Saviour Of The Soul

Guided by the unmistakeable touch of Jeff Lau, Corey Yuen and David Lai's 1991 movie Saviour Of The Soul provides an excellent Litmus test for viewers wanting to test the waters of early 90's Hong Kong cinema. Veering from juvenile comedy to tragic melodrama to blisteringly ambitious action set pieces, all wrapped up in photography and art design which would shame films with ten times the budget of this one.

Saviour Of The Soul's plot (attributed to Wong Kar Wai) lifts it's framework from traditional Wu Xia stories, placing it's characters in an alternate science fiction/comic book version of Hong Kong. A place where suffocating bullets and homing daggers are weapons of choice and where a hand grenade detonating at point blank range results in little more damage than cartoon style black face.

City Soldier May (Anita Mui), responsible for blinding and incarcerating a notorious criminal (Corey Yuen) is targeted for revenge by his pupil Silver Fox (Aaron Kwok). May's City Soldier colleagues and suitors Ching (Andy Lau) and Siu Chuen (Kenny Bee) get caught in the crossfire of the deadly assassin's quest for vengeance, resulting in May going into hiding to protect her beloved. As Ching searches desperately for May, Silver Fox prepares to strike again.

Beginning with a stunning prison break as Silver Fox tears his way through an army of guards, you could be forgiven for thinking this could be one of the greatest action films ever made. That was certainly my reaction on seeing this sequence back in the early 90's, and if it doesn't quite deliver on that promise, it's certainly one of the most ambitious films of it's era. I'd love to see a contemporary Hong Kong film with even a fraction of the imagination and ambition showcased here, alas that prospect seems ever further away.

Critics of the movie would no doubt argue it is in fact too ambitious and that the action sequences are poorly realised as a result, this would be overly harsh in my opinion, the verve and invention on display makes up for the occasionally weak special effects. In addition the action scenes work wonders in enhancing the film's otherworldly feel, a feeling grounded by the amazing production design and Peter Pau's stunning cinematography.

Andy Lau's Ching is mildly irritating for much of the movie, he plays pretty much his stock persona from this period of his career, while showing occasional flashes of the charisma powered superstar actor he would become in the late 90's. Anita Mui plays two roles, May and her sister who is the film's comic relief, the sister maybe annoying but Mui plays both roles effortlessly well. The film's two best roles are undoubtedly Kwok's Silver Fox and Carina Lau's Madam of Pets, the movie is set alight when either is on screen.

Saviour Of The Soul has many flaws, the comedy is mostly unfunny, much of it makes no sense and there is little in the way of explanation of who anyone is or why they do what they do. As such it certainly won't be to everyone's taste but as I said earlier it's as good a test as any for HK cinema newbies. If you can get used to the dramatic shifts in tone, the juvenile humour and marvel at the impossible action choreography, there is a whole world of wonders to explore. For a seasoned HK veteran, I found the movie holds up very well, it may not hang together as a great film but it's great fun and the ambition of it's blistering action sequences make it easy to overlook it's problems. It also works as a real blast of nostalgia for those golden days of the early 90's, and sometimes that's all I need.

Long out of print on dvd, Saviour Of The Soul is screaming out for a remaster, one that does justice to the richness of the photography and art design. Having seen the film theatrically, I'm sure the movie would pick up many new fans if it was given a release somewhere approaching the theatrical experience.

Viewed via Netflix instant, the print looks like the HK dvd release.

Cool Crap : Godfather's Fury Thai Poster

After talking about how the film is more important to me than the actual image when it comes to selecting posters, here is one of the occasional exceptions where I loved the design enough to go with it even though I'd never seen the movie. It isn't through lack of trying however, ever since I first saw the poster I've tried to track the film down but to no avail, it just doesn't seem to be available anywhere. If anyone can point me in the right direction I'd really appreciate it but for now the awesome poster will do.

Gone With The Bullets Teaser Poster

A teaser poster has been released for Jiang Wen's sequel to Let The Bullets Fly, titled Gone With The Bullets it will be the second film of a trilogy. Set during the same 20's time period the "Bullets 2" will be loosely connected rather than a direct sequel. Rumours are Gong Li may appear in the film, and that Jiang Wen is looking for a Western actor for one of the roles. Shooting begins later in the year for a release in late 2013, and I'm looking forward to it already.

Mail Call : Fernando Di Leo Blu Ray Box

Picked up The Fernando Di Leo blu ray box from Raro video thanks to the guys at The Gentleman's Guide To Midnight Cinema. Until hearing Will in particular heaping praise on Di Leo, his movies and his contribution to the Eurocrime genre, I'd never heard of him. It isn't that I didn't have any interest in the Eurocrime genre, more that it was a blindspot for me, I've covered a few of the better known entries on the blog and wanted to do more. When Raro offered the box set for $22 I couldn't resist, and to sweeten the deal yet further, they were also giving away a copy of Lamberto Bava's Body Puzzle.

In addition to the movies Caliber 9, The Italian Connection, Rulers Of The City and The Boss, the box also includes the booklet pictured above featuring an interview with Di Leo.

In the time since ordering the box set, Raro have announced a second box set featuring three more Di Leo movies, including the fantastically titled Shoot First, Die Later.

