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"Fine dust is hard to see, we forget about it, though it's everywhere"
Fair warning, Dust-Man is the type of film I enjoy--independent, centered around art, and involved redemption. The filming, music, and acting were not polished, but somewhere it just hit that sweet spot of theatrical enjoyment for me.Tae San is homeless and looks out for Mr. Kim, an older man, and Do Joon who is in his 30s like Tae San. One night Tae San observes a young woman painting a mural in a small tunnel. When he returns the next night, the city has painted the walls white. Mo Ah passes by and tells him it’s okay, she does these murals to force the city to clean up these spaces. Tae San shows her how to create art on the fine dust collected on cars and other surfaces. The two develop a friendship over art that is only held back by the darkness of Tae San’s past.
I enjoyed the impermanent art created by the two, art that would eventually be blown, wiped, or washed away. The two understood that art didn’t have to be permanent to be meaningful. Their images showed what was, what is, and what could be, hampered only by their imagination. Though Tae San’s art was unbounded, his life was a cage created by his memory. Until he found the key to unlock the door he was stuck on an “endless journey.”
Homelessness was portrayed as a life choice with the three men shown which was not very accurate. Most homelessness is caused by unaffordable housing, unsustainable wages and poverty, substance abuse, health issues, and mental illness. For women, abusive relationships can drive them out to the streets with children. Despite the white washed version, the director did try to show that homelessness, like fine dust, was everywhere, but often invisible. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. And like personal problems and pain, it needed to be faced. Tae San’s art and friendship with Mo Ah revealed the key he had hidden under mounds of dust and ash. Dust-Man was gritty and unpolished but showed that dreams could be carried by the dust in the wind*.
28 August 2025
*Apologies to Kansas/Dust in the Wind for applying the same term
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"Don't blame me if I don't fight fair"
Ten Tigers from Kwangtung is a kung fu cult classic. It boasted an all-star cast, had non-stop kung fu action from the beginning to the end and…meh. Maybe I was in the wrong mood, but I need a little story to break up the continuous fists and kicks.Five young Tiger apprentices are being hunted by two Qings bent on revenge. The Ten Tigers of Kwangtung had killed a general so his son and an official are looking to even the score. Though the five young men had nothing to do with with the death, if you can’t kill the one you want, then kill the one you’re with (a rif on the Stephen Stills song from 1970). The story rewinds to show how the Ten Tigers formed their rebellious band.
This cast was loaded. Ti Lung played the leader of the Ten. Alexander Fu Sheng was the annoying Tam Ming who tested the members’ skills and patience. All six Venoms eventually joined the Ten. Johnny Wang played the Qing general in an understated performance for him. Ku Feng was the rebel leader being protected by the numerical crew. Wong Lik shone as the menacing Qing official in the present who had a variety of lethal weapons hidden on his person and wasn’t afraid to fight dirty. “Don’t blame me for not fighting fair.” The always maligned Qings lost their head when confronted with the Venoms and learned that a spear will go through two as easy as one.
Fair warning, this was a Chang Cheh film which meant the blood spewed freely and forcefully. Many of the fighters were stuck in bad Bruce Lee wigs with pigtails awkwardly tacked on. The dubbing was atrocious, lips and dialogue didn’t always match up. That often happened when scripts were written on the fly and the actual dialogue was dubbed in later, but seemed rather egregious in this bigger budget flick. I recognized several of the sets which hadn’t been demolished in previous CC movies serving as murder scenes in this one.
The martial arts choreography was okay and standard for the time in the flashbacks, though some of the action bordered on kung fu posing. Fortunately, Phillip Kwok and Lu Feng could be counted on to bring the acrobatic charm. Ti Lung and Johnny Wang had a battle with a weapon I’d never seen before—a mermaid cudgel. During the present, the youngsters’ fights against Wong Lik and Chen Shu Chi in the final 30 minutes were the fastest and most creative.
Ten Tigers from Kwangtung would have benefited from some white space on the page to give the viewers a mental breather from the constant kung fu. Despite my complaints, it was fun to see this festival of favorites in one film. And it gave several smaller players with skills who were often relegated to bit roles time to shine. I wasn’t as crazy about this film as kung fu film aficionados tend to be, but if you enjoy these old films, it’s one to try. As always, I grade kung fu flicks on a curve.
