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IRON MONKEY<br />
• •••<br />
Starring Donnie Yen, Yu Rong-Guatlg,<br />
Jean Wang, Tsang Sze-Man, YuenShun-Yi<br />
and James Wong. Directed hy Yuen Hoping.<br />
Written by Tsui Hark, Elsa Tang and<br />
I. an Tai Mok. Produced hy Tsui Hark. A<br />
Miramax release. Action. Cantonese-language;<br />
subtitled. Rated PG-13 for martial<br />
arts aetionlviolence and brief sexuality.<br />
Running time: 86 min.<br />
es and join forces.<br />
Many of the scenes will strike viewers<br />
as uncannily similar to portions of<br />
"Crouching Tiger. Hidden Dragon," a<br />
clear indication of Yuen Wo Ping's signature<br />
on both pictures. Comparisons only<br />
work, though, on the most superficial<br />
level. Where "Crouching Tiger" pursued a<br />
more classical, romantic approach to traditional<br />
Chinese lore. "Iron Monkey" owes<br />
its allegiance to the great Shaw Brothers<br />
films of the '60s, pictures in which the<br />
purity of the fighting and the exactitude of<br />
the martial arts were as important as their<br />
effect on the audience.<br />
Fans of the genre have long appreciated<br />
"Iron Monkey" lor casting a light on the<br />
figure t\\ Wong Kei-Ying, too. Historically,<br />
Wong Kei-Ying has been overshadowed bj<br />
his equally famous son. Wong Fei-Hong.<br />
Hundreds of I long Kong movies have told<br />
and retold the exploits of the younger<br />
Wong l.lcl I I ami Jackie Chan have both<br />
portrayed him. respectively, in the "Once<br />
Upon a I line in (lima" and "Drunken<br />
Master" films), but rarely focused on the<br />
accomplishments ol the eldei Wong Fei-<br />
Hong does, of course, figure in the plol ol<br />
"Iron Monkey." but appears as a young<br />
bo) (played by a girl: the wonderful Tsang<br />
Sze-Man) slill under the linn tutelage l<br />
REVIEWS<br />
his lather. Thai twist, along with the visceral<br />
relish with which Yuen Wo Ping<br />
stages the action and the dazzling performances<br />
from both Donnie Yen ("Blade 2")<br />
and Yu Rong-Guang ("Shanghai Noon"),<br />
help account for the passion that "Iron<br />
Monkey" continues to arouse in fans to<br />
this day.— Hade Major<br />
WISCONSIN DEATH TRIP<br />
• ••<br />
.\arrated by Ian Holm. Starring Jo<br />
Cheating husbands and wives, jilted lovers<br />
and unrequited advances, all of whose<br />
conflicts ended in death most often double<br />
homicides. There's the death attendant<br />
to disease a diphtheria epidemic that<br />
mostly killed babies; suicides to escape the<br />
despair of abject poverty: and. of course.<br />
death resulting from insanity, including<br />
more suicides especially deliberate exposure<br />
to the Wisconsin winter.<br />
Director James Marsh ("Burger & the<br />
Originally made in 1993 when the socalled<br />
lukelich, Jeffcry Golden, Marilyn White,<br />
"Hong Kong New Wave" was at its John Schneider and Marcus Monroe. King: The Cuisine of Elvis Presley") uses<br />
Directed and written by James Marsh. the archives of the source newspaper, read<br />
peak, "Iron Monkey" is a quintessential<br />
example of the kind of filmmaking to Produced by Maureen A. Ryan A BBCI by Ian Holm, along with several period<br />
which American audiences have onlj Cinema Reel Life release. Documentary. photographs taken by a Charles Van<br />
I<br />
recently begun to spark. Produced and cowritten<br />
mated. Running time: 75 min.<br />
Schaik. as the primary frame of his<br />
by Tsui Hark ("Once Upon a Time<br />
in China") and directed by the great Yuen<br />
Death, as its title suggests, is the focus<br />
of "Wisconsin Death Trip." as it occurred<br />
macabre little film. He also uses produced<br />
segments to recreate certain events. The<br />
Wo Ping (of "The Matrix" and in the small town of Black River Falls. footage (often extraordinary with beautiful<br />
"Crouching Tiger. Hidden Dragon" fame), Wisconsin, between the years of 1890 and<br />
