Buddha's Palm

Towards the end of the Shaw film studio's days, they decided to pull out the stops and make their films as wild as possible. Full of gaudy lighting and crazy animated effects. Mainstay director Yuen Chor didn't do so well at this time as his films became studies in excess instead of entertainment. The Shaw's brought in some new directors and so Taylor Wong is here directing his second feature.

The plot, if it can be called that, revolves around a jilted lover who falls from a cliff while being beaten by his girlfriend's husband to be. He is caught by Dameng, a sort of flying Dog Dragon, and brought to the Old Devil, a master of the Buddha Palm. Of course he learns the Palm and gets involved with the Old Devil's past. The Old Devil has a number of enemies.

Where other Shaw films in this vein are rather stilted and old fashioned, this film is full of energy and inventive camera work. There are a number of camera moves that didn't become popular until the late 1990's. The lighting is frequently garish but done with some artistic restraint. The fight choreography is absolutely bizarre but it's well filmed and works because of it. Other films like this usually have lots of confusing movement that is only effective because it passes so quickly. Everything is very fake but that shouldn't dissuade you from enjoying it. There are two narrators who make comments from time to time. The narrator's comments make it clear that the film-makers didn't take any of this seriously.

Probably one of the best films in this genre. Recommended.