Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu Hustle laced our minds with bits of brilliance sprinkled upon an airy story.
Some things are meant for certain people and Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle fills nicely into that paradigm frame. Unfortunately for me, I do not speak Cantonese, therefore I did not get the same dosage of humor that Cantonese speakers did. Chow’s use of mo lei tau, appeases the ears of its native speakers but leaves others in the dark in regards to dialogue. Foreign tongues such as myself are brought in closer via the film’s other media (computer graphics, Kung Fu, story). From the outside looking in, the film’s veil of vanity blinded its viewers of a true story. With undeveloped characters creating gaping holes in the story, Stephen Chow’s true comedy lies in the film itself.
Contrarily, Kung Fu Hustle was a critically acclaimed and Oscar-nominated picture with an incredibly well received batch of reviews attached to its resume.
Kung Fu Hustle is a parody of classical Hong Kong and Western gangster and martial arts films. Chow takes classical elements of Chinese martial arts and classical Chinese music and juxtaposes the images with American Western films, Western animation and Liumang culture. He uses slapstick comedic devices and extravagantly exaggerated kung fu to create this critically acclaimed picture. The irony that ties itself to the film is that: it is hard for one to believe that this film was made with the intent of being taken seriously, as seen in the simplicity of the story, characters and CGI. Imagine the following: Buster Keaton meets Ong Bak meets Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’s flying sequences meets Looney Tunes slapped upside the head with Kill Bill. That tied around an incoherent plot and you have Kung Fu Hustle!
Chow’s film takes place in pre-CCP China during the earlier part of the century (1930s-1950s). The story doesn’t really follow any particular story, but the story that connects itself with the others is that of Sing. Sing is the male protagonist, who idolizes the bad and has a misconstrued idea of right and wrong. There is a point in the movie where he says in reference to the homeless people behind him, "We don’t want to be like these beggars, no ambition." The comment shows his misapprehension of ambition. Sing’s ambition is to join the powerful Axe Gang that runs the city through fear. As a viewer searching for a greater answer, his ambition to become a gangster seems to be very tough for him because it is not his natural calling. However, because of the hole in his story, sans a flashback to his childhood, we never truly find out how decent he really is.
Sing makes a number of attempts to gain respect and fit in, but falls short the same number of times. Ultimately, due to his lock-picking skills he is given his initiation mission; set loose the most evil warrior in order to destroy the good warriors of a city called Pig Sty. He realizes his full potential after he betrays the Axe Gang & the evil warrior and succumbs to a beating of epic proportions. However, while he is in a body cast, he heals quickly and becomes the strongest warrior of all and he saves the day.
Like the last paragraph and a large portion of this review -which I deliberately made dry to prove my point- the story is dry and empty and misses every chance to develop its story. Maybe, I was not ready for this film yet.
Though I agree with most of what you said, you have to admit the point of this movie is similar to crouching tiger hidden dragon in that you should just enjoy what you see and what you see is a bunch of comedy so enjoy the 2- hrs that you spent watching it hahahaha
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jay. You may like this kind of film or not, but the language itself should not be a big problem. As non-English speakers in Asia still watch "Scary Movie" and "Austin Powers" series and actually a lot of people are fan of these kind of movie. Since Chow tried to put all different kind of reference into his movie, people from different backgrounds still could enjoy his movie. Also, I think that a lot movies these days are emphasizing on visual aspect, so I guess Chow movies are just the part of this trend in the movie industry.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree the story was dry. But i approached the film not expecting a mind blowing plot, it is a comedy after all. I do agree with you though, the Canto jokes left non speakers in the cold.
ReplyDeleteI agree that I should just take the movie for what it was, but I conceeded that point in my review. However, I feel that the film is much different than CTHD, in that CTHD had a beautiful story and the consummate approach to character development.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you all though, that I should have just taken the film for what it was and not try to look so deep into it.
In response to Jay: For the record, I LOVED CTHD haha.
