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And we continue to write analytics on the next nominations of our project to sum up the results of combat films for 2019. Today we are dissecting Best Sports Dramas и Best Short Films.
Sports drama 2019
It’s interesting that sports drama as a genre was very popular at one time due to truly resounding hits, like the first "Rocky" (1976) Sylvester Stallone or "Mad bull" (1980) Martin Scorsese. These films defined the genre for years to come, but today its popularity has waned. Despite this, films appear every year that can be classified as sports drama. They film not only about boxing and mixed martial arts, which is undoubtedly encouraging. Last year there were some pretty decent sumo wrestling dramas (The Chrysanthemum and the Guillotine) and professional wrestling (Fighting with My Family), and there were plenty of boxing films as well. But everyone was beaten by the project, which had no chance of not winning.
Creed 2 (dir. Steven Caple Jr.) 47%
It is definitely interesting to trace some patterns in summing up the results of combat films on our website. For example, films in which the already iconic character Rocky Balboa is involved twice became the winner in this category. For 2016 gold took "Creed: Rocky's Legacy", and the best sports drama in 2017 according to voting site users, was autobiographical film "The Real Rocky" about boxer Chuck Wepner, who became the prototype for Stallone's hero.
And now Balboa is on horseback again. In the sense that the next film from a massive boxing franchise took gold - it simply lays out opponents with a left hook. But is the film worthy of first place? Let's figure it out.
The first film about the grandson of Rocky's friend and trainer from the first Apollo Creed films was a fresh breath in the stagnant B-category sports drama genre. And this happened not just because of the budget and a sense of nostalgia. An excellent picture worked to impress the viewer; excellent camera work; a strong script that managed to combine a heart-touching story and quite tired genre clichés; filigree acting work, which was appreciated by both viewers and critics.
What does the second film offer us? Some paraphrase "Rocky 4" (1985) with the confrontation between true Americans and evil Russians bikoz of script seiz ac sou. Moreover, this very “script” begins to creak already at the stage of motivating the main characters. Adonis Creed wants revenge, but Rocky doesn't want him to take revenge; Ivan Drago also wants revenge, who after the 1985 battle became a typical loser-renegade, but what his son Victor wants is unclear, since his character is written frankly poorly, and the only lines he got were Russian folk growls.
It is also sad that for the filmmakers, it seems that the same 33 years that separate the fourth "Rocky" and second "Creed". The teeth are still creaking from the struggle of ideologies, the sickly sour taste of cranberries is again felt, funny stories from propaganda action films of the 80s come to mind again...
All this makes the new film about Creed not only secondary and frankly boring, but also to some extent ridiculous. But site visitors gave 40 votes for the film... It seems to us that several factors were at work in this case:
- "Creed 2" was shown in Russian cinemas, which means it was watched by the most people.
- Nostalgia, which for some reason dominates the minds of people in the 21st century.
Even though Rocky Balboa and Ivan Drago are only feature characters in this film, Sly и Dolph cope with the tasks completely, transferring classic images and classic confrontation to the environment where it is in demand. In addition, the main character of the duology performed by Michael B. Jordan – the character is deep, and the actor playing him has the proper charm. In addition, Michael is in excellent physical shape and looks very confident in the boxing fight scenes. And they, by the way, are staged just as cool as in the first "Creed". Add here a good picture and good music. Apparently, this is more than enough to "Creed 2" won a gold medal in this category.
Heart (dir. Liu Fendou) 15%
We don’t know about you, but we love it when the top three winners include films from different countries. This suggests that cinema as an art form truly has no boundaries.
Boxing drama "A heart" Chinese director Liu Fendou This thesis proves once again. Already from the trailer it was clear that this film was more of a life drama than a sports epic, which we are accustomed to based on the genre. The story of a not-so-successful trainer and boxer who accidentally kills his student and opponent in the ring with an overly strong blow would not be so touching if it were not for another plot-shaping line. The heart of a murdered boxer is transplanted into a dying girl who dreams of becoming a singer, and when fate brings the main character and this same girl together, the lives of both can never be the same.
According to your mood "A heart" is a dark and oppressive drama about a man who has reached rock bottom due to guilt and is brought back to life by a dying girl. Surprisingly, in this plot outline there is a place for humor, lyrical songs, and real heroic deeds. In the first half of the film, the director demonstrates real auteur cinema, and it may seem that we are watching another drama from Kim Ki-duk, but in its second half the film seems to remember that it is a sports drama. It is then that a rather banal plot begins to build, which will grab many of the clichés of the genre.
