Lady kung fu

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.

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

MY YOUNG AUNTIE (1981) is a clever Hong Kong comedy incorporating kung fu battles, starring and directed by master kung fu director Lau Kar Leung (aka Liu Chia Liang), who takes a break here from more intense kung fu fests like THE 36TH CHAMBER OF SHAOLIN and EXECUTIONERS FROM SHAOLIN. The story, set in the early 20th century, involves a dispute over family property after Lau is visited by the very pretty young widow (Kara Hui Ying Hung) of his aged uncle. Because of her status as the wife of the eldest family member, she's considered the senior member and the others defer to her. (She also knows kung fu.) When another, greedier relative, played by perennial villain Wang Lung Wei, disputes the will, this leads to a major kung fu battle between Lau and Wang. Appearing in a comic supporting role as a guitar-strumming college boy is Gordon Liu.

Much of the comedy arises from country bumpkin-in-the-big city-type gags as the young widow, newly arrived from the rural countryside, tries to fit in. At one point, she buys a whole new outfit, overdressing in a fancy white gown, high heels and jewelry, but she winds up getting into a kung fu fight anyway. At one point the college boys stage a costume ball: Kara goes as Marie Antoinette, while her great nephew, played by Hsiao Hou, who's the same age as her, goes as Robin Hood. Gordon Liu is one of the Three Musketeers and gets into a sword fight with a couple of thugs dressed as musketeers also. It's all a lot of fun, as long as you don't mind the comedy upstaging the kung fu for a change.

Some martial-arts purists think that comedy was the worst thing that could have happened to the old-school kung-fu flick; and it is true that the introduction of comedy into the genre signaled the end of the "chop-socky" period in Hong Kong film. But the fact is, one can only carry-on a primarily physical exhibition of prowess for just so long, then everyone gets bored with it. And that's really why the chop-socky died and how the Hong Kong "New Wave" action film was born: the producers, the actors, the directors all just got bored with hitting people for ninety-minutes straight.

Given that, and given the fact that Liu Chia Liang is a professional director with a considerable list of films in his resume, this film has to be seen as something other than just another kung-fu comedy. Rather, it is a comic film within the martial-arts genre, and in fact one of the best ever made.

What Liu has done with this film is really a pleasant surprise: he has taken a martial-arts plot and re-constructed it along the lines of a Hollywood-style musical! Complete with episodes of singing and dancing! It was around the time of the making of this film that some film-makers and film fans began to recognize that the cinematic performance of martial-arts (really derived from the acrobatics of the Chinese opera) has more in common with dance than with fighting. (I will continue to point out this connection until most Americans realize what they are actually supposed to look for when watching a martial arts film - well-choreographed body movements, using the plot of an action film as an excuse for their performance.) At any rate, quite clearly Liu Chia Liang made this connection and decided he would explore it close to its limits.

The result is an incredibly charming entertainment, filled with marvelously human characters attempting miraculous kung-fu (and tripping over their own shoelaces as often as not when they do so). and the film being set at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, allows Liu the opportunity to explore the nature of the Westernization and Modernization of China that contributed so greatly to the making of the China we know today. So the film has considerable historical import as well.

Also, fans of Stephen Chow's recent Kung Fu Hustle should really watch this movie carefully, as Chow clearly learned from it before the making of his own film.

A very amusing, well-made film. Oh, yes, and the kung fu in it is really, really good.

Purists won't admit it, but this is probably director Liu's best film.

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.