A Grande Arte

This is a well made, low key thriller about knife fighters in Rio. Peter Coyote gives one of his best performances. The only quibble I had with the film is that I wanted to see A WHOLE LOT MORE KNIFE FIGHTING!

After all that great, cool set up and the main character undergoing the Art of Knife Fighting training. I was a bit disappointed we didn't get many more knife fights. This could have been the ultimate knife fighting movie. Still, it's good. But when during the final fight sequence I wanted something more spectacular, blood spraying to the heavens like the end of Kurosawa's Sanjuro. And after seeing the extraordinary knife fighting sequence in Kill Bill I was expecting a little more.

Fighting with edged weapons fell into obscurity after the advent of the gun. The old European blade skills almost died out, as did the Oriental arts of Arnis, Escrima, and Silat(which were derived in part from the fighting art of the Spanish Conquistadors).

The science of blade fighting smoldered weakly for five hundred years in remote outposts of Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan where the gun never quite captured the imagination of peoples who had truly understood steel.

Recently, for reasons which are still obscure, blade skills have enjoyed a renaissance as a legitimate martial art in the United States. A sub-culture of knife fighting students has emerged which will be the audience of this excellent movie.

This film stands almost alone as an artistic representation of training and fighting with edged weapons. Early in the movie Tcheky Karyo carries off a chilling and realistic knife-fighting sequence which makes the hair stand up on the neck. He then plays the instructor, showing the viewer the simple beauty of how an art thousands of years old can be transmitted.

Peter Coyote makes us see the mental and physical journey of the student. At the climax of the movie he manages to project truly the mind-set needed to face steel with steel as he goes toe-to-toe with the true master in a duel to the death.

The training sequences in this movie are clear expressions of real techniques used in the old arts of Arnis and Escrima, with elements of European blade practice thrown in. The film could actually be studied as a training aid.

A certain amount of "Hollywood" was included to extend the final fighting sequence for dramatic effect, but this will not be noticed by the novice and should not interfere with the enjoyment of any viewer interested in the arts involved.

This film is an example of the movie being better than the book. Rubim Fonseca's book "The High Art" contained only the germ of the grim plot which the movie fully exploits. For some reason, after having his character learn the high art, Fonseca has him put the knife away in a drawer and back away from the brutal reality of the science he has learned, contenting himself with amorous conquests rather than the quest for vengeance which was the real core of the book.

This movie will have a limited but loyal audience for many years. It is sad that there will probably never be a DVD version in which the frames could be stopped to better understand the science involved.

I viewed this movie a few years ago and was impressed by the training scenes, however, I have always wondered where to get knives like the ones featured in the film, I cannot for the life of me remember their names even. Any help would be appreciated. I am a budding knife collector and follower of the art of knife fighting, I just wish there were more of it in the film. Anyone know of similar flicks out there I could check out? This is my first time ever submitting anything to this site and can't wait to start talking movies with people, they are after all, one of my greatest passions. Another reason for me to like this movie I guess is that I am in school to become a professional photographer!

I believe this oddly successful film was also aired on US television (Bravo channel) as "Exposure". I have never seen it under the other titles listed. The knife techniques are very professional and effective, as is the explanation of selection of weapons.

The path of a pacifist photographer being seduced by the need for justice and the intrigue of a hitherto unknown world of professional assassins plying their trade via the intimate and all-too-personal death delivered by a knife is a very deep experience to watch unfold, and Peter Coyote does it to a tee.

His inner revulsion to the horror of embracing this culture is offset by its fascination as well as the necessity of descending into it to find out the truth behind the killing of model/prostitutes. Slowly but surely you observe the influence of his gaining knowledge and confidence as he is tutored (by a master of the art he just happens to see and captures on camera one day plying his craft), all dragging him down to dive in completely.

The plot thickens as characters are revealed and surprises are forthcoming, all leading to a fantastic final knife-fighting confrontation with the acknowledged master, someone he has known all along but not suspected.

I saw this movie about 10 years ago, but never noted the title until I was trying to order it on-line, and now I have it in my collection. I highly recommend it for its combination of intense drama, revealing close analysis of the process of a sworn pacifist turned to embrace violence as a way of life, amazing fighting scenes, and an uplifting ending. Unforgettable.