22 August 2025
Trigger Warnings: Dismemberments and lots of spewing blood.
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What I liked:
The production values were high. The cinematography and music were all slick.
The acting was quite good, there were the occasional clunkers, but for the most part, the characters were convincing.
Unlike a lot of dramas who won’t go there, the stakes were high for both swindlers and victims.
What didn’t work for me:
(Vague, but slightly spoilery)
This has been done before. Many times. I kept waiting for Takumi to show that he had been stinging Harrison, but alas he just wasn’t that bright. The twist was evident from the beginning because, it is a tired old trope that needs to be retired instead of retread.
The sinning nun made no sense to me. Sell the temple and go get her freak on whenever she wanted. Were there bodies buried there?
Harrison’s business model wasn’t sustainable. Word was bound to get out. Should have already been common knowledge.
None of the characters were likeable, especially Takumi. He might have a boyish face, be able to hang in there like a stallion, and been the victim at one time, but he kept the cycle of devastation, death, and revenge rotating. Hardly a sympathetic cause. For 5 years he had access to all sorts of information, yet he failed at the one thing he was supposed to be searching for which others found overnight. Harrison may have been right.
To sum up (no spoilers):
Tokyo Swindlers examined how far people will go to possess land and how far swindlers will go to make them think they are acquiring it. Too often victims are left financially ruined with little to no recourse. Even if the crooks are caught and spend a few years in jail, they still have access to the ill-gotten gains in secret offshore accounts making the risks worth it. In this drama, the police were hardly a threat, it was the “no honor among thieves” that held a knife or a piano wire to the throats of the swindlers. A short, cynical, at times gory watch.
18 August 2025
IF YOU HAVE TRIGGERS be forewarned:
Sexual Content, Gory Death scenes, Vomiting, and Drug Use
My personal pet peeve: The black character was the only uneducated, poorly dressed grifter :/
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"The patterns you see may be different but the beads inside never change"
Jin is a 2009 time travel drama that has held up surprisingly well. The acting, sets, and music do not seem out of step fifteen years later. Set during the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate there was plenty of political turmoil roiling around the main characters as Jin sought to train medical students and tend to patients while trying not to obliterate the timeline.Dr. Minakata Jin has been treading water as a surgeon ever since his failed surgery on his fiancé ended with her languishing in a coma. After performing an emergency surgery on a patient with a brain tumor, he removes the tumor that has the appearance of a fetus. Later, the patient steals a medical bag and the tumor, attempting to run away. In his efforts to stop him, Jin falls down the stairs and into 1862 Edo. He becomes involved with the family of a young samurai who saves his life. From there he makes the acquaintance of Sakamoto Ryoma and later the famous courtesan Nokaze. Gradually, he sees more patients and becomes more involved with the people and politics of the time. He’s determined to expand Japan’s medical field hoping it will save Miki in the future and that he can return to his time period and her.
Despite the political upheaval and Jin pretty much dropping from the sky, nearly everyone was accepting of him. It helped when the doctor had seemingly godlike powers compared to their current medicine. Jin’s fish out of water concerns were largely minimized and enemies often became friends rather quickly. Much of the conflict dwelled on Jin worrying that his actions would change history detrimentally, especially for Miki. Young Saki hero worshipped Jin and determined to be a doctor herself, much to her mother’s chagrin. Another woman fell for Jin, but the doctor only had eyes for his fading Miki and improving the medical procedures and medications for the day.
Season 1 was largely a feel-good drama with Jin saving people who were usually neglected. The comradery continued to build with other doctors and leaders as well as the reckless Ryoma (with actor Uchino Seiyou channeling his best Mifune Toshiro impression). The biggest complaint I had was that the drama had trouble nailing down their time travel rules and Jin’s motivation. Other than that, I found it to be quite enjoyable.
27 July 2025
8.25 rounded down to an 8.0
Trigger warning: Graphic surgery scenes if you are sensitive. They also faced a cholera outbreak which meant diarrhea and vomiting scenes.
