NEW MARTIAL ARTS SUBGENRE OF MARTIAL ARTS PROFESSIONALISM Judge Archer JOLIE ZHOU

64 While Haofeng Xu has worked as a martial arts choreographer in the Chinese flm industry and as a flm professor at Beijing Film Academy since the 1990s, it was only in 2011 when he made his directorial debut. As an expert in the cultural and practical aspects of martial arts, Xu’s experience and knowledge of this combat tradition render his fghting scenes visually and thematically authentic. With three flms so far, Xu focuses predominantly on the representation of the martial arts profession in Mainland China. Judge Archer (Mainland China, 2012) was released between Te Sword Identity (2011) and Final Master (2015). Judge Archer thoroughly explores the relationship between the personal growth of the protagonist and the philosophy of martial arts. Te production reveals Xu’s personal preference for complex narrative structures as well as his general artistic goals; in fact, Judge Archer does not follow the logic of cause-efect as the classical wuxia pian1 do but rather, shows the efects frst and then unfolds the cause step by step. Xu prefers genuine martial arts rather than “magical” or carefully staged martial arts scenes; in contrast to the heavily edited Hong Kong Kung Fu scenes Archer’s authenticity is exemplifed through real Kung Fu combat scenes set in real time2. Judge Archer is not a traditional wuxia pian, but rather a successful attempt to introduce an authentic martial arts subgenre into Chinese cinema. Before discussing Xu’s specifc works, it is important to trace back to the epic period of wuxia pian in Hong Kong cinema and its decline. Such examination will explain why Xu Haofeng is so unique in recent Chinese cinemas. Beginning with Shaw’s 1970 Chinese Boxer the new Kung Fu flm reached its peak in the early 1970s – in Mandarin, with a strong emphasis on unarmed fghting.3 Te flms by King Hu and Chang Cheh introduced novel sophistication to Hong Kong martial arts flms during the late 1960s and mid-1970s. However, the heyday of ancient martial arts flms did not last for long. During the mid- 1970s, producers concerned with cost-efciently, started hiring martial arts choreographers to direct entire flms. Te biggest shortcoming of this decision derives from the fact that, in addition to giving up on complex storylines, these directors incorporated more fght scenes with 65 JOLIE ZHOU CAMÉRA STYLO countless zoom shots and slow motion. Eventually, audiences grew tired of these repetitive scenarios thus resulting in the mixing of Kung Fu with other genres, such as comedy and crime flms throughout the 1980s. Tsui Hark revived new wuxia in Hong Kong cinema during the late 1980s to early 1990s through his idiosyncratic dancing Kung Fu scenes and coherent utilization of editing. Unfortunately, wuxia pian lost its audience again by the mid-1990s as contemporary crime and action flms absorbed martial arts choreography. Xu himself notes that “the eclipse of wuxia novels also caused an eclipse in wuxia pian by the 1980s”.4 Because the Hong Kong martial arts design was conventional for action flms throughout the world, Xu commenced searching for innovative techniques specifcally for Chinese ancient martial arts flms. Despite Xu’s eforts, however, very few flms are comparable with King Hu’s stylistically elegant and poetic martial arts flms. His most well-known flm, A Touch of Zen, depicts martial arts through dance movements in a subliminal landscape. In a rampart scene, a male rival chases the female protagonist in a rather gentle and slow movement across the frame. Te scene demonstrates the poetry, rather than the ferocity, in Hu’s choreography rendering it visually and stylistically captivating. Inspired by Hu’s cinematography, Xu decided to make flms that represent the traditions of martial arts schools and the spirit of movements in martial arts. One may argue that Judge Archer exemplifes Xu’s attempts at transforming and innovating the wuxia pian tradition. Since the plot’s linearity in Judge Archer is not Xu’s chief concern, he adheres to a looser narrative structure. In fact, the director states that “I do not mean to use a linear structure to tell the story, but an ambiguous one”.5 Drawing inspiration from classic melodrama, Xu nevertheless decides to eliminate the cause-efect logic of the plot that would otherwise be salient. Te story of Judge Archer may be roughly divided into two plots. Te frst one features the story of its eponymous protagonist, future Judge