Fong Sai-yuk (film)
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| Fong Sai-yuk | |
|---|---|
Film poster
| |
| Directed by | Corey Yuen |
| Produced by | Jet Li |
| Written by | Chan Kin-chung Tsai Kang-yung Jeffrey Lau[1] |
| Starring | Jet Li Josephine Siao Vincent Zhao Michelle Reis |
| Music by | Romeo Diaz Mark Lui James Wong[1] |
| Cinematography | Jingle Ma[1] |
| Edited by | Cheung Yiu-chung[1] |
| Production company | Eastern Production Ltd. |
| Distributed by | Gala Film Distribution Ltd |
| Release date(s) |
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| Running time | 106 minutes |
| Country | Hong Kong[1] |
| Language | Cantonese[1] |
| Box office | HK$30,666,842[1] |
Fong Sai-yuk (Chinese: 方世玉; pinyin: Fang Shi Yu, aka The Legend of Fong Sai-yuk)[1] is a 1993 Hong Kong action and comedy film directed by Corey Yuen,[2] and starring Jet Li as Chinese folk hero Fong Sai-yuk.[3] The film won the Hong Kong Film Award and Golden Horse Award for best action choreography. The film received positive reviews praising Josephine Siao's acting and the action choreography.
Plot[edit]
The brash and ambitious Fong Sai-yuk meets the beautiful Ting-ting during a track and field competition and falls in love with her. Ting-ting is the daughter of the hot-headed hooligan Tiger Lui. Tiger Lui stages a martial arts competition for interested men to participate and win his daughter's hand in marriage. The contestant must defeat Tiger Lui's wife, Siu-wan, in order to win. Fong Sai-yuk joins the contest at his friends' urging and defeats Siu-wan. He catches a glimpse of his future bride, who is actually a servant maid to replace the temporarily missing Ting-ting. Fong Sai-yuk decides to forfeit the match and leaves.
Fong Sai-yuk's mother, Miu Chui-fa, enters the contest disguised as a man to help her son win back the lost glory. She defeats Siu-wan by knocking her off the scaffold, but catches her as she falls and the two land safely on the ground. After that intimate moment together, Siu-wan becomes romantically attracted to Miu Chui-fa, unaware that Miu is actually a woman in disguise. Tiger Lui then forces Miu Chui-fa to marry his daughter. To save his mother from embarrassment, Fong Sai-yuk marries Ting-ting on behalf of his "brother" (his mother in disguise as a man), and is confined in his father-in-law's house. He is unaware that his bride is actually his love interest and they fight in the dark. They discover each other's identities eventually.
Miu Chui-fa manages to persuade Tiger Lui to let her son return home. Just then, Fong Sai-yuk's father, Fong Tak, returns home from a trip. Fong Sai-yuk discovers that his father is a member of the Red Flower Society, an underground resistance movement that aims to overthrow the ruling Ching Dynasty. While Fong Tak is having a conversation with fellow members, they are ambushed by the Governor of Nine Gates and his soldiers. The Governor demands that Fong Tak hand over the name list of the society's members, but the latter refuses. Just then, Fong Sai-yuk and his mother appear, and Fong Sai-yuk fights with the Governor and holds him off until his parents have escaped to safety.
Fong Sai-yuk and his parents hide in their in-laws' house to evade the authorities, but the Governor pays a visit to Tiger Lui and recognizes them. In the ensuing battle, Fong Tak is captured while Siu-wan dies from a gunshot wound. Fong Sai-yuk lies to his mother that his father has been rescued and decides to save his father alone without letting her know. He attempts to storm the execution ground and fights with the Governor to save his father. At the critical moment, Miu Chui-fa appears together with the Red Flower Society's members and their leader, Chan Ka-lok. They defeat the Governor and his men and succeed in freeing Fong Tak. Before the film ends, Fong Sai-yuk becomes Chan Ka-lok's godson and joins his godfather on their noble quest as they ride off towards the sunset together.
Cast[edit]
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- Jet Li as Fong Sai-yuk
- Josephine Siao as Miu Chui-fa
- Vincent Zhao as Governor
- Michelle Reis as Lui Ting-ting
- Paul Chu as Fong Tak
- Sibelle Hu as Siu-wan
- Chan Chung-yung as Lui Lo-fu (Tiger Lui)
- Adam Cheng as Chen Jialuo
Release[edit]
Fong Sai-yuk was a box office hit on Hong Kong, grossing HK $30,666,842.[1] A sequel, Fong Sai-yuk II, was released in the same year.[5]
Reception[edit]
In Hong Kong, Corey Yuen and Yuen Tak won the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Action Choreography at the 13th Hong Kong Film Awards.[6] Josephine Siao and Zhang Yao-zong were nomainted for best actress and best editing respectively as well.[6] A the 1993 Golden Horse Awards, Peter Cheung won the award for Best Editing, while Corey Yuen and Yuen Tak won the award for best action choreography.[7]
The film received a positive review from Time Out London who referred to the script as "cobbled together", but praised actress Josephine Siao, noting "a show-stopping culmination of three decades of fine work in the Hong Kong cinema".[8] The Austin Chronicle praised the film's fight choreography as the "most breathtakingly choreographed fight scenes witnessed in years," and noted the liberated female characters, calling them "a refreshing change of pace from years past, when women were frequently used as either cookie cutter stereotypes or the requisite damsels in distress".[9] TV Guide gave the film four stars, praising both Siao andJet Li's roles and Corey Yuen's direction stating "it's astonishing to find that the director also helmed the ridiculous Stateside kung fu fest No Retreat, No Surrender (1986), Jean-Claude Van Damme's film debut; on home ground, he proves a filmmaker of consummate skill and style."[10]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Fong Sai-yuk". Hong Kong Film Archive. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
- ^ Brennan, Sandra. "Fong Sai-Yuk(1993)". Allmovie. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
- ^ "10 classics provide visual poetry -- on video". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-01-06.
- ^ a b "Fong Sai-Yuk (1993) - Cast & Crew". Allmovie. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
- ^ Blaise, Judd. "Fong Sai-Yuk 2". Allmovie. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
- ^ a b "第十三屆香港電影金像獎得獎名單". Hong Kong Film Awards (in Chinese). Retrieved 16 September 2012.
- ^ "Taipei Golden Horse Awards". Golden Horse Awards. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
- ^ TR. "Fong Sai-Yuk (1993)". Time Out. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
- ^ Savlov, Marc (24 September 1993). "The Legend of Fong Sai-Yuk". Retrieved 16 September 2012.
- ^ "Fong Sai-Yuk Review". TV Guide. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
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