After death Bruce Lee almost 40 years ago, many held the unofficial title of the most profitable "King of Kung Fu", including Jackie Chan, who either retires or doesn’t retire, combining the genre with comedy, and Jet Li, one of the purists, still remains a guarantee of box office success throughout Asia.
Now the time has come for the release of a new dragon, so to speak, and this time it is a real champion in wushu, a contender that the company hopes Huayi Brothers, will be able to fight his way to the top and conquer the minds of humanity.
Yuan Xiaochao - two-time world champion and gold medalist of the Asian Games in the discipline wushu and style changquan (long fist), which involves mostly sweeping movements. In film "Tai Chi 0" Stephen Fung, presented out of competition at the recent Venice Film Festival, he plays a fighter who strives to become the greatest expert tai chi.
“I've always loved watching Bruce Lee's films and I admire him so much because he helped so many people learn about and love kung fu. But a lot of time has passed since those films were released, and there are a lot of young people now, and I wanted to give them something more modern.”
“I grew up watching Jet Li films and he was a big influence on me.”
It's hard to overestimate the importance kung Fu in China and other areas of Asia where Chinese culture is very popular.
In central China wushu is a compulsory part of education in high schools, and Chinese students know how to handle a knife, snake style and other self-defense skills.
In fact, the word itself "kung Fu" is a general term for all martial arts, most often used in the West. In China they use another word - "wushu". Martial arts practitioners claim that many martial arts originate from kung Fu, Including karate.
Kung Fu, as it was in the classic films of the 70s Bruce Lee and elegant films "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" и "Hero", includes cruelty and wit, this attracts the attention of many famous Chinese and Hong Kong directors - Peter Chan, Tsui Harka, Zhang Yimou. This is a global film language that will appeal to both Shanghai consumers and highbrow aesthetes and film connoisseurs from the Parisian arthouse community. Comedy films with kung Fu are still popular "Kung Fu Showdown" Stephen Chow an example of this.
Yuan was the first to recognize the radical differences between film fighting and real martial art.
“Moves that are perfect for competition don’t always translate well on screen.” - he says, - “So I carefully review and analyze my movements.”
Yuan noted that when he participates in a competition, only one coach gives him tips, but in "Tai Chi 0" there were many more mentors. “There are so many people around you, and you have to work with everyone” - he added.
Head Huayi Brothers Wang Zhonglei says that for many years now there has not been a single new eminent champion in films - someone who could win the hearts of young viewers.
"It's time for a new kung fu legend" - he notes, - “but any of the applicants must be a genius.”
Author: Clifford Coonan
Source: variety.com
Translation: DoD Favorit
I watched a few of his performances - a very technical guy! If you invest in him correctly, then I think he can go far...
By the way, Jet Li and Jackie Woo were also ordinary wushu champions... And here is the result! So the guy has a future. :)
As for Sammo, I agree with Celpaso, now he is already becoming mediocre, I am not happy with his last few films. But one should not deny his past achievements - where he was one of the best!
(if we take the choreography) Sammo is an average and very uneven cook. Ip Man 2 and especially Medallion are further proof of this.
This is how Tai Chi Zero and Tai Chi Hero will be online, then we’ll see what it’s worth.
Here you also need to serve the fighter with a good sauce. Culinary Sammo Hungg - quality guarantee!))))))))))))
Well, you can’t be so categorical. :) What if he can open up and surprise everyone, anything can happen. It would be great, otherwise the young, untalented incompetents are already fed up, and the masters need a worthy replacement. :)
They compared some boy with the masters of Kung Fu cinema. They all had a dream, charisma (which can’t be said about this guy. I saw his photos on the Internet.) and a wild desire to work. + Everyone contributed something of their own to the cinema. The last one who was the “chosen one” was Tony Jaa. And no matter what kind of champion he is, it’s all useless.