SCFZ Wuxia! genre poll

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brian d
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SCFZ Wuxia! genre poll

Post by brian d »

This is a poll to determine SCFZ's favorite wuxia! films.

You can include up to 100 films on your list, and it's up to you to decide what qualifies as a wuxia! film, though I would imagine that in almost all cases we're discussing films with a martial arts focus produced in mainland China, Taiwan, or Hong Kong, irrespective of when they were released.

I'm stealing Flip's scoring system, which is simply copied below from one of his earlier polls:
-- Partly-ranked ballots make for better polls. If you want to partly rank your ballot (strongly encouraged!), divide it into 'tiers' or 'blocks' of equal size. You can use two, three, four or five (recommended!) tiers. So if you post a ballot of 60 films, you could divide it into five tiers, 12/12/12/12/12 films each, four tiers, 15/15/15/15 films each, or three tiers, 20/20/20, or two tiers, 30/30, or leave it unranked.

-- Scoring system is the same as for earlier genre polls, each ballot awards an average of 3 points per film, for 5-tier ballots 5/4/3/2/1, for 4-tier ballots the scoring is 5/3.5/2.5/1, for three-tier ballots 5/3/1, for two-tier ballots 4/2, for one-tier, 3 points to everything.

-- There's no expectation that many people will post a 100-film ballot, so don't feel obligated to vote for films you don't like just to make your ballot longer. But to ensure that short ballots don't unduly influence the results, ballots with fewer than 30 films in total will award fewer points per film than longer ballots.


Please list your films in this format:

Title (Director's full name, year)

Keep in mind that I don't read Chinese so if you post titles in Chinese I'm going to ask you to please use the most common English title, as listed on Letterboxd, and if you don't, I won't be able to count your ballot. Because I don't read Chinese. Director's name is mostly to confirm which film you're referring to in the case of similar film names, so it's fine if you list family names either before or after given names.


Deadline: probably sometime in August, though I'll give you a head's up a few weeks in advance
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Post by brian d »

come drink with me (king hu, 1966)
dragon inn (king hu, 1967)
vengeance of the phoenix sisters (chen hung-min, 1968)
a touch of zen (king hu, 1971)
the pirate (chang cheh, 1973)
the valiant ones (king hu, 1975)
dirty ho (liu chia-liang, 1979)
raining in the mountain (king hu, 1979)
killer constable (kuei chih-hung, 1980)
eight diagram pole fighter (liu chia-liang, 1984)

king cat (hsu tseng-hung, 1967)
dragon swamp (wei lo, 1969)
have sword, will travel (chang cheh, 1969)
the duel (chang cheh, 1971)
the invincible sword (hsu tseng-hung, 1971)
the lady hermit (ho meng-hua, 1971)
death duel (chor yuen, 1977)
the 36th chamber of shaolin (liu chia-liang, 1978)
the sword stained with royal blood (chang cheh, 1981)
new dragon inn (raymond lee, 1992)

the sword and the lute (hsu tseng-hung, 1967)
death valley (wei lo, 1968)
golden swallow (chang cheh, 1968)
the silver fox (hsu tseng-hung, 1968)
the jade-faced assassin (yan jun, 1971)
the fate of lee khan (king hu, 1973)
executioners from shaolin (liu chia-liang, 1977)
the crippled avengers (chang cheh, 1978)
last hurrah for chivalry (john woo, 1979)
return to the 36th chamber (liu chia-liang, 1980)

the twin swords (hsu tseng-hung, 1965)
the web of death (chor yuen, 1976)
five deadly venoms (chang cheh, 1978)
clan of the white lotus (lo lieh, 1980)
the sword (patrick tam kar-ming, 1980)
duel to the death (ching siu-tung, 1983)
a chinese ghost story (ching siu-tung, 1987)
blade of fury (sammo hung, 1993)
green snake (tsui hark, 1993)
the blade (tsui hark, 1995)
Last edited by brian d on Wed Jul 01, 2020 1:31 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Holymanm »

:newyear: :newyear: :newyear: :dope: I have hundreds more on my watchlist still, but I will still make a dandy list for this and then hopefully a much better one in a few years' time!
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Post by Holymanm »

