Letterboxd Review: Once Upon a Time in China

Letterboxd Review: Once Upon a Time in China - 1991

The Story - Legendary martial arts hero Wong Fei-Hung fights against foreign forces' plundering of China. When Aunt Yee arrives back from America, Wong Fei-Hung assumes the role of her protector.
Cast - Jet Li, Yuen Biao, Jacky Cheung, Rosamund Kwan
Crew - Tsui Hark (Director/Writer)
Runtime - 134 minutes

The best martial arts movie I’ve ever seen. The best Kung Fu fights I’ve seen on film. This movie is perfect, 2 hours of pure cinema.

I lack historical knowledge of China in the 1900s so I can only assume from this movie that the period of Westernization was starting. Its commentary pointing to Britain's colonization, American “legal slavery through commerce and business” and the fear of losing an identity by mixing with the Western world fit perfectly in this setting.

Sublime martial arts, perhaps in second place I put Dragon Inn which is also a sort of historical movie with martial arts. I wasn’t expecting to like it this much, I’ve been trying to finish it many times but I ended up leaving after a couple of minutes.

I will try to watch the rest of the movies, and maybe get the Criterion release in the future.

Criterion Collection Boxset

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