"Trivial" in the case of "Heart" - this is not a reproach, because we all know very well the conventions of a sports drama as a genre film. No, here it looks very organic. There even appears a certain flair of such mastodons as Martin Scorsese or Takeshi Kitano, weaving criminal plot threads into the narrative.
The hero training scenes look good, but the fight scenes in the ring are even better. They are fast and technical, like in films about Adonis Creed. But wait... They have the same director! This is about Clayton Barber, who was written out of Hollywood specifically for action scenes, of which, by the way, there are not so many in the film. Barber was the second director of the film, and was directly involved in the choreography Eric Jacobas. Hence the speed and “whipness” of movements.
In addition, the leading actors in the film are also good. Famous Chinese singer and actor Yang Kun perfectly conveyed the character of his character, but also the young Xia Zingtong did not lag behind, becoming in relation to the film, if not the heart, then certainly the soul.
The only thing "To the heart" It’s very difficult to forgive - this is a wildly intrusive sad and depressive melody that accompanies the characters almost the entire film. It seems that the composer of this film needs the help of a specialist...
The Wrestler (dir. Krishna), 11%
In the number of votes, not far from the project, a Bollywood film left China, which Russian localizers decided to call "Wrestler". To be precise, the word "Pailvan", which is included in the title of the picture, denotes a professional kushti fighter - a traditional style of wrestling in India.
The film runs over two hours and has two main storylines that intersect towards the end. In the first, a street child named Kichcha ends up in the family of a famous kushti teacher, and he becomes not just a coach for the boy, but also a real father. As an adult, Kichcha dreams of becoming a champion, but on the way to achieving his cherished desire, he falls in love with a girl who was promised to another. The second line tells the story of a brutal boxer, Tony, who loves to maim his opponents in the ring. Seeing what the student is becoming, his coach is ready to take a stand against him in court, but Tony’s connections help him avoid prison. Unable to control his thirst for revenge, he threatens the coach's family and vows to defeat any athlete his former teacher trains within the agreed time frame.
Intricate? Quite. But in fact, the narrative in the film is almost linear and the “boxing” plot branch is widely developed towards the end. The rest of the time, "Wrestler" is a bright and beautiful story about an infallible man like Krishna and invincible like Skanda, for whom honor is very important, but love is even more important. All this is presented in such a way that if you have watched five or six modern Bollywood films, you can safely talk about “typicality”. The main characters, when they feel good, laugh and sing, and when danger arises, they pretend to be terminators without a sliver of emotion. But when the film needs to “relax” the viewer, the characters fool around and openly act comically, and if the characters in the script are written to be evil, then believe me, they will bend over backwards to create a feeling of extreme hostility among those who watch the film.
As for the scenes of hand-to-hand combat, here I want to remember those very memes from the Internet - everything is so unnatural. True, the beauty associated with the traditions around these very kushti fights cannot be taken away. But we already saw what similar fights could be like in the 2016 film "Sultan" with Salman Khan, so the constantly rapid scenes of throws by the end of the first hour of timing begin to depress. Even the legend of Indian hand-to-hand fighters cannot save the situation Sunil Shetty, which, however, is almost 60 years old...
What makes the film so compelling? Perhaps, with its pathos, atmosphere, colorful scenes accompanying the fights, a good acting ensemble, in which the above-mentioned Suniel Shetty stands out and..., oddly enough, the final fight scene, which is a boxing match for six rounds. As they say: trick your ears! The wrestling drama becomes a boxing drama in the end!
Once upon a time, a sports drama from Bollywood already occupied prize place in this category ("Dangal" with Aamir Khan), but now we have another Indian film that our audience liked and received bronze for sports drama.
Martial Arts Short Film 2019
Many stunt teams and creative associations produce short films every year. Some things look frankly unattractive, while others were shot on a grand scale, with taste and budget. In any case, this nomination is designed to identify the very best in the stream of amateur and semi-professional videos that appear throughout the year.
Ip Man: Interception of the Fist (dir. Andy Le) 32%
Guys from the team MartialClub – frequent guests in our collections of short films. They don’t have a lot of story films, mostly short sketches and parody sketches, but if they decide to take on a somewhat serious project, it usually turns out great. Their film "The Highest Art of War" already I visited in our project as a bronze medalist in this category for 2017.