Archer, Liu Baiyuan, or previously Shuangxi (played by Yang Song); the second one is the story of Erdong (played by Yenny Martin) and Guo Decheng’s (played by Zheng Zhao) vengeance against Kuang Yimin (played by Cheng-Hui Yu) and Commander 66 JOLIE ZHOU CAMÉRA STYLO Yang. Te director intertwines these two plots in a complicated way, by which the story of judge archer gradually transforms into the revenge plot. For example, after Liu becomes Judge Archer, the frst scene is an exercise led by Guo with a group of disciples using a long rod. Te following scene suddenly shifts to Guo and Erdong talking about Judge Archer, and then cuts to an encounter between Guo and Liu in a restaurant. Te fnal scene in this sequence is Erdong asking Liu to assassinate Commander Yang. Te relationship between these scenes remains ambiguous until the flm’s culmination. Xu does not provide much important information about the main plot until the end of this flm, which is the central distinction between Judge Archer and other notable flms from this genre. Xu features three important women in the flm in order to weave the plots together. For Xu, women can represent a culture, society, community, and place. Shuangxi’s older sister, raped by a landlord in their village at the beginning of the flm, represents traditional Chinese culture. Te landlord forces Shuangxi to watch the tragedy happen; from that day on, Shuangxi is afraid of women. Tus, the host of a temple names a paper monk as Shuangxi, which will stay in the temple to repent for Shuangxi’s sins. He needs to start a new life with a new name, and the new name will be the frst word he hears after leaving the temple. Afterwards, he becomes Liu Baiyuan, and takes the name of a profession, Judge Archer, as he strives to maintain justice between various martial arts schools. Te population acknowledge a person as Judge Archer solely through his precision of using arrows; in other words, the arrow is the tool that indicates the Judge’s strength in martial arts and one that showcases his ability to judge. Te appearance of a second woman, Erdong, gives Liu Baiyuan a goal to continue the central plot. Erdong, a woman of mixed heritage, functions as an ostensible symbol for Western culture in this flm. She asks Liu to avenge for the sake of her father because she considers Judge Archer as a man capable of solving injustices. Nevertheless, Liu claims that he would not intervene in any event outside the martial arts schools, though Liu does ofer her some help. Erdong, however, does occasionally fght with Liu because of his resistance against her 67 JOLIE ZHOU CAMÉRA STYLO emotional input as well as his refusal to help. Te third woman, Yue Yahong (played by Chengyuan Li), is the most crucial female hero for Liu’s story. She is one with whom Liu falls in love, and she symbolizes the liberation of Liu’s desire. Yet, Yue Yahong, the nominal wife of Kuang Yimin, traps Liu by the request of Kuang Yimin. Additionally, Kuang Yimin maintains a double identity: the martial arts teacher of Guo Decheng and the guard of Commander Yang. Finally, Erdong and Guo Decheng successfully murder Commander Yang. Although the fght between Liu and Kuang Yimin demonstrates the ethics of the martial arts profession, functioning as an elegiac tribute to the ancient archery tradition, the story itself is not over. Te peculiar narrative structure illuminates a new mode of storytelling, with several ellipses between the two central plots. If this flm followed a classic mode of storytelling conventional for Hollywood cinema, it would have likely explained that Erdong asks Guo to assassinate Commander Yang frst; then, Guo would explain that Yang has a powerful guard, Kuang Yimin, who is his martial arts teacher. So, Guo tells Erdong to ask Judge Archer to become an assassin. Te encounter between Guo and Liu is signifcant for the story as it allows Guo to test Liu’s profciency in martial arts techniques required for an assassin. Once he proves himself, Erdong goes to please Liu and asks him a favor. However, Xu leaves all these key plots invisible to the audiences. For Xu, a flm should not be manipulative but should be enlightening and self-refexive.6 Judge Archer invites audiences to examine its choreographic design and the ethics of martial arts, rather than to focus exclusively on its plot. Te plot of Judge Archer is not as easily comprehensible as in many other Chinese or Hollywood action flms. A short review in Variety illustrates that the artistic attempts