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E D I T O R I A L
Wednesday, November 6: Hollywood, Jet, Jackie, Fred, and Gene
My thoughts here were originally posted at Mobius' Home Video Forum's Asian Cinema Discussion. Excuse my laziness, but I wanted to post these comments on my own site as an editorial.
I wonder why Hollywood screws up so much when trying to make an HK-style action film, especially with a decent budget and an established star (i.e. Jet Li, Jackie Chan)?
It makes me think of Fred Astaire (no, really!) He felt that the best way to properly film dancers was to frame them from head to toe (so you could see the entire body) and wide enough to not crowd in on the dancers. So in classic Astaire musicals, the grace and style of the dancers as they glided across the screen was readily apparent and fully appreciated. The camera remained relatively stationary.
On the other hand, in the films of Gene Kelly (whose athleticism and gymnastic moves more closely resemble Jackie Chan) the camera is much more active, swooping and gliding along with him (he often danced solo). The use of a crane in filming is more evident and adds to the fluency of the dance numbers.
Now look at Shanghai Noon, as an example. Full-length body shots of Jackie in action are few and far between. Instead, we get many quick shots of parts of his body. And so many edits that the fluency of the choreography is shredded. And the extremely short running time of any fight sequences (witness the incredibly short bursts of martial arts in X-Men for another example of a crying waste).
Part of this is the widely-noted influence of the MTV editing style (which infects a disproportionately large number of all films). Part of this is the studio tendency to use newer or first-time directors on many action films (the majority "graduating" from the music video or commercial industry). When such a director is used, he doesn't get final cut and is worried about working again if the movie flops, so he does whatever the studio or production company wants.
Then again, I am still in my infancy of watching HK films, so maybe I have the wrong idea entirely . . .
As usual, please feel free to send feedback, criticisms, etc.
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