Funny note: the characters run a lot. I found myself going, “Run, Sensei, run!” as the drama progressed.
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"True love often conflicts with reason"
When I hit play on Naruse Mikio’s coming of age film, Spring Awakens, I was not expecting a 1947 version of a sex education class but that’s what I got. There was nothing graphic, it was 1947 Japan after all, but I was surprised at the frank talk about questions raised by the six young adolescents.Kumiko and her friends Hanae and Kyoko discover the reason Kumiko’s maid has been fired is because she’s “in love”. Hanae introduces the girls to her brother’s buddies-Koji and Noshiro. Gossip around the maid brings up numerous questions to parents centering around, “Is love wrong?” The girls’ school physical which involves measuring their breasts (seriously, why?) leads to laughter about different sizes and shapes. Crushes between the six members of the friends’ gang also cause the teens to develop funny feelings in their hearts and bodies. Another question repeatedly asked by the girls is “where do babies come from?” Some of the parents are better equipped at answering the uncomfortable questions while others stick their heads in the sand.
Kuga Yoshiko at 16 and starring in only her second film, did a superb job playing the emotional rollercoaster of adolescence. Yumiko’s mother was very strict and her rules about boys could be summed up as, “Don’t look at them, don’t be around them, and for Pete’s sake don’t touch one!” Most importantly, “Don’t ask me where babies come from!” On the flipside, Koji’s father played by the always reliable Shimura Takashi, doled out helpful, loving advice to his son and those who came to him needing guidance. Other parents were also more “lenient.”
The film showed how important sex education can be. When girls don’t know where babies come from, they are liable to end up carrying one or fear they have become pregnant from a kiss. The old adage brought up in this film that it’s better to keep girls in the dark or else they might act on their newly found knowledge was as useless then as now. Teenagers’ hormone fueled curiosity and new appreciation for the opposite sex and their own changing bodies can only benefit from correct information and adults they know they can talk with about anything. The film discussed menstruation without the girls understanding what role the monthly cycle played in their sexual health. When adults told them that married love or the gods conjured up babies, I guess that knowledge was beside the point. Given that the girls were lectured about the “right kind of love” and “not making any mistakes before marriage”, crucial data was being withheld from them. Despite one of the school girls stating that girls and boys were equal, it was clear in the film that they were still rigidly defined by social traditions and the patriarchy. I’ll step down from my soapbox…
Kumiko and Kyoko read “lewd” romantic poetry including “Im Wundershoenen Monat Mai” by German writer Heinrich Heine (1797-1856). I love when Naruse walked the wild subversive side. The author he chose had to leave Germany to live in France because his works were considered obscene, often banned, and he held radical ideas about democracy. Another unexpected scene was when a pregnant teenager’s mother was advised to support and love her child instead of shunning her. Also, who else besides Naruse would have girls drawing boobies on a school chalkboard in 1947?
Spring Awakens was actually a delightful coming of age/slice of life film with gentle humor and sweet first loves. The teen friendships and crushes were realistic as well as their burgeoning desire to know more about their feelings and bodies and those of the opposite sex. The film occasionally drifted into Afterschool Special lectures but overcame the bouts of preachiness with charming characters and performances. Children began to stretch their boundaries and parents learned the best they could hope to be were supportive guardrails.
“’Twas in the glorious month of May,
When all the buds were blowing
I felt, ah me, how sweet it was!
Love in my heart a-growing.
‘Twas in the glorious month of May.”
-Heinrich Heine
26 June 2025
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"Salvation is never painless"
I had great hopes for Confession as it starred So Ji Sub and Kim Yoon Jin (Lost’s Sun!). Instead of a sexy or cerebral thriller, I was treated to one of villainy’s lower wattage killers. While it had a nice little twist, it came so late in the film that I’d already emotionally checked out.Yoo Min Ho is under investigation for the murder of his mistress, Kim Se Hui. It was a locked room killing, with only Yoo and the deceased Kim in the room. When Yoo meets with his new lawyer, Yang Sin Ae, at his remote cabin near a lake in the snowy woods, the stories of what really happened are slowly revealed.
