerawork (which so inspired Tarantino as well) of these films and just overall love the genre.
However, if there is a sub-genre I hold much love to, then it would definitely be the films that are like Master of the Flying Guillotine.
Looks just like a regular kung-fu film yea? NOPE. Not to me, there is something that separates that film from the rest of them. Again, I have not seen hundreds of kung fu films so I may well be just talking out of my ass. But from what I HAVE seen. This film grabbed me the most.
Not to ramble, I'll tell you what it is that really draws me to these films.
First of all...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0e/Flyingguillotine.jpg
Definitely that. I love the kind of "unconventional" in the kung fu films. Or the mysterious and the surreal. Like the blind guillotine master. I love characters that are not cardboard, but there's some SPICE to them, whether they're blind, they way they are dressed that sets them apart from everyone else, or be it some kind of trademark in the fighting style - basically something FRESH. Let's face it, there are hundreds of martial arts films, and if I'm wrong - feel free to correct me and call me a dumbass - but most of them just have simple guys fighting off some mob or something.
But what about originality?
I recently have watched. Sammo Hung's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and while it has him basically fighting a bunch of other guys, I loved, LOVED the whole scene in the cabin with the ghost. The way it was shot, with a blue filter, the way the "witch" guy would go into his trance, and it would cut between him and the scene in the cabin.
THAT is what made the film so much more enjoyable to me.
What else? MYSTERY. This awesome scene was probably one of the most interesting parts of the entire film to me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX6EHqcvqyo
The way it's shot, the sound effects, the masks. That mystery.
I could go on and on about what I love about kung fu films, but in a nutshell what I have described is what I'm looking for. I hope there are films that "satisfy the criteria" so to say, at least one of them, and that would make me happy.
I'm looking for martial art films that are stylized, gritty, mysterious, ORIGINAL, surreal. Not just guys beating up other guys because the bad guy came in and killed his family.
Yes, that's fine if you want to kill time and watch something fun - I don't even mind it all that much, but if that formula had even something MORE to it. That'd be great.
If anyone needs more elaboration please let me know. I hope some of you guys can recommend something for me that's refreshing as I have not seen the entire collections of SB, or other studios' films.
Thanks.