A lesser known work by martial arts film master King Fu The Brave Ones It's his most action packed film.
The 1975 drama is set in China's Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and was filmed in Hong Kong's New Territories and surrounding islands, and is based on a true story of Chinese heroes battling corrupt officials in an attempt to drive Japanese pirates off China's coast.
We spoke to critic Frank Jenn, who wrote the commentary for the Eureka Films Blu-ray edition. Brave ones, About movies.
This was once thought to be a “lost film.” When was it found?
The Brave Ones The film remained in obscurity for nearly 20 years until 1996, when the Hong Kong Film Archive discovered a print of it in a film lab.
Martial arts are explained in an easy-to-understand way – Hu's artistic editing style is not seen much. Why is that?
action The Brave Ones It's much clearer and more plentiful than Hu's previous work.
The story lends itself to this kind of action because it's very literal and very straightforward: there are no subplots or hidden twists, nothing to surprise the audience: the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad.
There are some great sword-fighting scenes, but also more kung fu than in Hu's previous films…
I also think he wanted to showcase Sammo's skills because his fame was growing. He was telling the crowd, “Look what this guy has. This is the way to go. This is the future.”
Many people don't know that Sammo Hung Kam-Bo had a long friendship with King Fu and said that Fu was a major influence on him.
Han Ying-jie, who worked as King Fu's choreographer, had taught Sammo martial arts at Yu Jimyuan's Peking Opera School, and I suspect Han may have introduced Sammo to Fu.
Hun also plays the role of a Japanese pirate leader. The Brave Onesgave a very campy performance.
It's a very interesting performance because, even though he has Kabuki-style makeup on his face, he makes no attempt to act Japanese. Sword fightingIn Style Kenjutsu, he combines Chinese and Japanese swordsmanship in his fighting style.
One wonders why Hu chose to wear that makeup, considering that Kabuki (a Japanese performing art) only became popular after the time period of this film, during the Edo period (1603-1868).
Xu plays Wakaishi, the wife of one of the main characters, Ji Yuan, but the two barely exchange words. I think she has less than 10 lines in the entire movie.
Hu wanted to convey the idea that there is an incredible amount of trust between the two of them, showing that they are a loving couple and know each other so well that they don't need to talk.
Hu's silent expression expresses their love for each other until the moment they die. Sue's silence and angry gaze speak volumes. She remains calm throughout, and Hu uses them together to express the concept of a chivalrous knight.
Bai Ying's character, Ji Yuan – Master of “Whirlwind Swordsmanship” – to attract attention.
Bai Ying is a really great actor. He played the evil eunuch. Dragon InnBut after that, Hu Jintao always cast him in heroic roles, and it seems that Hu Jintao saw in him a kind of heroic sensibility and thought that he embodied a kind of heroic spirit.
in The Brave OnesHu uses him to portray exactly what a hero should be. Notice that when asked who his character is, he responds that he is just an ordinary Ming Dynasty citizen. Hu wanted to show that ordinary people can be heroes too.
Hu Jintao liked to portray strategy in his films, but in this film his character is more military.
The first half of the film is clearly military in tone, reminiscent of a war movie. The heroes, led by Roy Chao, [Hung]Develop a strategy to wipe out the pirates.
However, when it comes to the tournament scene where Zhiyuan shows off his skills, it's typical Hu style. I think the beauty of this film is that we get to know the characters more and more as the film progresses.
At the beginning, they appear and within 10 minutes they start fighting. The audience knows nothing about these men and women, they just fight. As the film progresses, we find out who they really are.
At first, Bai Ying appears to be just playing the role of a scholar, and his incredible swordsmanship is not on display for the first third of the film, but once he and Xu Feng arrive on the pirate island and engage in a series of duels, their heroic spirit shines through.
Unusually, the film doesn't end well for its protagonists.
Hu's theme read like a classic Chinese history lesson: good people die and an incompetent emperor and corrupt palace officials survive.
This regular feature series highlighting the best of Hong Kong cinema examines the legacy of classic cinema, reassessing the careers of some of Hong Kong's greatest stars and revisiting lesser-known aspects of a beloved industry.
