Their bodies move like snakes, monkeys, bleloks (South East Asian wading birds) and tigers; supple, mischievous, preening and ripping. I’m referring to the heroes of the Areel Abu Bakar directed Silat Warriors: Deed of Death (aka Geran), brother Ali (Khoharullah Majid) and sister Fatimah (Faiyna Tajudin) who live with their father Nayan. The siblings are […]
Fant-Asia
NE ZHA: Worthy of Disney/DreamWorks Animation, Yet Distinctly Chinese with Impassioned Chinese Style Action
With a beautifully constructed allegory mirroring William Ernest Henley’s 1875 poem Invictus that asserts, “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul,” the record breaking Chinese 3-D animated feature Ne Zha, which is loosely based on a Chinese mythological martial arts legend drawn from the Ming Dynasty novel The […]
SHADOW: Zhang Yimou’s Brolly Blades In Ancient China
In Zhang Yimou’s latest wu xia drama set during China’s Three Kingdom Period (AD 220-280), Shadow (mandarin Ying, translation Shadow), Zhang’s palace intrigue twisted tale of lies, deceit, power plays, doppelgangers and a wonky love triangle, features two purposely chosen kung fu weapons, da dao (a long handled big sword blade) and umbrellas that makes […]
SDAFF 2018: Food, Martial Arts and Whaaat? — Part 2: Brian Hu
By Dr. Craig D. Reid In less than a week, in what USA Today says is one of the Top 10 things to do in San Diego, the 19th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival (aka SDAFF 2018), which is the second biggest Asian Film Festival in North America, will be screening 160+ films from […]
Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings: One of Tsui Hark’s Best iDee-as
By Dr. Craig D. Reid It seems as the years go by for director Tsui Hark, his film’s are subliminally and slowly creeping backwards to incorporate what made his early fant-Asia films of the 1980s and ’90s the best made Hong Kong wuxia movies in town. His three romantic A Chinese Ghost Story thrillers were […]
MONKEY KING 3: Hey Hey, It’s the Monkey and He’s Maybe Coming To Your Town
By Dr. Craig D. Reid Chinese film fans have heard of wuxia novels and films, stories soaked in traditional tales and legends of superhuman swordsmen and magical feats. Yet there’s another genre of martial arts prose called gung-fu xiao shuo (kung fu novels), books in which the characters use martial arts even though the heroes […]