Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Drunken Master (the old one) and being Kung Fu Bitten

I watched Drunken Master twice last week. It's pretty out of character for me to watch an entire movie in a single event (I get distracted), let alone the same one twice. I wasn't really watching the second half the first time to be honest, though, I was doing something in the world of distractions.
What brought me back to it was not the amazing myriad of overdubbed voices ranging from the American midwest accent to some British/southern hybrid, but purely the Kung Fu. I've been a Kung Fu watcher before, but I think I was 19, and stoned. And making out with He Who Shall Not Be Named. Kung Fu is sexy, I think. Jacky Chan (that's how they spell Jacky in the old Drunken Master, thankyouverymuch) is sexy.
Kung Fu americanized (particularly vintage) is funny. Some jokes just don't translate, no matter how they try and this creates a funny curiousity, one of my favorite types of funny. Some of it is funny-haha as intended, and then sometimes you just start laughing because no one would ever really make that noise even if they had just been flipped on their back by a mythically powerful punch.
A curiosity envoking scene in Drunken Master is where Jacky wants to impress his friends by getting a girl to hug him. His friend says "Imagine what it would be like to kiss a chick like that" Jacky says, "Kissing is for children, I could get that broad to hug me"
And he does, with a snake. Then some awkward patting ensues. Anyway, what I mean is that kissing in our culture is a sexual step above hugging, but in that society maybe the body contact is more titillating, she does kiss him, on accident, a peck on the cheek... but when she jumps in his arms it's just as innocent. Later the girls mother, who unbeknownst to Jacky, is Jacky's aunt, describes him as a sex maniac.
His Aunt kicks his ass by the way, and it's the most beautiful Kung Fu in the whole movie. The grace of her limbs just takes you. I'm going to find some time this weekend to render her in watercolor. I'll post it here, on my new blog, which will not just be about Kung Fu. But maybe for a minute because I am currently Kung Fu Bitten, like where So Hi bit Jacky's fingers in their first fight in the woods. This movie is currently on Hulu. It's awesome in many ways.

1 comment:

  1. sarah, you've infected me with kung fu fever! it's weird but I just recently started watching them again too. I just watched iron monkey yesterday!

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