Global TV: The Magic Blade and Darna on Viki

Apologies for the delay in new posts this week. One goal I have for the re-booted IVFF is to explore alternative streaming resources, apps, and websites.  I started looking at Viki, a Singapore-based resource, when its Viki Premiere app appeared at the Samsung Smart Hub app store. One of the more interesting things about Viki is that the subtitles for its programming are crowd-sourced (its slogan is "powered by avid fans") Depending on the quality of the source video, the Samsung Smart TV app looks very good, and I have also been successful flinging the Viki website to a television using Chromecast. The Samsung Viki Premiere app is free and it does not feature advertisements. Video streams at viki.com, however, will feature ads unless you purchase a "Viki Pass."

The two series worth looking at (so far in my brief explorations) have been The Magic Blade from China and Darna from the Philippines. The Magic Blade is an old-school wuxia pian serial in the tradition of the Shaw Brothers in Hong Kong. (But this should not be confused with the 1976 Shaw Brothers film with the same title). While the production values do show the limitations of a television series budget, I was actually surprised by the overall quality of the production. (The location scout should have top billing, the outdoor scenes are often gorgeous.) One weak spot is the actual fight choreography (which requires a lot of time to do well) but other wuxia conventions like wirework are handled pretty well, relatively speaking. In what I've watched so far, The Magic Blade does not hesitate to swing from broad humor to somewhat messed up near-torture scenes. The main focus of the plot is, of course, revenge, but there are several interesting subplots begin to emerge even in the first episode.

The first few minutes of episode one of Darna should tell you whether you want to explore the rest of the series. The brief opening scene previews the kinds of super-villainesses we can expect later on, and some of them seem so over-the-top that I won't even pretend to understand what is going on. But one challenge to sticking with the show is that the origin story is dragged out over the entire first episode. Another challenge is the truly awful gender politics in the first episode, but that actually makes me curious about how those attitudes towards gender roles will mix with an empowered female superhero and female villainesses as the series moves forward. The production values for the show are not great, the video quality of the Viki stream is not ideal, and even the shows fans on Viki make fun of the special effects. But the show has a certain charm that makes me want to explore it for some more episodes. [Edit: Shortly after posting this I watched another Viki episode, which I now believe combines 2 30-minute episodes; Superhero Darna still hasn't appeared, and she is unlikely to appear for a few more episodes. So another challenge to sticking with the series is how tolerant you are of poorly treated child characters.]

For more information about the history of Darna, consult The Darna Wiki.

Posters and Synopses from Viki.com

The Magic Blade

The leader of the martial arts world is killed mysteriously and the crime goes unsolved. Fu Hong Xue (Wallace Chung), the leader’s son, is determined to avenge his father’s death 24 years later. But a number of people, including Yan Nan Fei (Zong Feng Yan), who wants to become the new leader of the martial arts world, plot to get rid of Hong Xue. Will Hong Xue be able to overcome Nan Fei’s gang and solve his father’s murder? What will he do when he discovers the shocking truth about his own life? The Magic Blade is a 2012 Chinese drama series directed by Gao Xian Ming and Huang Wei Jie.

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Darna

Darna is a Philippine drama/fantasy series adapted from Mars Ravelo's fictional superheroine of the same name. This latest adaptation was directed by Dominic Zapata and Don Michael Perez and developed by Jun Lana, based on the Darna graphic novels by Mars Ravelo. It stars Marian Rivera in the title role and her alter-ego Narda, Iwa Moto as her main nemesis, Valentina, as well as Dennis Trillo as Pancho and Mark Anthony Fernandez as Eduardo.

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Jackie Chan: Little Big Soldier, Project A, Wheels on Meals

Back in June in one of my Miramax/Dimension entries I mentioned that Jackie Chan's Operation Condor (Armour of God) films were streaming on Netflix Watch Instantly.  Some of his other early classics, unfortunately dubbed (although reasonably well dubbed), are now also available.  They might make a good pairing with what critics have called a nostalgic return to his roots in last year's Little Big Soldier.

Little Big Soldier (Sheng Ding, Hong Kong, 2010, 95 minutes)
Netflix: Jackie Chan stars as a grizzled veteran who kidnaps a young enemy general (Lee-Hom Wang), then escorts him on a long journey to collect a reward, in this comic martial arts extravaganza set in the days of ancient China. But as their perilous road trip unfolds, the old soldier soon realizes he's bitten off more than he can chew. Chan also wrote the screenplay for this film directed by Sheng Ding.  Netflix link.