Very slowly revealed. The story had potential, but the unraveling of the lies and the truth came across too clinically and illogically. By the time the denouement arrived, it was too little too late for me. I don’t want to spoil anything for potential viewers who have never watched a suspense drama like this and will quite probably have a better experience. In the end, for me, Confession ticked off all the requisite suspense boxes while stretching logic and police procedures to the breaking point.
21 May 2025
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Mainly a recap of the drama
When I watched My Housekeeper Nagisa-san on Netflix it showed 10 episodes, so I watched 10, or at least tried to. The events in episode 10 began not long after the events in episode nine. It was only when I came to MDL to add the drama to my Watched List that I discovered the 10th episode was a solo affair.
If you don't want to watch My Housekeeper Nagisa-san or you are short on time you could just watch this recap of the drama to get the gist. Most of the highlights of the nine-episode drama were shown. After a negative introduction to the special, the recaps began in earnest. There were a few new mini-scenes that were interspersed. Unless you are a diehard fan that wants to relive the drama, or catch a glimpse into the future for some of the characters, it is definitely skippable. Or fast-forwardable. Or skippable.
11 May 2025
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"Go is a fight against yourself"
The Match starring Lee Byung Hun and Yoo Ah In was based on South Korea’s great Go player Cho Hun Hyeon and the student he trained who eventually surpassed his master, Lee Chang Ho. The pacing of this film was similar to a slice of life. The conflicts weren’t insurmountable and there were no villains. Everyone loved the game, hated losing and saw their opponents across the table as the enemy. But those enemies weren’t afraid to be a friend away from the stones.In 1982 Cho Hun Hyeon became a national hero when he won the 1st Ing Cup, an international Go competition where Cho was the only invited Korean participant. Two years later through an acquaintance, he is introduced to the young Lee Chang Ho, an arrogant and self-trained Go player who takes on all comers, even Cho. When Cho observes his raw talent, he takes him on as a student and invites him to live in Seoul with Cho and his family. Lee gradually develops his own Go strategy which is at odds with Cho’s. The two gifted players travel along a competitive trajectory which will test their relationship.
Despite being devoted to the game of Go and hating to lose, Cho believed in a detached attitude which fit Lee Chang Ho's personality as well. Both were also capable of arrogance. Their approaches to the game were complete opposites. Cho quickly attacked, Lee methodically defended. Cho may initially have had a mental set-back as his student surpassed him, but both men refused to allow bitterness to enter their relationship. Thankfully, the film didn’t try to overexaggerate the growing pains the two faced.
Lee Byung Hun as Cho gave a restrained performance as would be expected of this composed Go player. If Byung Hun had to reel in his emotions, Yoo Ah In, had to swallow them in order to convey the slow growth of “The Stone Buddha.” The legendary Go competitors were in safe hands with these two actors. Jo Woo Jin gave a lovely performance as the defeated competitor of both, and also someone who offered the student and teacher the encouraging words needed at just the right times.
The Match’s soundtrack wonderfully matched the events taking place with the final epic battle perfectly told through the music. Go was played with black and white stones, yet the game displayed a wide range of battle plans, just as the relationships weren’t black and white, showing a range of nuance.
“Go is about trying to find answers when there are no answers.”
8 May 2025
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"When it rains, I want to see you even more"
Yunbogi’s Diary was released in 1965, the year relations between South Korea and Japan were normalized. This boy’s diary was also, if not the first, one of the first Korean books published in Japan after the normalization. Though officially things had been worked out there were still unresolved feelings and issues between the two countries. Yubogi’s story was not only his own, but represented the stories of thousands of impoverished Korean children at the time.Yunbogi is a ten-year-old boy taking care of three younger siblings. After his mother left them with their ailing father, it fell upon this child to earn enough money to feed them. His sister, Sun, also worked selling gum on the streets with him. Yunbogi goes on to work various jobs---goat herding, shoe shining, anything to bring in money. Yet still the tiny family is starving.