20/21/21/20

1-20

The Bells of Death (Feng Yueh, 1968)
Eastern Condors (Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, 1987)
The Boxer's Omen (Chih-Hung Kuei, 1983)
The One-Armed Swordsman (Chang Cheh, 1967)
Painted Faces (Alex Law, 1988)
Warriors Two (Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, 1978)
The Sentimental Swordsman (Yuen Chor, 1977)
Full Moon Scimitar (Chor Yuen, 1979)
The Flying Guillotine (Meng Hua Ho, 1975)
The Magnificent Trio (Cheh Chang, 1966)
Have Sword Will Travel (Cheh Chang, 1969)
The Wandering Swordsman (Cheh Chang, 1970)
Executioners from Shaolin (Chia-Liang Liu, 1977)
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (Chia-Liang Liu, 1978)
Kids from Shaolin (Cheung Yam-Yim, 1984)
Kung Fu Hustle (Stephen Chow, 2004)
Mr. Vampire (Ricky Lau, 1985)
The Deadly Duo (Cheh Chang, 1971)
Fist of Fury (Wei Lo, 1972)
My Young Auntie (Chia-Liang Liu, 1981)

21-41

Crippled Avengers (Cheh Chang, 1978)
House of Traps (Cheh Chang, 1982)
Dirty Ho (Chia-Liang Liu, 1979)
Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan (Yuen Chor, 1972)
Fist of Fury (Wei Lo, 1972)
Wheels on Meals (Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, 1984)
Pedicab Driver (Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, 1989)
Project A (Jackie Chan, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, 1983)
Drunken Master 2 (Chia-Liang Liu, 1994)
Hero (Yimou Zhang, 2002)
Monkey Kung Fu (John Law Ma, 1979)
Drunken Tai Chi (Yuen Woo-ping, 1984)
Millionaires Express (Sammo Hung, 1986)
Heroes of the East (Chia-Liang Liu, 1978)
Yip Man: the Final Fight (Herman Yau, 2013)
Return to the 36th Chamber (Chia-Liang Liu, 1980)
Heroes Two (Chang Cheh, 1974)
The Shaolin Temple (Cheung Yam-Yim, 1982)
Martial Arts of Shaolin (Liu Chia-Liang, 1986)
Mad Monkey Kung Fu (Chia-Liang Liu, 1979)
The Prodigal Son (Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, 1981)

42-62

Swordsman and Enchantress (Yuen Chor, 1978)
The Young Vagabond (Lau Shut-Yue, 1985)
Righting Wrongs (Corey Yuen, 1986)
Winners and Sinners (Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, 1983)
Dragons Forever (Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Corey Yuen, 1988)
On the Run (Alfred Cheung, 1988)
Heaven and Hell (Cheh Chang, 1980)
Five Element Ninjas (Cheh Chang, 1982)
Police Story (Jackie Chan, Chi-Hwa Chen, 1985)
The Legend Is Born: Yip Man (Herman Yau, 2010)
Hero (Corey Yuen, 1997)
The Heroic Trio (Johnnie To, 1993)
Killer Constable (Kuei Chih-Hung, 1980)
Master Z: Ip Man Legacy (Yuen Woo-ping, 2018)
Pursuit of Vengeance (Chor Yuen, 1977)
Enter the Fat Dragon (Sammo Hung, 1978)
Mr. Vampire II (Ricky Lau, 1986)
Master of the Flying Guillotine (Yu Wang, 1976)
Disciples of the 36th Chamber (Chia-Liang Liu, 1985)
Mr. Vampire 3 (Ricky Lau, 1987)
Return of the One-Armed Swordsman (Chang Cheh, 1969)