Some of Chan's best films from the 1980s teamed him up with Sammo Hung.  This is the period where Chan perfected the comic kung-fu genre (which really kicked in with his Drunken Master (1978), also streaming), and many critics subsequently compared his work with the great silent comedians like Chaplin and especially Keaton.  In addition to Project A, Netflix is also streaming Project A 2 (1987)

Jackie Chan's Project A (Jackie Chan, Hong Kong, 1983, 98 minutes)
Netflix: This acrobatic action flick stars the inimitable Jackie Chan as an upright sailor in turn-of-the-century Hong Kong who's out to stop buccaneers from running roughshod over the South China Sea. So far, the crooked police captain and a band of thugs in league with the looters have hamstrung all efforts to battle the problem. Can Jackie foil the culprits with a little help from a wily con man (Sammo Hung)? Netflix link.

Wheels on Meals (Sammo Hung, Hong Kong, 1984, 108 minutes)
Netflix: Chan and Biao operate a catering van in beautiful Barcelona, Spain. They team-up with a bumbling detective to help him find a pickpocket named Sylvia. When they discover she's been kidnapped by a local gang, they swing into action.  Netflix link.

Dragons Forever (Sammo Hung, Hong Kong, 1988, 93 minutes)
Netflix: Jackie Chan is a lawyer defending a shady businessman. When he realizes that his client is involved in the drug business, he teams up with his buddies to take on the villians and their polluting ways.  Netflix link.

Wong Kar-wai on Netflix and Fandor

Following up on my post last week on Hong Kong's Johnny To, it is also worth noting that many films by the great Wong Kar-wai are also available for instant streaming.  Whereas Johnny To has been more firmly rooted in the genre-driven Hong Kong industry, Wong Kar-wai has made a name for himself with highly personal films for the international film festival circuit. His breakthrough film, Chungking Express (1994), is missing from this list, but it is available on DVD from the Criterion Collection.

A good overview of Wong's career can be found at the Great Directors page of the Senses of Cinema website.  A key collaborator in his career has been the cinematographer Christopher Doyle; if you start to watch any of these films streaming and the image quality is not to your liking, by all means stop and get the DVD or Blu-ray if available.  

The new streaming service Fandor has been receiving some attention in the press, and I will keep my eye on their listings for inclusion here.  For now, it is worth noting that two Wong Kar-wai titles are currently available there, Fallen Angels (1995) and Happy Together (1997).  The subscription rate is $10 a month, but a current promotion allows you to watch one film for free if you log in with your Facebook account.  If you have experience with Fandor please feel free to let me know your thoughts about the service in the comments section below. 

Ashes of Time Redux (Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong, 1994/2008, 93 minutes)
Netflix: In ancient China, swordsman Ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung) retreats to the desert to recover from the sting of an affair gone wrong. With a hardened heart, he subcontracts out killings to bounty hunters, who face their own dilemmas on the road to redemption. Tony Leung Ka Fai, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Brigitte Lin and Maggie Cheung also star in Kar Wai Wong's recut of his 1994 wuxia epic, which adds a score by Yo-Yo Ma. Netflix link.

I had the opportunity to see a 35mm print of the film around 1997 or so, and it was one of my favorite screening experiences of all time.  This has some of the most gorgeous cinematography I have ever seen (although I was disappointed by some of the alterations in the redux version).  For an in-depth analysis of the changes between versions of the film, consult David Bordwell's blog entry on the film.  More so than many of his later films, Ashes of Time is dependent upon genre conventions familiar to the Hong Kong industry, specifically the wuxia pian or swordplay martial arts genre.  Some of the more interesting aspects of the film might be lost to viewers who are not already familiar with those genre conventions, as the film plays with whether it will fulfill or deny viewer expectations for a martial arts film.  The redux version reduces this tension to a degree, and moves more towards an art cinema paradigm and eliminates some of the more purely genre driven elements.  This is probably not the film to introduce yourself to Wong's cinema, but it is well worth visiting at some point, and returning to for multiple viewings.


As Tears Go By (Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong, 1988, 99 minutes)
Netflix: Hong Kong gangster Ah Wah (Andy Lau) does all he can to keep his friend and fellow mobster Fly (Jackie Cheung) out of trouble, but Fly continues to wind up in hot water. Ah Wah's crime boss has had about as much as he can stand of Fly, but Ah Wah continues to stand by his friend. To complicate matters, Ah Wah begins to fall for his cousin (Maggie Cheung) but can't find the time to start a relationship and keep Fly out of trouble at the same time. Netflix link.

