Because we do take a break over the holidays as people invariably go back to their families, I've only done one poster for both months, this one featuring Shaw Brothers' regular Lo Meng (which we best know round these parts as Toad from the Five Deadly Venoms). What's on tap for the next two months if you're coming by my house of Friday nights? Well...Ten Tigers of Kwangtung - I generally like to start any given month with a Shaw Brothers classic. Ten Tigers (AKA The Ten Flying Tigers) reunites Chang Cheh with many of his Five Venoms gang for what will probably amount to his usual mix of accidental homoerotica and gory sadism (in all its orange blood glory). On a special Saturday because of an office Christmas party (jeers!).
Forbidden Kingdom - My living room audience tends to dwindle around December (exams, the holidays, etc.), so I like to schedule films that break KFF's Pure Asia mandate. Forbidden Kingdom has both Jet Li and Jackie Chan, but also an American teen dreaming of his kung fu heroes. The USA-China co-production was generally well received, and has a Mandarin track, so we'll see how "Americanized" it is.
The Enforcer - Same here. Jet Li's Enforcer is missing its Cantonese dub, so we'll be forced to watch it in English. That's greatly disappointing given that this is a Dragon Dynasty release with all the trimmings, but since I own everything the label's put out, it's gotta go through the pipeline sometime. Just before Christmas hiatus it is.
A Touch of Zen - If there's a bamboo forest sequence in tons of Chinese films, it's largely due to King Hu's classic. And it's been a while since we've seen a strong swordplay heroine. King Hu was also responsible for Come Drink With Me, cut from the same cloth as this film.
Kung Fu Hustle - When I say everybody demanded it, I really mean it. The over-the-top Airplane-type comedy kung fu films I've seen have mostly left me cold, but I still bought Stephen Chow's hit film... you know, for the group. I'm that kind of kung fu peddler.
Challenge of the Masters - Another Shaw Brothers film? Well, seeing as we already had a Chang Cheh AND a King Hu, I couldn't very well leave out my very favorite director - the more overtly comic Lau Kar-Leung - from the winter months. Challenge of the Masters is an early team-up between the best fight choreographer of all time and my man Gordon Liu. I don't even care what it's about (but it's teenage Wong Fei-Hung, so).
Violent Cop - I probably don't show enough Japanese films, but this gift from man-friend Bass will well provide January's only gun play film. I haven't seen anything by director Takeshi Kitano, but I'm intrigued by the critical acclaim he's gotten. Looks like Japan's got its own Dirty Harry.
Seven films carrying us over the New Year. Jeez, this tradition has been going on for a long time now!
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