ReplyDeleteThe first time I watched this movie several years ago, I thought it was the biggest waste of my time after Napoleon Dynamite (I'm sorry if I offended anybody who liked that movie, but I really thought it was pointless). Watching it again, I agree that a number of the jokes and references are only funny if you have a relatively knowledgeable background in the wuxia genre and, like Shakeib said, understand Cantonese. I fit in both categories. Perhaps that's part of the reason I appreciated it more this second time around (although I still can't say that it's a masterpiece in any way).
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think that Kung Fu Hustle is interesting in that the 2000s marks a time in Hong Kong movie industry where a plethora of similar such parodies of Chinese and Western genres popped up. That fact by itself speaks of a certain kind of disillusionment of known and popular culture both in the East and West. Furthermore, something is to be said about the irony of Sing's attempt to be the biggest "bad" guy. This actually is a pretty spot on commentary on the youthful "kuai zai" (I don't know how to romanize Cantonese, but it's basically a "punk") in Hong Kong and their obsession with gangs and being the best worst.
In the end, I still don't think I can honestly say that I like Kung Fu Hustle with all its inaneness, but there are certain social commentaries that can be pulled from it, albeit it being like pulling teeth.
After having the discussion in class and reading the reviews, I have been wondering if we are trying to read into Kung Fu Hustle more than is there. Of course there are the obvious references to both Chinese and western films and phenomena, but did Chow really mean for this grand overarching theme of eastern and western synergy that we are discussing? I am a fan of Chow's films and have always just enjoyed them for the humor that they provide. Perhaps he really does mean to have a great theme to them, but that is never what I think of when I am laughing from how silly they are.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Jess: Yeah, I think the movie was strong in a lot of areas, but the fundamentals were not there.
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ReplyDeleteIn response to Binh: I agree. That is why I said at the end of my review... "Maybe, I was not ready for this film yet." Maybe I haven't grown as a viewer to sometimes just take films as they seem. But, as the artist, Chow being the artist, when you make a piece it is subject to criticism. I understand my flaws in watching the movie and sometimes that is all it takes. After class, I really understood how monumental of a film it was. I mean, this is Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd! This is Hong Kong's first true go at the comedy spectrum and what heights they soared. I mean, to make a parody is tough and to do so not knowing how your country was going to receive it is another thing in its own right. You are the man Stephen Chow!
ReplyDeleteShakeib, I agree with many of your original points. I never really thought about it when I initially watched the movie, but the storyline and character development was somewhat lacking; but I did feel there was a story, however simplistic it was--Sing's story about discovering his potential, doing good, fighting evil, and falling in love.
ReplyDeleteLike Jesslyn, I am also not a big fan of Napoleon Dynamite and felt it was a waste of my time. However, I didn't feel that way towards this film. When I watched it a while back when it first came out in the states, I was shocked at what I saw. It's a little embarrassing to admit, but I (like many other Westerns) expected a typical "kung fu" movie with martial arts and wuxia elements of people flying through the air. I didn't expect a comedy that would actually make me laugh.
The difference between then and now (after we've discussed it in an academic setting) is that I didn't really appreciate it--I just saw it as another silly movie and nothing more. Shakeib, I too now understand the importance of this film to Chinese pop culture after class. It was a really bold move on Chow's behalf, but one that needed to be made. I personally feel this film was successful in terms of his personal motives for making it. Chinese people can be funny too! :)
When watching this film I was expecting it to be tasteless. Though, for its genre I think it achieved a pretty good balance of parody. The moments that could be considered "over the top" -- such as the Looney Tunes-esque running or other impossible feats -- fit smoothly into the style of the film.
ReplyDeleteI don't speak Cantonese either, but watched with subtitle, still hilarious. Maybe it's because I've already watched a couple of his movies and knew his comedy pattern. He mixed the theme of parody with a few symbols of American/Chinese pop culture and made it work. You describing Asian Scary Movie should be the right metaphor of this movie for whom haven't watched it yet.
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