Again, at this point in his career we still see the influences of the more dominant genre driven Hong Kong industry.  In this case, the genre is the mobster/triad genre, but we still see hints of things to come in Wong's later work.  While the repetitive use popular songs becomes a trait later in his career to great effect, I do have to warn you that you might have to hear a Cantopop version of "Take My Breath Away" a few more times than you would want to outside of watching this film.  Still, a great film, with perhaps the best scene to ever feature someone stuffing a gun down someone else's pants and firing it.

Days of Being Wild (Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong, 1990, 95 minutes)
Netflix: After learning that the woman who raised him is not his mother, Yuddy (Leslie Cheung) acts out by manipulating two women -- quiet Su Lizhen (Maggie Cheung) and glamorous Mimi (Carina Lau). Su Lizhen eventually catches the eye of Tide (Andy Lau), while Yuddy's friend Zeb (Jacky Cheung) falls for Mimi. Meanwhile, Yuddy learns the identity of his birth mother and heads off to find her. This film won multiple honors at the Hong Kong Film Awards. Netflix link.

For me, this is where Wong Kar-wai starts to hit his stride, although I have to admit I did not know what to make of the film the first time I saw it.  My advice would be to take your time with the film, and don't force it to do anything other than what it is doing; just let the images work on you.  This a great meditation on time, loneliness, and the need to reach out to others, themes that will come back in subsequent Wong films.  By the end, we do see the re-introduction of genre components, but what will stick in your mind after the film is over will be vivid feelings and tones generated by specific lingering images.

Fallen Angels (Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong, 2005, 98 minutes)
Netflix: A disillusioned Hong Kong killer (Leon Lai Ming) embarks on what he hopes to be his last hit -- all the while realizing that to truly get out of the game, he must overcome his romantic obsession with his rarely seen partner (Michelle Reis). In a seemingly unrelated subplot, a mute (Takeshi Kaneshiro) tries to get the world's attention in his own unconventional way. Kar Wai Wong wrote and directed this winner of multiple Hong Kong Film Awards. Netflix link.  Fandor link.

Often seen as a companion work to Chungking Express (in fact the story was originally going to be a component of that film), in Fallen Angels we see Wong spreading his wings stylistically, sometimes audaciously, to create a cinematically sumptuous experience.  Sure this involves a hitman, but we have now come a long way from As Tears Go By, and we are nowhere near the films of Johnny To from last week (as much as I love those films, too).

Happy Together (Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong, 1997, 96 minutes)
Netflix: Gay couple Ho Po-Wing (Leslie Cheung) and Lai Yiu-Fai (Tony Leung) travel from Hong Kong to Argentina for a holiday to try to mend their dissolving relationship. They separate for a time, but when Po-Wing shows up at Yiu-Fai's door beaten up, Yiu-Fai takes him in. While Yiu-Fai begins a new relationship with another man, Po-Wing's life spins out of control. Director Kar Wai Wong's romantic drama won the Best Director award at Cannes. Netflix link.  Fandor link.

Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung are great in all of the Wong films that they appear in, but Happy Together is a particularly good showcase for their talents.  This film also benefits from the move away from Hong Kong and shooting on location in Argentina, which gives Wong and cinematographer Doyle a refreshing new palette with which to work.  Despite some great landscapes, however, the dominant feeling here is a kind of claustrophobia as the film vividly portrays the ups and downs of an codependent relationship.

In The Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong, 2001, 98 minutes)
Netflix: In director Kar Wai Wong's delicately mannered tale of platonic romance set in 1962 Hong Kong, neighboring married apartment-dwellers Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung, who won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for his role) and Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) discover that their often-absent spouses are having an affair. The two spend much of their free time together and find they have much in common, but vow never to behave like their unfaithful mates. Netflix link.

A gorgeous, heartbreaking film.  All of Wong's familiar elements are here, working perfectly together.  Here is a film where art direction, set design, and especially the costumes are thrust into the foreground in a way that ads a special texture to the quiet, intimate story (every dress Maggie Cheung wears is stunning).  While I mentioned that the repetition of "Take My Breath Away" in As Tears Go By might get irritating, the repetition of Nat King Cole songs works amazingly well here and with great emotional impact. I'm less enthusiastic about 2046, which is a companion film to In the Mood for Love, but you should still check it out anyway.  You might also consider Wong's segment in the portmanteau film Eros to be a thematic companion to this film, and it is also available on Netflix Watch Instantly.


I look forward to your thoughts about these films in the comments section.  --JLK