I wish Donnie Yen was my dad. If not that I wish he had more exposure over here in North America and someone would give him the chance to open up a can of Whup-Ass. Alas, we shall keep on waiting until that glorious day. In the meantime, those lucky bastards over at KungFuCinema managed to get a short interview in with the Yen. They talk about Sha Po Lang, with Sammo Hung, and Seven Swords, directed by the yet-to-convince-me-he-is-great Tsui Hark.
Personal highlight of the interview is this excerpt when the Yen is talking about fighting with actor Wu Jing in Sha Po Lang, There’s one shot, a single shot that’s about 40 seconds long, with about 60 movements in it, continuously, no cuts, no editing. I hope people see it and say, "Wow, that’s the real stuff!".
Stuff? Stuff? When I see this shot the word coming out of my mouth may not be 'stuff'. It may have an 's' and a 't' in it. And some sort of quick greeting in between those two letters, like 'hello' or perhaps 'hi'. Yeah. 'Hi' sounds good.
Long takes in action films can end up feeling a bit silly, though. I'm thinking of the "no one can shoot worth a damn" gunfights in Breaking News here.
Not that Donnie Yen isn't the man, of course -- he is -- it's just that I worry.
g.
I dunno ... the only thing I really liked in Breaking News was that massive tracking shot through the opening gunfight ...