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Bright Lights Film Journal
Issue 31 | January 2001
editorial
This is a special issue of Bright Lights, even by our "every issue is special!" standards. It’s the first in which we reprint an entire print issue of the old BL (#13 from 1994) in the snazzy new online version. We did this at the behest of virtual armies of students, teachers, and drooling fanboys who were tired of hearing about the "legend" of BL’s all-Hong Kong issue and couldn’t find the goddamn thing. (And of course, we sympathize deeply with their exhaustion; we couldn’t find one either for awhile!) So here in all its glory is "lucky" issue 13. (Remember this is a reprint of a 1994 magazine, so don’t expect it to be up-to-date.) Roger Garcia leads off with "Alive and Kicking," a mini-tour of the HK kung fu film." Next up is "Achievement and Crisis," Sek Kei’s expansive history of that seminal decade for HK films, the ‘80s, and what led up to it; this should add some heft to fans’ often sketchy if not entirely incorrect info on the subject. The same author, abetted by Rolanda Chu and Grant Foerster, helps clear up millennia of confusing history in "A Brief Historical Tour of the HK Martial Arts Film." HK’s brightest star entertained choreographer Dr. Craig Reid during "An Evening with Jackie Chan." Then Jillian Sandell tackles those perennial favorite "isms" — masoch- and capital- — in her study of John Woo’s homo-drenched gangster flicks. She also probes Mr. Woo, sans speculum of course, in a revealing interview. Finally, Rolanda Chu dives into the pleasure pit that is the Swordsman series, with fabulous results. In its print incarnation, this issue had the help of guest editors of Roger Garcia and Rolanda Chu, to whom as always we tip our big feathered hat (which we call "macaroni").
Initially we planned online BL #31 to be solely a reprint of the Hong Kong issue. But of course, we couldn’t just shut up and be happy with what we had. Under some strange compulsion still being investigated at this writing, we insisted on throwing together practically an entire additional issue as well. So you’ll find lots more goodies here outside the Hong Kong realm. Stellar wit and BL regular/associate editor Alan Vanneman leads the band by "doing" the underrated Fabulous Baker Boys as only he can. AV also continues his exegesis of the Astaire/Rogers canon with a — oh let’s just say it! — brilliant analysis of Top Hat. Readers who ache to check out post-perestroika Russian cinema but couldn’t make it to Greece last year will welcome Cleo Cacoulidis’s vivid tour of that component of the 41st Thessaloniki Film Festival. And of course your prattlesome editor weighs in with a cornucopia of alleged treasures: a review of the rather overrated Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, four fresh "Homo Corner" entries (The Jaundiced Eye, Burlesk King, Just One Time, and Angel), and a walloping six DVD entries, q.v. Next issue we’ll try — try — to return some of those categories that readers have come to expect, treasure, and, we fear, demand: "S&M Alcove," "Bondage Foyer," "Underground Film Lanai," etc.
Gary Morris
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features
The Fabulous Baker Boys Explain Why There Are No People Like Show People — Damn we’re good
Fred & Ginger Hit Their Highest Peak in Top Hat — What’s black and white and simply reeks with class?
S P E C I A L
Bright Lights’ Hong Kong issue (#13, 1994) reprinted complete!
Alive and Kicking: The Kung Fu Film Is a Legend — HK's martial arts film stylishly bridge time, space, and now cultures
Achievement and Crisis: Hong Kong Cinema in the '80s — A comprehensive look at a seminal decade in one of the world's great cinemas
A Brief Historical Tour of the HK Martial Arts Film — Hong Kong's martial arts madness in legend, history, and, oh yeah, the movies
An Evening with Jackie Chan — Jackie spills his guts — this time verbally
A Better Tomorrow? American Masochism and Hong Kong Action Films — Among their thrills, Woo’s homoerotic bullet ballets offered welcome distraction from 1997’s doomsday scenarios
Swordsman II and The East Is Red: The "Hong Kong Film," Entertainment, and Gender — Two HK classics blur — make that erase — gender boundaries with thrilling results
Interview with John Woo — Hong Kong's master of balletic blood 'n bulletplay speaks!
recent
Beautiful Beast: Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon — A 19-year-old newcomer and a middle-aged veteran steal the show from two legends of Hong Kong cinema
homo corner
Blind Spot: The Jaundiced Eye — A grim intersection of homophobia and hysteria ruins two men’s lives
Turnabout: Lang Janger’s Just One Time — The latest attempt at a "gay crossover date movie" almost succeeds
Softcore Soap: Mel Chionglo’s Burlesk King — Like the macho dancers it portrays, this uneasy mix of melodrama and realism never quite gets it up
Poor Queen: Angel — Soldier by day, tranny slut by night
video reviews
Olivier’s Hamlet on DVD — A pristine transfer of one of the Bard’s most gothic — and gayest, in Olivier’s hands — works
Anthony Asquith’s Pygmalion on DVD — Wendy Hiller triumphs in this fine 1938 film of Shaw’s masterpiece
Edgar G. Ulmer’s Detour on DVD — Is Tom Neal’s Al Roberts really Fate’s Plaything or just the ultimate pushy buttom?
Chabrol, Losey, Antonioni: 3 Classic Eurofilms on DVD — "La dolce vita" is more bitter than sweet in these razor-sharp rarities
Ozu’s Good Morning on DVD — Schoolboys on strike, farting contests, and a mysteriously acquired washer make up the world of this Japanese classic
Fellini’s Variety Lights on DVD — A tacky theatrical troupe finds fun and romance — and occasionally a paycheck — on the road in Fellini’s classic
Cinéma Vérité: Defining the Moment on VHS — The "moment" is both defined and celebrated in this exceptional documentary
film festival
Russian Cinema After Perestroika: Notes from Thessaloniki International Film Festival — A heady tour of recent Russian cinema from one of Europe’s oldest festivals
dvd-rom
Masterpieces of Japanese Silent Cinema — Japanese silent films are no longer silent in this fabulous — and expensive — DVD-ROM
