It can be intimidating to take your first step into foreign cinema
Language barriers
And cultural barriers
But if you are a cinephile
You probably knows more about Asian cinema than you think
Because a lot of your favorite Hollywood movies...
have elements inspired by Eastern culture
Some more obvious and others
Here is an ode to Asian culture in Western made movies
"I know Kung-fu"
Well, you are in the wrong place for that.
Anyway, I want to talk about THIS
You may already know about wire-fu
a technique originated in Hong Kong
It's basically actors being pulled by invisible wires
Popularized by The Matrix in the West
it has since been used in many Hollywood movies
What you may not know is that this visual has more cultural significance than just flying
How'd you do that?
The air
You can't see it but it feels your lungs
You treat the air the same way
You step on it as you with a stone
You swim through it as you with the sea
And all you have to do is believe
It's called "qing gong",
Literally means the technique to be light
It's a martial technique for scaling obstacles
And in Chinese martial art novels
This technique has been greatly exaggerated
to a point where characters can jump on water
or even control their own body weight
Explanations for this technique differs
One version says these martial artists can control an unseen life force called "qi"
Qi...
Internal energy
The essence of life
By manipulating this force in and around them
the martial artists can be lighter than air
and gracefully float around like dragonflies
After the release of The Matrix
the visual of Qing Gong continues to evolve
The film you are watching here is called Hero
Director Zhang Yimou takes inspirations from religious wall paintings
his characters in Hero fly and glide like the gods and goddesses of China
If you are fan of The Matrix for its kick-ass action
and philosophical stories
Then maybe you should give Hero a watch
"The force is what gives a Jedi his power"
"It's an energy field created by all living things"
"It surrounds us and penetrates us"
"It binds the galaxy together"
Didn't we just talk about this?
It's no secret the Star Wars takes a lot of inspiration from Asian culture
the force is pretty much just qi
Instead of lifting a user, it lifts other things
And the lightsaber...
Katana in space
The connections between Star Wars and Eastern culture are numerous
From the visual design
To the fighting
To the philosophy behind the iconic weapon
"This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight"
In Chinese culture swords are considered a gentlemen's weapon
"An elegant weapon from the more civilized days"
Because it demands skill rather than strength
"That lightsaber was Luke's and his father's before him"
"and now it calls to you"
Recognizing the owner by the sword
And the one swing one kill fighting also draws parallel with katana combat
After Star Wars and Kurosawa
Japanese sword movies continue to evolve
One of my favorite, surprisingly, is an adaptation to manga
Rurouni Kenshin
It's a film about reformed assassin with a sword that doesn't kill
who must find his own way to protect the people around him
If you want some amazing sword fights
Or are into the mystics of swords
Rurouni Kenshin comes highly recommended
See the similarity?
This is called "battojutsu"
The sword drawing technique
Basically quick draw for swords
The origin of the technique is convoluted
One version says it was technique used by samurai to counter assassination attempts
That's not to say Western quick-draw is inspired by battojutsu
Here's Shane doing it, before Kurosawa
But with Kurosawa's love for western movies
And Sergio Leone's love for Kurosawa
it's safe to say these two genres influenced each other
and the parallels are uncanny
The intense stares
The fast and accurate kills
And of course... putting a weapon back
Much like qing gong
the art of battojutsu gets more exaggerated over time
In popular media, you can often see the objects being cut remains one piece
until the sword is put away
As if reality is too slow for the swordsman
The film you're watching right now is called Zatoichi
It's one of the longest-running film series ever
And it's still going on to this day
The titular blind swordsman was THE folk hero in the mind of a generation
Much like the Clint Eastwood cowboy
If you want to see some good action in a western-style folktale
Zatoichi is a great choice
I suggest the 17th entry: Zatoichi Challenged
Anyway, this is called "dim mak"
Not that one
Remember the concept of qi?
In Chinese fiction, by interrupting the flow of qi in someone
You can paralyze them
and it can be done with finger injecting qi as well
You can also reverse it by restoring the flow
It's acupuncture, but with the force
The extreme version of it can cause someone to die
and is referred to as death touch
The "five point palm exploding heart technique" from Kill Bill
originated from a movie that features the original Pai Mei
But not used by Pai Mei
At least not in the original Chinese version
In Clan of the White Lotus, the technique is called "hundred steps soul reaping palm"
And it's used by Bak Nin, who belongs to the same clan as Pai Mei
When struck by this technique the victim dies within 100 steps
due to the qi being shut down
In recent years though
with Chinese audience wanting more realism in movies
Dim Mak no longer shows up in movies as often
and if it does, it's for comedic effect
But if you don't mind your classic style martial flicks with some comedy in it
Fong Sai-yuk I and II are two movies to watch out for
Featuring the titular folk hero of China, played by Jet Li
It's an amazing blend of old-school action from the Shaw brothers era
and the more up-to-date story and visual of the Jackie Chan era
So that is some of the gateway films for you to get into Asian cinema
And some background explanations to help you understand them better
But if you've still find these concepts overwhelming
Well, maybe let yourself get confused
It's like going on a vacation
Where's the fun, if you already know everything about it?