63-82

Come Drink with Me (King Hu, 1966)
King Boxer (Chang-Hwa Jeong, 1972)
Drunken Master (Woo-Ping Yuen, 1978)
The Magic Blade (Yuen Chor, 1976)
Opium and the Kung Fu Master (Tong Kai, 1984)
Encounters of the Spooky Kind (Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, 1980)
Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (Chia-Liang Liu, 1984)
Ashes of Time Redux (Wong Kar-Wai, 1994)
Yip Man 2 (Wilson Yip, 2010)
Shaolin Soccer (Stephen Chow, 2001)
Curse of the Golden Flower (Zhang Yimou, 2006)
Legendary Weapons of China (Liu Chia-Liang, 1982)
Love on Delivery (Stephen Chow, Lee Lik-Chi, 1994)
The Bastard Swordsman (Tony Liu Chun-Ku, 1983)
Justice, My Foot! (Johnnie To, 1992)
The Lady Is the Boss (Liu Chia-Liang, 1983)
Ip Man 4: The Finale (Wilson Yip, 2019)
Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (Tsui Hark, 1983)
Tales of a Eunuch (Hua Shan, 1983)
Yip Man (Wilson Yip, 2008)





original grouping by ratings, 5/5 to 3/5:
Spoiler!
The Bells of Death (Feng Yueh, 1968)
Eastern Condors (Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, 1987)
The Boxer's Omen (Chih-Hung Kuei, 1983)
The One-Armed Swordsman (Chang Cheh, 1967)
Painted Faces (Alex Law, 1988)

Warriors Two (Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, 1978)
The Sentimental Swordsman (Yuen Chor, 1977)
Full Moon Scimitar (Chor Yuen, 1979)

The Magnificent Trio (Cheh Chang, 1966)
Have Sword Will Travel (Cheh Chang, 1969)
The Wandering Swordsman (Cheh Chang, 1970)
The Deadly Duo (Cheh Chang, 1971)
My Young Auntie (Chia-Liang Liu, 1981)
The Flying Guillotine (Meng Hua Ho, 1975)
Mr. Vampire (Ricky Lau, 1985)
Kung Fu Hustle (Stephen Chow, 2004)
Crippled Avengers (Cheh Chang, 1978)
House of Traps (Cheh Chang, 1982)
Executioners from Shaolin (Chia-Liang Liu, 1977)
Dirty Ho (Chia-Liang Liu, 1979)
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (Chia-Liang Liu, 1978)
Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan (Yuen Chor, 1972)
Fist of Fury (Wei Lo, 1972)
Wheels on Meals (Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, 1984)
Pedicab Driver (Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, 1989)
Project A (Jackie Chan, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, 1983)
Drunken Master 2 (Chia-Liang Liu, 1994)
Hero (Yimou Zhang, 2002)
Monkey Kung Fu (John Law Ma, 1979)
Kids from Shaolin (Cheung Yam-Yim, 1984)
Drunken Tai Chi (Yuen Woo-ping, 1984)
Millionaires Express (Sammo Hung, 1986)

Heroes of the East (Chia-Liang Liu, 1978)
Mad Monkey Kung Fu (Chia-Liang Liu, 1979)
Swordsman and Enchantress (Yuen Chor, 1978)
The Young Vagabond (Lau Shut-Yue, 1985)
Righting Wrongs (Corey Yuen, 1986)
The Prodigal Son (Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, 1981)
Winners and Sinners (Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, 1983)
Dragons Forever (Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Corey Yuen, 1988)
On the Run (Alfred Cheung, 1988)
Heaven and Hell (Cheh Chang, 1980)
Five Element Ninjas (Cheh Chang, 1982)
Police Story (Jackie Chan, Chi-Hwa Chen, 1985)
The Legend Is Born: Yip Man (Herman Yau, 2010)
Yip Man: the Final Fight (Herman Yau, 2013)
Return to the 36th Chamber (Chia-Liang Liu, 1980)
Hero (Corey Yuen, 1997)
Heroes Two (Chang Cheh, 1974)
The Heroic Trio (Johnnie To, 1993)
The Shaolin Temple (Cheung Yam-Yim, 1982)
Killer Constable (Kuei Chih-Hung, 1980)
Martial Arts of Shaolin (Liu Chia-Liang, 1986)
Master Z: Ip Man Legacy (Yuen Woo-ping, 2018)
Pursuit of Vengeance (Chor Yuen, 1977)
Enter the Fat Dragon (Sammo Hung, 1978)

