How To... Watch a Kung-fu Movie | TIFF 2019

Colin Geddes, programer of Kung Fu Fridays at TIFF Bell Lightbox, breaks down the best way to experience the cinematic fatal fists and crazy kicks of martial artist/fight choreographer/director Lar Kar-leung and the revered Hong Kong studio, the Shaw Brothers.

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin: Arguably director Lau Kar-leung’s masterpiece, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin enshrined one of the key foundation myths of the kung-fu genre — the dissemination of the top-secret combat techniques developed at Shaolin to the populace at large — even as it went beyond pulp-cinema conventions to function as a genuine historical chronicle of southern Chinese fighting styles. The popularity and influence of 36th Chamber goes deep with fans of martial-arts cinema: Quentin Tarantino cast its leading man Gordon Liu in both Volumes of his two-part Kill Bill, while the seminal hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan has long treated the film as Holy Scripture.

Dirty Ho: As he did in The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, in Dirty Ho director Lau Kar-leung authentically represents and pays homage to the southern Chinese martial-arts styles, but here deploys them in a more comic vein: in a series of hilarious, brilliantly staged “fight” sequences, Wang manages to conceal his kung-fu prowess (and thus his true identity) with seemingly clumsy, accidental manoeuvres that turn his assailants’ attacks back upon them.

Legendary Weapons of China: Spectacularly and intricately choreographed combat ensues, but the ultimate battle belongs to Lau and his real-life brother Lau Kar-wing, who plays one of the assassins. Often described as “the quintessential martial-arts movie,” Legendary Weapons of China climaxes in a gruelling battle that employs a dizzying slew of lethal and historically authentic armaments.

The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter: Shaws superstar Alexander Fu Sheng was midway through the shoot of The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter when he died in a car accident. Overcome with emotion, director Lau Kar-leung shut down production, rewrote the script, and then returned to orchestrate this stunning tale of madness, loss, grief, and ultra-violent revenge.

The Boxer’s Omen: Easily the most notorious film in the Shaw Brothers catalogue, The Boxer’s Omen is kung fu by way of Alejandro Jodorowsky, loaded with mystic martial arts, gross-out provocation, and shocking sadism.