Day: June 8, 2014

By Joe Bendel. With the release of ScarJo’s Lucy looming, we can expect the publicity campaign to wax rhapsodic about the significance of a female action hero. Of course, Michelle Yeoh has been kicking butt and carrying action films for decades. So has Angela Mao. Cheng Pei-pei also did it before Johansson and did it far better in King Hu’s Shaw Brothers classic, Come Drink with Me, which screens during BAM Cinématek’s retrospective, All Hail the King: the Films of King Hu.

Drink would be Hu’s definitive film for legendary producer Run Run Shaw, but also his last. Furthermore, it introduces the first of Hu’s many strong woman protagonists: Golden Swallow, the daughter of the scrupulously just provincial governor. A gang of outlaws has abducted her brother, expecting to exchange her for a colleague due to be executed for his crimes. Instead, the old man dispatches Golden Swallow to recover her brother and dispense some justice.

Kind of-sort of disguised as a man, Golden Swallow marches into the bandit’s favorite tavern, looking for trouble. They try to oblige, but she far outclasses mere henchmen. Needless to say, they vow to return, with their boss, Jade-Faced Tiger to continue the “negotiations.” To make things fairer, she will make a secret ally in Drunken Cat, the local lush, who is considerably more dangerous than his easygoing façade would suggest.

Come Drink is hardly the most complex wuxia story ever filmed, but it delivers several striking action sequences. Indeed, the fight scenes are vintage Hu, as deeply influenced by ballet as martial arts. It is not hard to gather why Golden Swallow’s exploits are often identified as a forerunner to Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It is also easy to see how it launched Cheng Pei-pei to overnight superstardom. She has poise, presence, and all kind of moves. (It is hard to fathom mistaking her for a man, but that is a genre convention we just have to go along with.) Even though he sings and clowns as Drunken Cat, Yueh Hua more than holds up his end, bringing to mind Donnie Yen with his earnestly likable badassery.

In fact, there is something appealing about Golden Sparrow being her family’s designated action figure. She is impressive, but not super-heroic. Both she and Drunken Cat have their physical and emotional vulnerabilities, but they demonstrate humanist virtues as well.

Thanks to Hu’s mystical trappings and striking backdrops, Come Drink With Me easily ranks amongst the higher end of Shaw Brothers productions. Nor can anyone argue with Cheng’s iconic work as Golden Swallow. A briskly paced tale of good versus the corrupt, Come Drink With Me is a film all wuxia connoisseurs should catch up with eventually. Highly recommended, it screens this today (6/8) at BAM as part of their King Hu retrospective.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on June 8th, 2014 at 12:08pm.

By Joe Bendel. They are not exactly the Garson Kanin & Ruth Gordon of horror movies. Frankly, the one thing two would-be screenwriting partners lack more than talent is inspiration. However, a quick stay at an artists’ resort will provide the latter, in the worst way possible. The bodies pile up, as well they should, in Steve Kopera’s slasher-spoof The Cabining which screened during the seventeenth Dances With Films.

Bruce is the hopelessly irresponsible one, while Todd is the earnest sad sack. Neither can crank out a halfway watchable scene, even by slasher movie standards. On the plus side, they have a tentative investor lined up for their first film, but if they cannot produce anything reasonably filmable, Todd’s uncle will put his money in a cousin’s heavy metal recording instead. After having their egos handed to them by their writing group, Todd reluctantly agrees to Bruce’s plan, regrouping for a few days at the Shangri-La retreat.

Right, so Shangri-La is a luxury cabin deep in the woods. You know what happens next, except for the surprisingly spirited courtship between Todd and the sarcastic Mindy, a real literary-grade writer also staying at the retreat. Meanwhile, guests act suspicious and/or dead, while Bruce recklessly pursues the disinterested but not completely unwilling Celeste.

There is no getting around the fact Cabining is a meathead movie, but it is an oddly ambitious one. Kopera and co-writer David Silverman get a lot of mileage out of approaching the brink of shopworn horror clichés, but doing a 180º at the last moment. As a result, there is quite a respectable balance of smart and dumb laughs.

Kopera’s brother and co-producer Mike demonstrates solid timing and an easy likability as Todd. He also develops some appealing chemistry with the scene-stealing Angela Relucio’s Mindy. The film really hums when they are bantering. Conversely, Bo Keister’s Bruce is all about clumsy shtick, but Richard Riehle brings some on-target lunacy as Todd’s uncle, Sarge.

Admittedly, Cabining is no Blythe Spirit, but if you have seen your share of crap-goes-down-in-the-woods movies than you will find it consistently entertaining. It’s a scruffy indie, but it’s funny. Recommended for midnight movie patrons, The Cabining screened Friday night as part of this year’s Dances With Films, in Hollywood, CA.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on June 8th, 2014 at 12:02pm.