Mr. Vampire II (Ricky Lau, 1986)
Come Drink with Me (King Hu, 1966)
Master of the Flying Guillotine (Yu Wang, 1976)
King Boxer (Chang-Hwa Jeong, 1972)
Drunken Master (Woo-Ping Yuen, 1978)
The Magic Blade (Yuen Chor, 1976)
Opium and the Kung Fu Master (Tong Kai, 1984)
Encounters of the Spooky Kind (Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, 1980)
Disciples of the 36th Chamber (Chia-Liang Liu, 1985)
Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (Chia-Liang Liu, 1984)
Ashes of Time Redux (Wong Kar-Wai, 1994)
Yip Man (Wilson Yip, 2008)
Yip Man 2 (Wilson Yip, 2010)
Shaolin Soccer (Stephen Chow, 2001)
Curse of the Golden Flower (Zhang Yimou, 2006)
Legendary Weapons of China (Liu Chia-Liang, 1982)
Love on Delivery (Stephen Chow, Lee Lik-Chi, 1994)
The Bastard Swordsman (Tony Liu Chun-Ku, 1983)
Justice, My Foot! (Johnnie To, 1992)
The Lady Is the Boss (Liu Chia-Liang, 1983)
Mr. Vampire 3 (Ricky Lau, 1987)
Ip Man 4: The Finale (Wilson Yip, 2019)
Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (Tsui Hark, 1983)
Tales of a Eunuch (Hua Shan, 1983)
Return of the One-Armed Swordsman (Chang Cheh, 1969)
Last edited by Holymanm on Sat Aug 15, 2020 2:39 am, edited 10 times in total.
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Post by ofrene »

well definitely major blind spot..


Vengeance (Chang Cheh, 1970)
A Touch of Zen (King Hu, 1971)
Dirty Ho (Liu Chia-Liang, 1979)
Legend of the Mountain (King Hu, 1979)
Raining in the Mountain (King Hu, 1979)
Killer Constable (Kuei Chih-Hung, 1980)
Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (Liu Chia-Liang, 1984)
Running on Karma (Johnnie To, 2003)
Throw Down (Johnnie To, 2004)
The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2015)

Dragon Inn (King Hu, 1967)
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (Liu Chia-Liang, 1978)
Project A (Jackie Chan, 1983)
Police Story (Jackie Chan, 1985)
Righting Wrongs (Corey Yuen, 1986)
In the Line of Duty 4 (Yuen Woo-ping, 1989)
Pedicab Driver (Sammo Hung, 1989)
Ashes of Time (Wong Kar-wai, 1994)
Hero (Zhang Yimou, 2002)
Kung Fu Hustle (Stephen Chow, 2004)
Last edited by ofrene on Sat Aug 15, 2020 10:55 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by wba »

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful idea!!! :hearteyes: :bow: :dance: :newyear:
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Post by wba »

unranked list


The Great Wall (Shigeo Tanaka, 1962)
Temple of the Red Lotus (Teng-hung Hsu, 1965)
The Twin Swords (Teng-hung Hsu, 1965)
Come Drink with Me (King Hu, 1966)
Dragon Inn (King Hu, 1967)
The One-Armed Swordsman (Cheh Chang, 1967)
The Trail of the Broken Blade (Cheh Chang, 1967)
Golden Swallow (Cheh Chang, 1968)
The Sword of Swords (Kang Cheng, 1968)
Have Sword Will Travel (Cheh Chang, 1969)


The Chinese Boxer (Yu Wang, 1970)
A Touch of Zen (King Hu, 1971)
The New One-Armed Swordsman (Cheh Chang, 1971)
Revenge of the Dragon (Joseph Velasco, 1972)
Fist of Fury (Wei Lo, 1972)
Five Fingers of Death (Chang-Hwa Jeong, 1972)
The Delightful Forest (Cheh Chang, Hsueh-li Pao, 1972)
The Lion’s Heart (Shan-Hsi Ting, 1972)
The One-Armed Boxer (Yu Wang, 1972)
The Water Margin (Cheh Chang/Hsueh-li Pao/Wu Ma, 1972)
The Fate of Lee Khan (King Hu, 1973)
Master of the Flying Guillotine (Yu Wang, 1976)
Shaolin Temple (Cheh Chang, 1976)
The Condemned (David Chiang, 1976)
The Killer Meteors (Wei Lo, 1976)
The Web of Death (Yuen Chor, 1976)
Death Duel (Yuen Chor, 1977)
Shaolin Kung-Fu Mystagogue (Peng-yi Chang, 1977)
The Invincible Armour (See-yuen Ng, 1977)
To Kill with Intrigue (Wei Lo, 1977)
Crippled Avengers (Chah Chang, 1978)
Drunken Master (Woo-Ping Yuen, 1978)
Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow (Woo-Ping Yuen, 1978)
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (Kar-leung Lau, 1978)
The Magnificent (Shao-peng Chen, 1978)
Legend of the Mountain (King Hu, 1979)
Raining in the Mountain (King Hu, 1979)