Soi Cheang's Motorway (again!) UPDATED

Another new trailer for Soi Cheang's Motorway, and this Hong Kong version is the best one yet. This is the trailer that convinces me the film is going to be worth the long wait. Only a month to go for those of you lucky enough to be in Hong Kong.

Screaming In High Heels The Rise And Fall Of The Scream Queen Era

As the poster above says "a Jason Paul Collum scream come true", Screaming In High Heels The Rise And Fall Of The Scream Queen Era is clearly a labour of love for Collum, who not only wrote, produced and directed the documentary but also appears as an enthusiastic talking head throughout. For the most part the film is an excellent treatment of it's subject, a subject that has been screaming (sorry!) out to be tackled in just this kind of way.

Setting out to tell the story of the mid to late 80's boom in B movies, filtered through the lives and careers of three of the most recognisable starlets of the period, Linnea Quigley, Brinke Stevens and Michelle Bauer. Collum's film also prominently features two of the most prolific directors of these actresses, Fred Olen Ray and David DeCoteau, in movies such as Slave Girls Beyond Infintity, Sorority Babes In The Slimeball Bowl-a-rama (known to UK audiences under the far less exciting name of The Imp.) and perhaps most famously Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers. Films that combined wild titles that always promised more than the movie could deliver, gratuitous nudity, terrible puns and occasional violence on tiny budgets.

If I have a criticism of Screaming In High Heels, it's that the film tries to cram a little too much into it's hour or so running time and leaves parts of the story lacking in detail. It begins by covering the decline of the US institution of the Drive In cinema and the subsequent rise of home video as its replacement in fulfilling the needs of exploitation film fans in particular. From there we move onto how the three girls got started in the film business, with some interesting soundbites and clips from the early works of the scream queens, including the revelation that Linnea Quigley was painfully shy! Hard to believe, right? And footage of Bauer in a Playboy video called Flashdancers, complete with New Order's Blue Monday on the soundtrack.

As they were

Once the scene setting is complete, we move on to the movies that made them famous, Return Of The Living Dead is mentioned in regard to Quigley but it's mostly the work of Fred Olen Ray and David DeCoteau that are featured. This is the most fun part of the documentary as we get to see the explosion in popularity of the ladies through some great footage of news and chat shows as well as convention appearances. The enthusiasm for this period is infectious as the participants talk of how hard they worked but mainly how much fun it was to be involved.

Unfortunately, as with most things, the good times have to come to an end and for Quigley, Bauer and Stevens a combination of three things ended their success. Firstly, the market being flooded with scream queen wannabes, secondly, huge changes in the video industry, namely the proliferation of the massive chain video store such as Blockbuster and thirdly, the inevitable march of time itself. The girls do little to hide their feelings of bitterness on the wannabes, who they feel destroyed the convention circuit for them by ripping off the genuine fans.

Finally we're brought up to date with what the girls did next and this part is a little vague, with Stevens still being active in the horror scene but in micro budget features. Quigley similarly is still active but has done fewer films, having taken time out to care for her sick mother. Bauer says she has largely given the acting up but a quick look on imdb shows she is also still active but to a lesser extent.

Collum does a great job highlighting the three distinctly different personalities he's working with and each has great moments, such as discussing their families reactions to the films they starred in. He has also dug up some excellent clips including a segment on the controversy surrounding the killer Santa flick Silent Night, Deadly Night (in which a topless Quigley is famously featured), with Gene Siskel denouncing first the TV advert and then the movie itself on TV, alongside footage of a protest outside a cinema showing the film (pictured below).

As a teenager during this period, at the time these movies were appearing I was already obsessed with film, working my way through the horror and splatter classics, alongside a burgeoning interest in the Hong Kong cinema I grew to love so much. At the same time I was taking in what I could find from the likes of Kurosawa, Leone, Lynch etc. My appetite for film was voracious and I wasn't particularly picky, so I was quite happy to mix the class with the trash. When these films appeared on the local video store shelves, many of which were from Colourbox video in the UK, I couldn't resist the titles, the gaudy cover art or the fact many of them featured Quigley who I was already a fan of from her appearance in Return Of The Living Dead. I enjoyed them on their own terms, recognising the limitations and embracing them as fun trash, the repetition of the leading ladies certainly helped and added personality (not to mention copious nudity!) if not exactly brilliant acting ability. Sometimes personality is more important than ability and in these movies, this was definitely the case.

As they are now

What Screaming In High Heels does best is to get across that none of the participants think they made great art with these movies, they see them for what they are. That isn't to say they aren't proud of the work, they quite clearly are and this shines through alongside what a great time they all had.

Whatever your opinion of the movies themselves, if you are of a certain age Screaming In High Heels is guaranteed to take you on a nostalgia trip, back in time to the late 80's, and despite the fact it could have gone deeper on the lives of the girls, that was more than enough for me to love it.

Chinese Zodiac Poster and Trailer

As Jackie Chan announces his (well earned) retirement from the kind of action stunts that made him a worldwide star, a new poster and trailer surface for his latest movie Chinese Zodiac.

The jury is still out but hopefully it will be a fitting swan song to Jackie's long career of risking his neck, find out 12/12/12.