Zhang bei

This film is a fine example of why the Shaw Brothers are among the finest directors (probably the best in the Kung Fu category). The movie is well paced, the story is excellent and intriguing, and while the humor may not be in your face, it is nested within the character interactions. Once the story builds up, and the characters begin to assess the situation does the whole tower come crashing down in one of the best fight scenes (tiger, crane and crab Hung Gar are very present). There is even a scene that mocks 18th century Western social events, and ends with clever and entertaining fighting. The movie ends with a sudden, cheesy moment, but if you are a fan of the Shaw Brothers, you'll understand that the cheese is just a topping, and not the main course of the movie.

Liu Chia-Liang's 1981 martial arts action-comedy is a rather unusual entry in the Shaw Brothers Studio output of kung-fu kick-'em-ups released in the '70s and '80s. "My Young Auntie" has a very strong emphasis on slapstick comedy - which stretches a lot further than I think the material really allows it to - over elaborately staged fighting sequences, which don't really come into play until the film's last half-hour.

Until then, the audience has to sit through a lot of familial comedy, which does not always work, and can make the film a drag. (It's 124 minutes in length, according to the official runtime on the Dragon Dynasty DVD, but it actually clocks in somewhere around 119 minutes.) Even I found the slapstick comedy to bring the film to a halt in some places, which is sometimes alleviated by a well-choreographed, if slapstick, fight scene, which seems more in the vein of Jackie Chan.

But even in the midst of it all, we get one of the very best performances out of its lead actress, who became one of the more noteworthy female martial arts action stars of her era. In the film, Tai-Nan Cheng (Kara Hui, credited here by her birth name, Hui Ying-Hung) is the dedicated servant of a dying elderly patriarch who marries him to prevent his inheritance from falling into the hands of his greedy brother Yu Yung-Sheng (Wang Lung-Wei). And of course, she butts heads with her new in-laws, even as she continually clashes with Yu Yung-Sheng's band of hired martial arts-trained hoodlums.

"My Young Auntie" primarily suffers from an overly long running time, which causes the slapstick comedy bits to wear themselves out pretty quickly and leaves you waiting for the fighting to begin. Perhaps if "My Young Auntie" was shorter, this could have worked. But what keeps you watching, really, is the dashing lead performance of Kara Hui, who had no prior martial arts background (she was a dancer), but relied on her physicality and grace to aid her in the film's fight scenes. And this also means that she is a great actress, too, and is easy on the eyes. In short, Kara Hui really carries this film.

All in all, if you're in the mood for a kung-fu movie that's slightly different from so many of the others, then give "My Young Auntie" a spin - if for nothing else, to watch Kara Hui in action.

7/10

I am a Shaw Brothers fan, but they made some standout great movies, and some crappy waste of time movies. I had to force myself to log on to IMDb after watching this garbage trash of a film just to not make the mistake of watching it again by accident. If I remember the title of this movie 10 years from now it would only be because of how bad it is.

Challenge of the Masters is another one I remember but being a waste of time.

My favorite SB movies so far are:

Mad Monkey Kung-Fu Return to the 36th Chamber Clan of the White Lotus Legendary Weapons of China Heroes of the East Executioners from Shaolin

Any one of those movies if you have not seen them already is worth watching over this one because they have more substance and better fight scenes. This one movie is purely about fighting (as are some other SB films I don't like- and the fighting is unrealistic and has dislikable choreographed fights)

I'd recommended that you don't watch My Young Auntie before spending more time on the films of Shaw Brothers , Chan Chen, and Chia-Liang Liu, from the late 70s and early 80s.

There is so much to be appreciated in this movie; the story, choreography, and cast that is (or could be) better appreciated when you get all the usual kung fu fair under your belt and get to see the cast in much light-hearted roles than usual.

This isn't an East vs East, clan vs clan, mysterious white bearded villainous master driven tale. The simplest (and forgive me for maybe not the most accurate) way to describe this film is if the team behind the production wanted to make My Fair Lady and West Side Story with a Kung Fu take.

The fact that that there is no killing or brutal acts makes for a different type of fighting and choreography that revels in the skill and ingenuity of the performers involved.

It truly deserves its place in the top tier of Kung Fu movies.

My Young Auntie kind of disappointed me, because I feel like almost all the comedy fell flat, and it really dragged, having a two-hour runtime and not filling it very well. It was at its most tedious when it shifted away from action and did its best to be funny. From about the 15-minute mark to the start of its second hour, I found it particularly hard to stay engaged. The humor not landing might be a me thing, though, because I rarely find the comedic beats in old martial arts movies funny. Even something like Drunken Master II, which has some of the best action I've ever seen, has comedy that kind of constantly falls flat (My Young Auntie's director, Chia-Liang Liu, co-directed that one, though I think Jackie Chan kind of took over directing duties there).

But, to be fair and get a little more positive, there is good action to be found in My Young Auntie. For that, it certainly wasn't bad overall. I just found there was a good deal of not-great stuff to wade through (and, at points, honestly endure) in order to get to the good stuff. The opening scenes are solid, and much of the action in the final act delivers, but the hour in between those parts of the film? I found it to be a bit of an endurance test.