Killer Constable (Chih-hung Kuei, 1980)
The Master (Chun-ku Lu, 1980)
The Young Master (Jackie Chan, 1980)
Legendary Weapons of China (Kar-leung Lau, 1982)
Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (Kar-leung Lau, 1983)
Little Dragon Maiden (Shan Hua, 1983)
Project A (Jackie Chan/Sammo Hung, 1983)
The Young Vagabond (Sze-yu Lau, 1985)


The Blade (Hark Tsui, 1995)


Hero (Yimou Zhang, 2002)
House of Flying Daggers (Yimou Zhang, 2004)


Flying Swords of Dragon Gate [3D!!] (Hark Tsui, 2011)
Last edited by wba on Tue Jun 30, 2020 11:41 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by rischka »

k ok i'll do it gimme a minute
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Post by greennui »

Huge blindspot this, looking forward to the final list.
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Post by rischka »

*secretly waiting til everyone else is done so i can copy* 8-)
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Post by Lencho of the Apes »

I'm getting ready to watch The Elegant Messenger And His Incomparable Fencing Style by Matsuda, but I'm sure I haven't seen 100+ wuxias to draw on for a list, so I'll sit this one out -- all I would do is skew the results more heavily in favor of things other people here have championed. Maybe for the 2040 edition of the list I'll be prepared.
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Post by ... »

secretly waiting til everyone else is done so i can copy

Heh. Might have to do the same unless someone knows of a good list of possible selection I could browse that's more user friendly than wikipedia. I don't really want to try and go through my Letterboxd ratings sorted by "action" trying to find movies that might not even be listed among all the US crap.
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Post by Holymanm »

greg x wrote: Tue Jun 30, 2020 6:16 amI don't really want to try and go through my Letterboxd ratings sorted by "action" trying to find movies that might not even be listed among all the US crap.
That's exactly what I did: looked through all my the 3/5 or higher action movies, picked out the Chinese/HK/Taiwanese ones. Didn't take too long, and I can't think of any that I've seen that weren't included there... though maybe I'm forgetting some
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Post by rischka »

dragon inn (king hu 1967)
raining in the mountain (king hu 1979)
the blade (hark tsui 1995)
fate of lee khan (king hu 1973)
a touch of zen (king hu 1971)
legend of the mountain (king hu 1979)
magic blade (chor yuen 1976)
dirty ho (kar leung lau 1979)
8 diagram pole fighter (kar leung lau 1984)
the sword (patrick tam 1980)

green snake (hark tsui 1993)
eastern condors (sammo hung 1987)
come drink with me (king hu 1966)
the one-armed swordsman (chang cheh 1967)
my young auntie (kar leung lau 1981)
executioners from shaolin (kar leung lau 1977)
sentimental swordsman (chor yuen 1977)
swordsman and enchantress (chor yuen 1978)
the 36th chamber of shaolin (kar leung lau 1978)
crippled avengers (chang cheh 1978)

return of the sentimental swordsman (chor yuen 1981)
killer constable (kuei chih-hung 1980)
bat without wings (chor yuen 1980)
return to the 36th chamber (kar leung-lau 1980)
mad monkey kung fu (kar leung lau 1979)
magnificent butcher (yuen woo-ping/sammo hung 1979)
have sword will travel (chang cheh 1969)
zu warriors from the magic mountain (hark tsui 1983)
the boxer's omen (kuei chih-hung 1983)
pedicab driver (sammo hung 1989)