cinematography by Eigil Bryd and<br />
"Iron Monkey" is both a dazzling martial<br />
1900. All this death was documented by Frank DeMarch), though inappropriate<br />
arts action film and a rousing period the paper of record—unnamed in the for a traditional documentary, is very<br />
adventure not entirely unlike Tsui's own film—edited by one Frank Cooper, formerly<br />
effective here. It's minimalist and unobtrusive,<br />
of the United Kingdom. Frankly,<br />
Time in China" series to<br />
it's this<br />
which "Iron Monkey" is vaguely linked.<br />
without suggesting that it is the<br />
The Iron Monkey himself (Yu Rong- stuff down. There's the man who purposely<br />
Though its episodic recitation of the<br />
Guang) is a kind of Robin Hood/ blows his own head off with a stick of litany of death in a small town during an<br />
providing a sense of the<br />
"Once Upon a<br />
a good thing somebody was writing<br />
moment<br />
moment.<br />
Zorro/Lone Ranger figure, a masked hero dynamite, which, it turns out. is a fairly arbitrary period of time doesn't seem to be<br />
the oppression of corrupt Ching complicated undertaking. Then there's the about anything (other than the morose<br />
fichtina<br />
Dynasty officials in 1860 China. When the deaf boy who shoots his sister through the spectacle itself), one might take "Wisconsin<br />
famous real-life herbalist and Rung Fu mouth with the family handgun while giggling<br />
senselessly; the brothers who kill a human condition. Much of what the film<br />
Death Trip" as a treatise on the unchanging<br />
master Wong Kei-Ying (Donnie Yen)<br />
comes to town, officials falsely accuse local farmer and use his body for target documents could come from today's headlines.<br />
It's creepy, but proves that there is<br />
Wong of being the Iron Monkey as part of practice before eluding a posse for several<br />
days, killing a deputy in the process; and<br />
Tim<br />
indeed nothing new under the sun.<br />
a scheme to get him to help track the<br />
Monkey down. It's a rather infantile ruse<br />
that lasts just long enough for Yen and Yu<br />
some<br />
myriad murders involving infidelity. CogsheU<br />
to deliver staggering one-on-one<br />
fight scenes before they come to their sens-<br />
PREVIOUSLY REVIEWED: OCTOBER/NOVEMBER/DECEMBER FILMS<br />
The alphabetical list below notes the issue of BOXOFFICE<br />
upcoming film appeared, the star rating and the distributor<br />
"Amelie" *•*•: Miramax, 1 112; see September 2001.<br />
"The Annihilation of Fish" •: Regent, 1112; see November 1999.<br />
—<br />
information.<br />
"Better Than Sex" ••1/2: ID P. Fall undated; see November 2000.<br />
"The Business of Strangers" •••: IFC, Fall undated; see April 2001.<br />
"Dancing at the Blue Iguana" ••1/2: Keystone, 10119; see December 2000.<br />
"Donnie Darko" •••••: Newmarket, 10126; see April 2001.<br />
"Focus" •••: Paramount Classics, 10121; see .Inly 2001.<br />
"Go Tigers" ••1/2: IFC, Full undated; see October 2001.<br />
"Intimacy" •••1/2: Umpire, 10119; see April 2001.<br />
"Joy Ride" ••: Fox, 1015; see October 2001.<br />
"Maelstrom" ••••: Arrow, October undated; see December 2000.<br />
"The Man Who Wasn't There" • ••: I St. 1112: see September 2001.<br />
"Mulholland Drive" ••••1/2: I niversal Focus, 1018; see September 2001.<br />
"My First Mister" ••••: Paramount (lassies, 1 112; sec April 2001.<br />
"No Man's Land" ••••1/2: MCM, November undated; see September 2001.<br />
"Plata Qucmada (Burnt Money)" •••: Strand, 1015; see September 2001.<br />
"Tape" ••••: Lions Gate, 1112; see April 2001.<br />
"The Town is Quiet" ••••: New Yorker. 10120; see October 2001.<br />
"Vulgar" •: Lions Gate, 101 1 2; see November 2000.<br />
"Waking Life" •••1/2: Fox Searchlight, 10119; see ipriJ 2001.<br />
"Haydowntown" •••1/2: Lot 4~, 1015; see November 2000.<br />
"The Hay He Laughed" ••: \ew Yorker, 1 1121; sec ipril 1999.
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