The image of Master Ip Man after he was brought to life on screen in 2008 Donnie Yen, does not leave filmmakers of all stripes alone. Since then, three numbered sequels to the first film with Ian have been shot, two spin-offs, two TV series and God knows how many films specifically for online distribution. Independent teams also did not back down, happily practicing the Wing Chun style from Master Ip on YouTube screens.
That Andy Le his comrades decided to support this “ip mania” by pitting Ip Man against several kung fu masters using different styles.
The result is a real feast for the eyes of those who love and miss the classic hand-to-hand combat films of Hong Kong from the late 70s and early 80s. All this, of course, is seasoned with modern tricking movements, otherwise “young people won’t appreciate it.” But for those who don’t like the style of old Hong Kong films, the choreography may not suit them.
Although it is still worth paying tribute: and Andy Le in the main role and his opponents move perfectly and use the “tricks” of each style. These guys know a lot about what they love. Another thing is that films from MartialClub – these are still YouTube videos that are designed to demonstrate the agility and skills of club members who deserve more. Let these be class “B” projects, but it’s high time for the guys to stop being “bloggers” and try to retrain as a professional stunt team, with whom real stars of the genre will want to work. Well, for now – the highest step of our pedestal.
Department (dir. Jean-Paul Lye), 14%
About the British stuntman Jean-Paul Lee we knew nothing until the release of the Cambodian hand-to-hand action film "Jail break", in which Lee played one of the main roles. It turned out that this young guy is ambitious and talented not only as an on-screen fighter, but also as a director of fight choreography.
"Department" became Jean's directorial debut, which he prepared together with his friend Laurent Plancel. The plot centers on two special forces officers who find themselves drawn into a maelstrom of events that turns their former colleagues into mortal enemies.
In 25 minutes we will be told a trivial story about betrayal and true friendship, but, as you probably already understood, the main thing here is not the plot. The main thing is the hand-to-hand combat, which is choreographed and performed by masters of screen combat. Lee and Plancel combine modern hand-to-hand choreography with the "ganfu" that has become a hallmark of films such as the John Wick и "Explosive Blonde" with Charlize Theron.
No time "Prison Break" it's clear that Jean-Paul Lee there are the necessary qualities to become, well, if not a future star of the hand-to-hand genre, then a noticeable figure in it. So it is in this short film: Lee moves noticeably better and, unlike the other participants in the project, plays noticeably better.
Whether a Briton can break out of indie cinema is a good question. We hope it can. And with these hopes we grant "Department" silver!
Escape (dir. Phillip Cyprian Florian) 12%
The FFI editors were confident that the comedy short film "Afro-Samurai Vinaigrette" will take one of the prizes. However, the voting dotted all the “e”s and our predictions were not confirmed. But the film won the prize "The escape", finishing third for Best Martial Arts Short Film.
Well, the movie Phillipa Cyprian Floriana frankly good in terms of fight choreography, and frankly bad in terms of plot. The latter is not here at all, and the notorious “story” is even smaller than that of the gold-bearing short film about Ip Man.
A certain man, who by a happy coincidence was not immediately killed by his captors, is trying to survive a difficult battle with three goons at a junkyard of abandoned cars.
What immediately catches your eye "Escape", so this is a furious hand-to-hand action. We understand that the main character wants to survive and he simply doesn’t have time for beautiful pirouettes, but in a fight any method is good. The performers, including Florian himself, move well and maintain the intense tempo of the fight. The fighters will have a baseball bat, a machete and a steel rod in their hands, which, of course, adds variety to the fight.
We might have liked more plot in this film, but in terms of the hand-to-hand aspect, everything is fine here and fans of action films will happily spend nine minutes of timeline with this short film. For that "The escape" and gets bronze!
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Tags: creed 2, Escape, Ip Man - The Intercepting Fist, MartialClub, S Krishna, The Division, The Heart, Wrestler, Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Paul Ly, results of action cinema 2019, Clayton J. Barber, short film, Lauren Plancel, Liu Fendou, Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, sports drama, Stephen Keil Jr., Sunil Shetty, Phillip Cyprian Florin, Andy Le, Eric Jacobas, Yang Kun
Tags: creed 2, Escape, Ip Man - The Intercepting Fist, MartialClub, S Krishna, The Division, The Heart, Wrestler, Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Paul Ly, results of action cinema 2019, Clayton J. Barber, short film, Lauren Plancel, Liu Fendou, Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, sports drama, Stephen Keil Jr., Sunil Shetty, Phillip Cyprian Florin, Andy Le, Eric Jacobas, Yang Kun
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