snake in the eagle’s shadow (yuen woo-ping 1978)
clan of the white lotus (lo lieh 1980)
five element ninjas (chang cheh 1982)
the valiant ones (king hu 1975)
drunken master (yuen woo-ping 1978)
iron monkey (yuen woo-ping 1993)
the lady hermit (ho meng-hua (1971)
the black tavern (yip wing-cho 1972)
the flying dagger (chang cheh 1969)
vengeance of the phoenix sisters (chen hung-min 1968)

swordsman (king hu/tsui hark 1990)
mr vampire (ricky lau 1985)
five fingers of death (jeong chang-hwa 1972)
the spiritual boxer (kar leung lau 1975)
the heroic trio (johnnie to 1993)
new dragon gate inn (raymond lee 1992)
buddha's palm (taylor wong 1982)
heroes of the east (kar leung lau 1978)
legendary weapons of china (kar leung lau 1982)
vengeance (chang cheh 1970)



edit: added a tier
Last edited by rischka on Fri Jul 10, 2020 9:02 pm, edited 7 times in total.
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Post by ... »

Yeah, started to try and sort a list but the genre vs genre adjacent thing is kinda bugging me. Want to include movies that might not be a strict fit to the genre, but I don't want bend a list for a genre outside my normal cultural context.
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Post by nrh »

yeah that was my question...obviously wuxia is in some ways as flexible a genre as western but definitely wouldn't stretch the genre to mean "action movies from the chinese diaspora," or martial arts tradition more broadly speaking. like i wouldn't think pedicab drive or spl 2 fit at all, and not sure where i would stand with a lot of the cheh chang or lau kar leung movies...
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Post by wba »

Yeah, I also had difficulties with this and went film by film.
Some stuff others include(d) here is great but didn't make my list as not being wuxia (enough).

Most Bruce Lee movies obviously didn't fit, but I added "Fist if Fury" after some deliberation, cause it is a highly fictionalised account of some historical stuff around 1900/1910s and the material is totally mythologized, while Lee plays a boy becoming a super-human hero, similar to those from more traditional wuxia movies.
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Post by rischka »

i didn't add any bruce lee films cuz i haven't seen any good ones 8-) btw the president is with us in spirit

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Post by Holymanm »

rischka wrote: Tue Jun 30, 2020 3:22 pmpeking opera blues
I was wondering about that same movie... does it have ANY martial arts in it? I just remember espionage and cross-dressing and some melodrama. Eastern Condors, on the other hand...

Image

And the showdowns... good lord! Really getting me rowdy to watch more HKKF :shock:
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Post by rischka »

i may recalibrate. 'wuxia' implies an historical period to my understanding
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Post by Holymanm »

yeah it certainly has strong connotations - or literal meaning - that go with stuff like the chang cheh movies from around 1970. (unqualified) heroes performing martial arts for the good of mankind (or at least pretty girls). but i'm just taking this to mean 'any martial arts-heavy movie made in HK/china/taiwan during any time period' and going with that

(and pretending i didn't just unconsciously steal that definition from the original post)
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Post by liquidnature »

Major blindspot for me (I could probably count the total amount of Wuxia films I've seen on one hand), so really looking forward to the final results as a starting point to break into the genre.
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Post by brian d »

Holymanm wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 1:45 am i'm just taking this to mean 'any martial arts-heavy movie made in HK/china/taiwan during any time period' and going with that

(and pretending i didn't just unconsciously steal that definition from the original post)
heh, i'm not the one to even remotely define film genres, much less one i know next to nothing about. but it sounded good to me at the time... :shrug:
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Post by rischka »

stuff like the chang cheh movies from around 1970.
funny cuz i'm watching boxer from shantung rn lol
Wuxia (武俠 [ù. ɕjǎ]), which literally means "martial heroes", is a genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China.
but i'm sure everyone can interpret how they like as with other polls here

note: brian has seen more jackie chan movies than i have :shock:
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Holymanm
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Post by Holymanm »

brian d wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 2:22 am
Holymanm wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 1:45 am i'm just taking this to mean 'any martial arts-heavy movie made in HK/china/taiwan during any time period' and going with that