Director Oshima Nagisa used stills of Korean children set to music with voice overs by children and himself. He took the pictures while doing research for the short film. Ostensibly he hoped to coax guilt from the Japanese regarding their destructive occupation and the long-term consequences for the people. He also hoped to evoke compassion for the Korean people most adversely affected…the children. Japanese policies had gutted the country leaving the citizens in a deadly precarious position after WWII and then exasperated by the Korean War. Japan’s economy had turned for the better by 1960, but South Korea was still struggling. Oshima controversially highlighted the disparity by showing images of children and conveying the damning words of a 10-year-old boy desperately working to keep his siblings alive. Yunbogi’s spirit was strong, condensing into a powerful resiliency as he was knocked down again and again. Despite that resiliency, he was also a child who was willing to starve to death if it meant his mother would return home.
“Chili peppers when boiled down become even hotter. Barley dies and sprouts anew.”
4 May 2025
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"Now is now"
Perfect Days was a beautiful meditation on life. Hirayama had more in common with the Buddhist monk he greeted than any of the other characters. Every day was thoughtfully prepared and acted out, most often with a gentle smile and nod of gratefulness.Hirayama faces each task of his day with a thorough meticulousness, whether it is caring for his plants, cleaning the toilets for his job, or bathing in the bath house. Every morning he greets the day with a smile of gratitude. Instead of chants, he listens to an outstanding soundtrack of bluesy hits from the 70s and 80s on his cassette tapes. He’s no hipster and thinks Spotify is a brick and mortar store. That’s not a knock, the people intrigued by his music have no idea how to load an audio cassette either. He rarely speaks as if he’d taken a vow of silence. Only when necessary does he converse. Every night he reads a few pages from a book before dreaming in black and white as his mind frames the day in light and shadow.
Yakusho Koji won Best Actor for his role in this film at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023. He is certainly one of the best actors in the world. He conveyed a wealth of emotions with few words as Hirayama practiced his contemplative life. Hirayama’s world wasn’t perfect. Different people bolted into it and jostled him about. Was he running from a past or simply finding a way to heal the wounds from it? Whatever the reasons for his solitude, he seemed at peace, refusing to give into anxiety. “Now is now.” Spoken like a zen master. When he scrubbed toilets he performed the task like a soulful meditation. He communed with the trees and called them friends, delighting in the leaves scattering the sunlight about. An old film camera helped him capture poetic moments.
If you are looking for a film with a beginning, middle, and end, this is not it. This was more like a Buddhist walking meditation with each step intentionally caressing the earth and each breath deeply felt. Every moment was a gift of wonder. Hirayama’s days may not have always been perfect but they were special.
“Birds flying high, you know how I feel
Sun in the sky, you know how I feel
Breeze driftin' on by, you know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me, yeah”
-Nina Simone
22 April 2025
Trigger warning: Bare old man butts in a bath house.
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"The Pig and the Pearl"
The Neighbor’s Wife and Mine was one of Gosho Heinosuke’s earliest films. The title of the play for which the main character was writing was called “The Pig and the Pearl.” Pretty much summed up the married couple in this story.Shinsaku is walking on a country road and comes across a man painting a landscape. Because the area is quiet, he thinks it would be a great place to live and write. The “famous” writer asks repeated questions of the painter who becomes perturbed at the interruptions, and down right angry when Shinsaku disparages his artwork. The two end up in a childish fight broken up by a pretty woman from the village. Shinsaku rents a house for himself and his young family soon thereafter. To his chagrin, he finds that even quaint towns can be noisy at times.
Immature Shinsaku called his wife, a very young Tanaka Kinuyo, an “idiot” several times, berating her for not being quiet enough or the children not being quiet enough. When he asked, “Why did you have to have a baby?” I loved her reply, “You were responsible, too!” From there Shinsaku scolds her for backtalking him. He was malleable when people flattered him, but unable to use kind language with his wife. Kinuyo constantly nagged him to write so that they could pay their bills instead of him playing mahjong with the boys or hanging out with the neighbors. When he finally attempted to write, annoying sounds sent him into a tizzy. Perhaps all this was supposed to be a marital comedy, but I just found him ever grating and not remotely funny.
