Donnie Yen's Dragon (aka Wu Xia): Watch It

Donnie Yen's latest martial arts film was recently released in the US under the relatively uninformative title DRAGON, a title that brings to my mind thoughts of Bruce Lee and his many classic kung fu films.  It is also a title that does a disservice to the film.  As awe inspiring as Bruce Lee was as a performer, using any of Lee's major works as a reference point is completely off base as the vast majority of Lee's films were of a different film genre than DRAGON.

DRAGON follows in the wuxia tradition in which martial artists live in the world of jiang hu and are inexorably trapped within an epically tragic tale, often a romantic tale.  Think CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON and you are on the right track.  But DRAGON, directed by Peter Ho-Sun Chan, brings in elements of American Film Noir to the traditional tragic fantasy elements of a typical wuxia film.    DRAGON begins as a murder mystery of a kind, a murder mystery that reveals that Liu Jin-xi (Donnie Yen) is more than the humble paper maker he appears to be.  It is a mystery that ends in proper wuxia tragedy.  It is a heartfelt film with fine emotional beats, even if the martial arts themselves don't quite live up to the remarkable high standards Yen has set of late.  This isn't to say the film isn't beautiful, it is, rather that this isn't a rapid paced actioner.  This is a film of investigations, fear of the loss of a mundane life, and tragedy.  It has some echoes of the Shaw Brothers classic ONE ARMED SWORDSMAN, but is entirely its own creation.

Given the narrative tensions of the film, I wouldn't have marketed the film under the title DRAGON.  I would have based the title on the original title Wu Xia, a term that literally means "martial hero."  Given the connotations of honor in the phrase, I would have called the film AN HONORABLE MAN.  The title would then echo the tensions in the movie and provided context for potential viewers.  Is Liu Jin-xi an honorable man?  Has he always been an honorable man?  Will he leave the tale an honorable man?  These are the questions the audience faces as they watch the film.  They are questions worth asking and the investigations of Takeshi Kaneshiro's character answer only one of these questions.  The answer to the others are revealed through the subtleties of Donnie Yen's performance.

Jet Li is the Sorcerer in "The Sorcerer and the White Snake"

My old gaming group used to watch Jet Li's classic film Swordsman II at least once a month.  The film's combination of martial arts, magic, and just pure gonzo supernatural action (Sword Energy!) was the perfect inspiration for all of our D&D gaming experiences.  In the days before Peter Jackson tackled the challenge of making a genuinely entertaining and emotionally powerful fantasy film experience, Hong Kong films were the go to place for Fantasy that was light years beyond Krull when it came to engaging characters.

To this day, the Fantasy stories presented in Hong Kong and Chinese cinema define the lens through which I view the worlds of D&D campaigns.  Bride with White Hair would make a wonderful gaming campaign, and is an exquisitely beautiful film.  My love for these films prompted me to read first Barry Hughart's excellent  tales of Master Li and Number Ten Ox, and eventually led me to read translations of Louis Cha novels.  Trust me, if you are looking for an alternative to run of the mill American/British fantasy, you can do a lot worse than reading some Louis Cha.

To go back where this all began though...I think it can easily be said that Jet Li is my favorite of Hong Kong's many talented stars.   Any time he appears in a new film, it is guaranteed that I will hunt it down for viewing.  Insert Jet Li into a Fantasy epic and my eagerness knows no bounds.  It should be noted that I never fear whether the film will be good or not.  It's a Jet Li film, and his performance in Kung Fu Cult Master turned what could have been a campy and agonizing film into pure viewing pleasure.

After watching the preview for his upcoming film The Sorcerer and the White Snake, I don't have even the slightest tinge of worry regarding the quality of the film  It looks beautiful.  The story is based on a traditional Chinese tale called the "Legend of the White Snake" and by the looks of it, this film will take a tragic yet sentimental view of the legend.  Wonderful and tragic stuff.

You Can Never Leave "The World of Martial Arts"

John Woo returns to his Last Hurrah for Chivalry roots with Reign of Assassins.

God I love wuxia films and the narrative tropes of jiang hu.

4th Edition D&D The Movie: Ching Siu-tung's "The Empress and the Warriors"

My friends and I used to say that SWORDSMAN II starring Jet Li was the perfect movie to watch before our weekly D&D 2nd edition game. If THE EMPRESS AND THE WARRIORS (starring the awesome Donnie Yen of HERO and lives up to this preview, it may well become the defining D&D style movie for me.

One might ask why SWORDSMAN II is the perfect D&D movie, and not a more "literary" or "important" Wuxia film or a high quality western fantasy film like LORD OF THE RINGS. It's really quite simple. There are a lot of wonderful, and serious, wuxia films that contain great plots, great acting, and stylized action. Classics like LAST HURRAH FOR CHIVALRY or BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR come to mind, as do more recent films like CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON and HERO as examples of serious wuxia films worth watching many times. There are also quite a few excellent fantasy movies in the western canon, like EXCALIBUR, but they all lack the one element that makes SWORDSMAN II perfect for inspiring D&D play. They lack the element of playfulness.

I don't know if the playfulness of SWORDSMAN II is intentional, or if it is a legacy of Jet Li's winning smile, but the film has this quality in spades. The playfulness isn't present in THE EAST IS RED, SWORDSMAN's sequel which also stars Li, a film that contains a wonderfully tragic narrative. From the opening moments when the protagonist is running on the tops of wheat stalks, using "sword energy" to cleave horses in two, to the final fight against the Eunich sorcerer where a character uses a cannon barrel like a quarterstaff SWORDSMAN II is sublimely excessive. Which is exactly what I want my D&D games to be.

Yes, interactive storytelling is a central part of the role playing experience, but so too is fun and SWORDSMAN II is fun.

To be fair SWORDSMAN II is also whimsical, which isn't the necessary component. All I need is a larger than life narrative that is fun to inspire a great day of game play. If THE EMPRESS AND THE WARRIORS ends up a serious film, like CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER, I will still enjoy it, but that will mean that my search for the next great D&D inspiration -- much needed given that 4th edition D&D is coming soon -- will continue. I like to find a film to define play for each edition of D&D, and I hope this one is it for the new edition.

Hat tip to friend and HK/Bollywood expert David Chute for the preview.