(and pretending i didn't just unconsciously steal that definition from the original post)
heh, i'm not the one to even remotely define film genres, much less one i know next to nothing about. but it sounded good to me at the time... :shrug:
you're not the type to only listen to hardcore post-movement diabolical death trance if it's not from earlier or later than 2004-2009...?

but yeah it's tough to give a definition for this stuff, i hear you! i've been waiting for ages for the perfect opportunity to get back into the world of H.K.K.F., however, ever since my mind-blowingly rewarding and revelatory Hong Kong Kung Fu Movie Month of November 2015, so thank you :dance:
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brian d
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Post by brian d »

i just get so confused when people start saying that something isn't noir, it's actually danish proto-noir, or that something isn't really giallo but is actually krimi, and it makes me want to cry because i just don't really care :cry:

really into diabolical death trance, though, especially 2004-2006, before the movement really sold out.
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Post by ... »

That's why, when in doubt, it's always better to be specific about movies elements you're referencing or use broader descriptive genre labels rather than narrower ones, like wuxia or noir, because while most people don't really care, the misuse of the terms robs the categories of meaning and leaves any useful distinctions in similarities without their hook. In the case of something like wuxia films, this is even more important because the movies are coming from a particular cultural context that those of us outside the culture shouldn't feel comfortable about ignoring as if our fun is more important than the cultural history of the places the where genres arose.
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nrh
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Post by nrh »

yeah with wu xia it's actually kind of worthwhile being pedantic because the genre or tradition or whatever you want to call is actually pretty fascinating, pre-exists movies in some for by hundreds of years and is still really healthy in literature, theater, etc.

looking over stephen teo's book again and most helpful definition would seem to be "drama with sword play starring chivalrous knight-errant figure, usually period piece" (which makes it seem pretty close in definition to japanese samurai genre, which is actually kind of helpful), and teo cites sources saying that arguments separating sword fiction and "stick and cudgel fiction" were going on back to song dynasty period.

from perspective of this poll it is probably too pedantic to quibble over difference between wuxia and kung fu terms but if you put say drunken master (78) and swordman and enchantress (78) next to each other for example it's pretty obvious there is no genre relation other than they are chinese and involve physical violence. given that a lot of the kung fu films of the '70s came out of deliberate critical distancing from wu xia tradition it's helpful to understand what those differences are, but again not sure how important it is for this sort of poll.

putting spl 2 or eastern condors on the list on the other hand is kind of like putting zebraman a samurai film list because it's japanese and has action in it.
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Post by wba »

how about we re-name the poll to something similar like jidaigeki in Japanese, where it's only important if the film is set in the past, not if it features swordplay.
Or something like "historical martial arts movies" or such?

Not sure though, and maybe we should go in a tighter direction and limit ourselves more cloesely to stricter wuxia definitons...

For me, something like Drunken Master and Swordman and Enchantress is pretty similar, cause both take place in a mythologized past where people have superhuman skills and strengths and "legendary" characters are featured.
The difference for me is more akin to the difference between US Westerns and Italian Westerns.
But that's just me.

Maybe we should call the poll "Eastern" genre poll and just include everything "the West" considered an Eastern instead of a Western?
(like for Italians a giallo is basically any detective/crime film, but foreigners [and foreign scholars] mean something very specific when using that term).

As you can see, I'm pretty clueless myself...
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brian d
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Post by brian d »

yeah i think for the sake of a poll like this it's best to keep things open. obviously we're not a huge community (and the better for it) but if one person things something is wuxia! and nobody else does then it doesn't end up on the final list and there's no real problem. and people can always come back and check individual lists and find those little gems that maybe don't hit the genre definition for everyone but might still be appealing.

now if i was going to write a book about wuxia! then sure, the definition matters a whole lot more, but then i'd have a good sense of all of those periphery films that connect in certain ways but not all ways. and in that case i'd be able to historicize everything and put it into its proper context.

but for what it's worth, and i didn't put this in the post up top so whatever, i'd generally think mythic/historical past with wuxia! films, though that's maybe because i prefer the ones with pointy metal things to the ones where people only punch and kick each other and there aren't too many films that are set in the present with the pointy metal things.
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