Post by MALCOLM XERXES™ on Feb 3, 2005 21:36:37 GMT -5
Yesternight, I was fortunate enough to attend a screening of a Thai film titled ONG-BAKTM, which stars MR. TONY JAA.
This film paid all the requisite homage to the films of SHAW BROTHERS PRODUCTIONSTM, but had a different flavour than one might expect, given that Thai culture is not well-documented in North American film (aside from its notorious sex trade!)
MR. JAA'S dynamic fighting style is counterbalanced by his fresh, ingenuous screen presence, something which causes the audience to variously gasp & cheer whenever he executes 1 of the many stunts & fight sequences in the picture.
The trailers talk of him as "the next BRUCE LEE & JACKIE CHAN", & while I disagree with that assessment, I can understand why film critics & studio heads are so quick to say it, for MR. JAA'S fighting style incorporates Jeet-Kune-Do very obviously in several battles, & his willingness to place himself in mortal peril as he flees from gangsters definitely evokes the more outrageous MACK SENNETT style of Comedy favoured by MASTER CHAN, but MR. JAA'S approach to single combat is unlike anyone else's that I have seen before, which excites me in ways that I have not experienced since first M. OLIVIER GRUNER came on the scene in ANGEL TOWNTM.
North American audiences won't be pleased by the subtitles, but I found them especially useful, given that I had not heard Thai being spoken so rapidly & fluently before, outside of my experience with their restaurants.
I look forward to being able to deconstruct & analyse each fight scene when ONG-BAKTM is made available on DVD.
This film paid all the requisite homage to the films of SHAW BROTHERS PRODUCTIONSTM, but had a different flavour than one might expect, given that Thai culture is not well-documented in North American film (aside from its notorious sex trade!)
MR. JAA'S dynamic fighting style is counterbalanced by his fresh, ingenuous screen presence, something which causes the audience to variously gasp & cheer whenever he executes 1 of the many stunts & fight sequences in the picture.
The trailers talk of him as "the next BRUCE LEE & JACKIE CHAN", & while I disagree with that assessment, I can understand why film critics & studio heads are so quick to say it, for MR. JAA'S fighting style incorporates Jeet-Kune-Do very obviously in several battles, & his willingness to place himself in mortal peril as he flees from gangsters definitely evokes the more outrageous MACK SENNETT style of Comedy favoured by MASTER CHAN, but MR. JAA'S approach to single combat is unlike anyone else's that I have seen before, which excites me in ways that I have not experienced since first M. OLIVIER GRUNER came on the scene in ANGEL TOWNTM.
North American audiences won't be pleased by the subtitles, but I found them especially useful, given that I had not heard Thai being spoken so rapidly & fluently before, outside of my experience with their restaurants.
I look forward to being able to deconstruct & analyse each fight scene when ONG-BAKTM is made available on DVD.