As this was Gosho’s first “talkie” he must have felt liberated being able to use sound. Scenes were filled with long minutes of people singing or playing in a band. An airplane was heard and shown which much like the music did little to move the story along. The movie felt less like a cohesive story and more like an experiment with songs and running gags. One song called, “Speed up!” at least gave Shinsaku a modicum of writer’s inspiration. It was also the mantra I repeated as the minutes dragged by.
21 April 2025
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"Got backup?"
Chongqing Hot Pot was a strange amalgamation of buddies flick and thriller where most of the turning points relied heavily on coincidence and luck. Clocking in around 90 minutes, it felt much longer.Three childhood buddies, Four-Eyes, Xu Dong, and Liu Bo are trying to peddle their failed hot pot restaurant that lies underground in an abandoned bomb shelter. Gambler Liu Bo owes a huge sum of money to the loan shark Seven. He’s hoping the sale of the restaurant will help him pay off the ruthless businessman. A buyer is willing to put some money down on the hot pot spot if they expand it. In the process of expansion, they accidentally knock a hole in the building above which coincidentally happens to be a vault in a bank. To steal or not to steal? And how to repair the floor so that no one notices it? They gain help from an old school friend who coincidentally works in the bank and is unhappy with her co-workers and had a crush on Liu Bo in middle school. Their efforts are thwarted when coincidentally a crew of deadly thieves picks that bank to rob on the day their plan is to go down.
Despite all the beatings Chen Kun’s Liu Bo took at the hands of the loan shark gang and the robbers, I found my mind wandering during much of the film. Aside from Liu Bo, the other friends were underdeveloped and not very compelling. It didn’t help that the buddies were supposed to be in their mid-twenties and the men’s ages IRL ran from 35-40. The story depended heavily on fate stepping in over and over again which detracted from the urgency and real threat to the characters.
Chongqing Hot Pot had an interesting premise as the down on their luck friends had to decide if they wanted to continue to be losers or become hunted criminals. Turns out the three didn’t have to undergo any character development as fateful coincidence lent them a hand in their decision and future.
21 April 2025
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"Early worms get eaten first"
How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies showed how the vultures come out when an older relative is near the end of their lifespan. For the most part the writers made the distasteful somewhat palatable and at least one character had a change of heart.M’s friend/cousin Mui makes her living off of becoming the #1 of dying patients, when she’s not hosting her Only Fans site. When M discovers his grandmother has terminal cancer he decides to become her #1 and begins to take care of her. Other family members also have their eyes on the old woman’s house, the only thing of value she owns.
Taew Usha Seamkhum as the grandmother gave a wonderfully nuanced performance as the woman who accepted life and people as they were. Grandmother was aware that when people visited, it was because they wanted something. She also saw the potential in her ne’er do well grandson and had pity on her deadbeat son. Even though she knew M's motivation for being with her, she could at least take pleasure in having someone to eat and play cards with and go to chemo with. Some of the supporting actors were stronger than others.
I’ve been around long enough to see the relatives crawl out of the woodwork in order to try and get what they can from a dying person. In real life, they rarely learn any meaningful lessons from a beloved elder, their eyes only on the financial prize. For most of the film the only people I felt any sympathy toward were Grandmother and Sew, her daughter. It was, however, disappointing that Grandmother failed to learn the lesson she suffered from as a daughter when her parents died.
While this film had a patented redemption arc, and I love a redemption story more than any other kind, it didn’t move me as much as I would have hoped. Perhaps, it was a more realistic portrayal of the selfish children and grandson but I spent much of the film being irritated with their myopic vision. It is the nature of children to be involved in their own lives and neglect older members of the family, but when the clock was ticking down on the matriarch’s life, I found their behavior inexcusable. The elderly may not want visitors who “are counting the minutes” before they can leave, but they also crave those precious minutes with beloved children and grandchildren when their own minutes are slipping away.
