Word: chowing
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...1990s, when Jackie Chan and Jet Li were the hot international news out of Hong Kong, another actor was the colony's No. 1 box-office draw. Stephen Chow's raucous comedies tickled the locals no end, but since his humor was largely verbal (a nonsense patter known as "mo-lei-tau"), few were betting that he could become a star in the West. Chow took the bet and made two action comedies--Shaolin Soccer (2001) and Kung Fu Hustle (2004)--that were huge pan-Asian hits and proved him an expert director as well as an engaging joker. With...
...1940s of Chow's teeming fantasy, Shanghai is terrorized by the Axe Gang, a thug team as dapper as they are vicious: they don black suits and top hats, and rumba to a rumble. Only one area, Pig Sty Alley, is temporarily immune to their predations--in part because the neighborhood is so poor, in part because all the residents, from the baker and the tailor to the kids and seniors, are skilled in martial arts. The Landlady (Yuen Qiu), spuming belligerence, can suck a cigarette to cinders in one deep breath, and has a lion's roar scream that...
...Chow, 42, seems to have been preparing for Kung Fu Hustle all his life. As a boy mesmerized by Bruce Lee films, he studied kung fu techniques. In his first TV job, as host of the daytime show Space Shuttle 430, he learned how to amuse kids with sly jokes and an impudent eloquence in body language. He became a film star as the little guy with false bravado who lucks into hero status. That's the formula here, but this time Chow doesn't take center stage until the last half an hour. Instead he uses his old comic...
...Hong Kong filmmakers know the promise China holds, but making a movie that works in the mainland and in Hong Kong is no easy task. One man who figured out how to straddle the border is Hong Kong's Stephen Chow, whose Kung Fu Hustle took in $20 million on the mainland and a record $8 million at home, and is on a pace for $100 million globally. It's tough to copy Chow's style, but his film may provide a blueprint for a changing industry. Shot in China with a cast and crew that was mostly from Hong...
Thank God for Tony Leung Chiu-wai. The best actor working in Asian cinema today can redeem any scene and endow even the most artificial plot with a few degrees of soul. Like Chow Yun-fat before he disappeared into Hollywood, Leung seems able to rise above his material and effortlessly make off with any film. It's no surprise that he plays such an accomplished thief in his latest project, the diverting Seoul Raiders...