PRODIGAL SON RETURNS TO DYNASTY

Firstly, it’s a pleasure to be back blogging and (eventually!) commentating again for Dragon Dynasty. As my email has been on the website all this times, many DD fans have written asking about my departure from the label. Let’s just say I took a sabbatical to pursue other projects for a while, some of which you can read about here: http://www.alivenotdead.com/beylogan.

Looking at the upcoming release slate, its exciting to see the great strides Dragon Dynasty is taking to bring so many current and classic Asian action titles to the Blu-Ray format. I’d like to use these ‘comeback’ missives to share some thoughts with you about our August line-up titles.

First up is ‘Tai Chi Master’. When I first saw this film, I was under the mistaken impression that Tai Chi was something that old folk did in the park. Now, as a practitioner of Chen style Tai Chi, I’ve had my eyes opened to its effectiveness as both a combat system and an aid to longevity. Director Yuen Woo-ping plays fast and loose with the story of the art’s founder, but, as William Randolph Hearst said, it’s better to “print the legend”, which is what they do here.

It’s great to see Jet Li paired with Michelle Yeoh. These two have danced like twin dragons for years. They were originally meant to co-star in a remake of the King Hu epic ‘Dragon Gate Inn’, and there were some impressive production stills shot showing the costumes and weapons designs for the film. The film was being produced by Jet’s then manager, Jim Lau. When Lau was shot and skilled in a gangland style assassination, the project was abandoned; Li and Yeoh were teamed for the first time in ‘Tai Chi Master’

Jet was supposed to play the Chow Yun-fat character opposite Yeoh in ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’, but bowed out, supposedly because he’s promised his wife he would stay at her side during her pregnancy. Michelle did shoot a rather stiff cameo for Jet’s epic ‘Fearless’, a framing sequence in which her character argues for the inclusion of wu shu in the Olympic games, citing Li’s character in the film, Fok Yun-kap, as an inspiration. This scene was cut from the finished film, and it wasn’t until the third ‘Mummy’ movie that the first lord and lady of on-screen martial artistry were reunited.

Even though the film is obviously about the development of Tai Chi, I enjoy the earlier, Shaolin-themed scenes just as much. This is Jet Li on familiar terrain: he made his debut in the Mainland Chinese martial arts epic ‘Shaolin Temple’. These scenes are some of the best depictions of life at the temple since that first ground-breaking movie. (I know its unlikely that real Shaolin training was anything like this; again, print the legend!).

I remember that, after I’d recorded the commentary for ‘Tai Chi Master’, we unearthed some extra scenes cut from the international version. In order to allow me to comment on those clips, they had to be beamed to Saigon, where I was recording a commentary for ‘The Rebel’ with the cast of that film. In the middle of that session, I shifted tracks to record my observations on ‘Tai Chi Master’ while the Vietnamese actors watched patiently. Then we returned to ‘The Rebel’. Multi-tasking at its best!

One of the most touching scenes in the film, and a beat that shows director Yuen Woo-ping at the height of his game, the mentally challenged Junbiao is suddenly enlightened after he sees a woodsman receiving news that his wife has just given birth. The farmer drops the load he’s carrying, symbolically freeing himself from the past as he runs off to greet his future. I definitely respond to that scene differently today, as a proud father myself, than I did when I first saw the movie in England. I was also reminded of this sequence when I saw the early cut of Donnie Yen’s ‘Ip Man’. That film originally opened with Ip about to fight a duel with a rival kung fu master, played by Sammo Hung (who played a similar role, albeit a different character, in ‘Ip Man 2’). Just as they’re about to fight, Ip receives word that his wife has delivered their first child, and, accepting the congratulations of his ‘foe’, races away. (The shot of Ip riding through the countryside, smiling broadly, was used to promote the film, even though the scene was cut.) So: same scene, different implications…

One of my most memorable experiences during my first sojourn at Dragon Dynasty saw me travel to Chen Village in Hangzhou, a trip you can see recorded on a bonus feature (and on various blogs). The Chen family are apparently preparing their own Tai Chi movie, with their version of its origins, so be prepared!

The great thing about kung fu movies is that they can serve as an introduction to philosophical pursuits and physical training that we from the west might never otherwise be exposed to. Hopefully, the re-issue of ‘Tai Chi Master’ will lead to even more viewers seeking out a good teacher and learning the art itself.

(Bey Logan can be reached care of bey.logan@gmail.com or at http://www.alivenotdead.com/beylogan)

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