13 April 2025
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"I'm invincible now!!...what a way to go"
When Wong Kar Wai’s Ashes of Time was running over budget, the rumor is that he produced a quickie comedy starring his Ashes actors in order to make a fast buck on Lunar New Year. If you are looking for anything to make sense, you won’t find it here. Hong Kong slapstick fans will be in hog heaven. While parts of the film worked for me it dragged on way too long.Normally, I’d give a brief synopsis of the film here, but there really wasn’t enough of a coherent story to do that. Tony Leung Chiu Wai played the main bad guy who was beaten, poisoned, and stabbed along the way. He spent much of the film with swollen lips and ears. Tony Leung Ka Fei played an Indian prince looking for his one true love so that he could obtain immortality. The object of his desire was less than thrilled. Jacky Cheung played the Beggar King who was in love with Joey Wong’s Su Qiu who was in love with Leslie Cheung’s Yao Shi who was in love with Brigitte Lin’s “Third Princess.” Carina Lau was dressed as the man Chou Po Tang/Zhou Bo Tong, a disciple of Kenny Bee’s late Wang Chon Yang, believing that the princess killed him. There were cross dressing and gender bending relationships, some played for laughs and others not. Talking monsters including a gorilla, a dinosaur, and a large “sparrow” joined the strange menagerie also populated by giant centipedes.
I found some of the bits funny but others went on and on and on and on and on… There were several lengthy song and dance numbers. The martial arts fights were done for a laugh. Most were furiously over-cranked or slowed down to almost a standstill. The fights featured a great deal of wire work, smoke, and explosions.
The Eagle Shooting Horses looked low budget and hastily made with a great deal of improv. If you are a fan of slapstick this is the ticket. And I have to say it was the first time I ever saw anyone play soccer with a floating head.
21 March 2025
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A rose for luck!
Mr. Canton and Lady Rose aka Miracles aka Miracles: The Canton Godfather was Jackie Chan’s attempt at directing a film not entirely dependent on kung fu. This film was based on Frank Capra’s movies-“Lady for a Day” and “Pocketful of Miracles.” It’s about as good-hearted a Triad film as you are likely to find.Kuo Chen Wah comes to Hong Kong to find work and is promptly fleeced by a conman. Almost penniless he ends up buying a rose from a street seller and his luck promptly changes. He precipitously and inexplicably becomes the head of a triad assisted by the canny Uncle Hoi. Rival gangster Tiger Lo wants half of the hotel the gang owns creating tension between the two criminal crews. Before Kuo knows it, he is turning his hotel into a club to showcase beautiful singer Yang Lu Ming. Believing the roses bring him luck he continues to buy Ms. Kao’s roses until one day he can’t find her. Turns out, the daughter she supports who lives abroad is coming to town with her fiancé and future father-in-law and they will be expecting the mother to be the fancy lady she’s described herself as in letters. Kuo and Yang decide to help the rose seller and hijinks soon occur.
This film was loaded. There was no doubt that there would be good fights regardless of the storyline as nearly every stuntman in Hong Kong was on the cast list. The fights were fewer than one would expect in a Jackie Chan film, but the ones shot were spectacular. Jackie showed that anything can be used as a weapon, even a Durian! The final fight proved that ropes and ladders worked better than chutes and ladders. Billy Chow led the baddies against Chan in the high swinging and falling stunts.
The cast was a who’s who among kung fu flicks. Lo Lieh played a bad guy even among the bad guys. Wu Ma was the shrewd #1 to Kuo’s Big Brother. This was one of his better roles. Anita Mui was gorgeous as Kuo’s love interest. Richard Ng played the morally gray police inspector and thankfully he made it through the entire film without showing his bare derriere. Mars, Fung Hak On, Billy Chow, Alan Chan Kwok Kuen, Ken Lo, and a host of other well-known fighters and stuntmen made appearances. Even prolific Shaw Brothers writer Ni Kuang made a cameo!
The biggest problem I had with the film was that it was too long. Many of the comedic moments began to feel repetitious. It could have been trimmed by 20 minutes and still maintained its narrative integrity. The film looked good and for the most part the pacing worked. The ending was very Capraesque, something unexpected but appreciated. Mr. Canton and Lady Rose doesn’t have the following that many of Chan’s films do, but for a 1989 kung fu film based on a 1933 Frank Capra film, I thought it was entertaining.
11 March 2025
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