Two Taoist Tales collects a pair of wildly ridiculous movies that involve monsters, demons, spells, and copious kung fu. It’s not a bit of cinematic history I’m that familiar with. According to the box copy, Sammo Hung’s Encounters of the Spooky Kind inspired several films based on Taoist folklore. I know nothing of Taoist folklore, but if these movies are any indication… it’s nuts.
Buy Two Taoist Tales Blu-rayThe films included are Taoism Drunkard and The Young Taoism Fighter. Both have loosely plotted stories that involve supernatural entities that engage in awesome wirework kung fu. And both are completely absurd throughout.
Taoism Drunkard is centered around a drunken Taoist who must atone for (drunkenly) damaging a special statue. To do that, he needs to find a virgin man to help with a ritual that will defend the monastery against a demon wizard intent on… something. The plots for these movies are confusing and contrived. They seem largely meant to string together comic and action scenes. And those are just an excuse for the extraordinary athleticism of the martial arts. The virgin man in question, Wu Shun-chiu, lives with his grandmother. Director Yuen Cheung-yan plays the grandmother, and the drunken Taoist.
The grandmother makes the man do regular trials. Some of these include fighting the “banana monster” which is an indestructible three-foot-tall bowling ball with teeth. Do not ask me to explain. There’s plenty of odd action, odder laughs, and a climax that involves two wizards chanting at each other while people they possess do wild kung fu around them.
The Young Taoism Fighter is about as incomprehensible. A young apprentice at a kung fu school is always getting into trouble. He precociously wants to learn the school’s famous separation art, where he can divorce his soul from his body. When he finally manages it, he finds his soul is mostly interested in playing pranks and throwing things around for his body to catch.
There’s a demon martial-arts master in this one, as well, who drinks the urine of children to fuel his demonic powers. This happens in the film.
I am ill-equipped to discuss Taoism as it is present in these films. The accompanying booklet assures me there’s plenty. All I can see is a pair of action comedies with some minor horror aspects, though those are largely played for laughs as well.
So, how’s the kung fu?
Taoism Drunkard I found immensely entertaining throughout. There’s several bravura sequences and awesome fights. The Young Taoism Fighter took much more for me to warm up to. After the first hour of mostly gags and weirdness, I was ready to call it quits. The last 40 minutes, however, has several impressive fights, including some incredible work by a female sword fighter, played by Hilda Liu Hao-yi. She’s a Taiwanese actress who seems to have only been in the business for the better part of a decade, but she’s an impressive athlete. She’s seeking vengeance against the demon lord (or whoever) and reluctantly joins forces with the Young Man of the title to get it.
I cannot pretend to understand these films as anything but goofy entertainments. If there are deeper meanings, on me they are lost. But they are definitely entertaining in the specific Hong Kong Kung-fu way. Some of the sensibilities of these films are not to my taste. In each one, an animal presented on screen is also killed, which I dislike (in the first a chicken, in the second a snake). Some turtles seem to be ill-treated in Young Taoism Fighter, as well, though I have no evidence they didn’t make it out okay.
But they’re entertaining. They’re generally funny, in a broad way. And the kung fu is constantly awesome. The athleticism of these performers is so casual and impressive that it makes a better spectacle than most CGI-fest films. Both films arrive on Blu-ray in high quality transfers, probably in better shape than most people would have seen the films in the cinema.
Two Taoist Tales has been released by Eureka Entertainment. Each film is on its own Blu-ray disc, with original Cantonese and English dub audio tracks. Extras on both films include commentaries by Frank Djeng, an Asian film expert, and action cinema experts Mike Leeder and Arne Venema. Both films also have video extras by filmmaker and critic James Mudge. There’s also a booklet with a couple of essays.