of Xu elude the appeal to audiences, whatever local or foreign audiences.7 As a scholar-director, Xu seems to prefer an obscure approach towards storytelling. As mentioned previously, the central plot is not the priority for Judge Archer; rather, Xu draws audiences’ attention to fghting rituals in martial arts schools, which are flmed in a real time setting. Xu creates several scenes in order to present the martial arts culture that 68 JOLIE ZHOU CAMÉRA STYLO China has left behind. For instance, the frst scene features the cruelest competition in the world of martial arts profession, the ultimate duel, which requires a close and linear fstfght between two people who are sitting on chairs. Since the ultimate duel was too brutal, it was abandoned after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. Hence, the ultimate duel occurring in Judge Archer is Xu’s attempt to revive martial arts traditions, at least on screen. Yet, this scene also demonstrates the strength of Kuang Yimin and implies a relationship between Kuang Yimin and Yue Yahong. When viewers watch this flm for the second time, it shows that Yue Yahong will work undercover for Kuang from the very beginning. Xu tries to unveil the causes at the last minute, rather than presenting them at the beginning; at the same time, he gives viewers hints that foreshadow the cause in the wake of specifc events. Although Xu leaves the main plot largely ambiguous, he focuses extensively on the psychological development of the protagonist. Te sidestep plots of this flm focus primarily on Liu’s emotional entanglement towards his sister. Although this story should technically deviate from Liu’s struggle, focusing on a revenge plot instead, Xu parallels Liu’s personal development with the vengeance. Instead of presenting the training frst, like many other wuxia pian did, Xu employs fashbacks of Liu’s archery training in order to explain the philosophy behind his behaviors. He parallels the fashback to the present, while his present behaviors can be traced back to his past. Xu suggests that although Liu is an immature man, he has a very powerful philosophy to support his actions, one intrinsically linked to archery. Te fashback of Liu learning archery presents his pure conceptual world.8 Tere are some instances which indicate that Liu refers to this philosophy throughout his daily life. Primarily, because one of the archers’ rules states that the left foot must point in the direction of the target Liu adheres to this rule at the fruit shop, as his foot keeps pointing in the direction of the fruits he wants to take. Secondly, the drawing, which is an outline of a head with two ears and a line across the face and the line on the level with the eyes, is an archer’s self-examination. Tis philosophy, however, does not solve 69 JOLIE ZHOU CAMÉRA STYLO everything for Liu. When he fnds out that Yue Yahong betrayed him, he neither controls his emotions nor applies a deep self-examination. Only when his mind slackens, he is caught by Guo. Nevertheless, he grows throughout all these events but not simply from his philosophy of archery. Near the end of the flm, Liu goes back to his hometown seeking to avenge his sister but does not kill the landlord. His mercy refects his psychological development, in which he thinks that he does not deserve to take one’s life. While he does try to fnd his sister, he ends up never seeing her again. Liu releases four arrows to the river and saying, “She was only an illusion that let me understand my heart; She is a revelation from Buddha.” Te water in this scene functions as a representation of the inner world as refected in traditional Chinese philosophy. Liu’s arrows represent his fnal disentanglement from his own guilt, thus highlighting the warrior’s personal growth. Xu’s flms often depict the action in a real-time setting without elliptical editing. For years, many directors of wuxia pian used hidden wirework or heavy editing for supernatural scenes. Xu mentions that these magical martial arts flms do not refect real martial arts or the spirit of the martial arts profession9. Commenting on the martial arts genre in 1970s Hong Kong Scholar Yip notes that “the actors and actresses with genuine martial arts skills came to be increasingly desired and sought after in the early 1970s”.10 Notable actor and stunt performer Bruce Lee himself was one of the key fgures for the “increasingly centrality of unarmed combat”.11 For example, Fist of Fury highlights the masculinity and charisma of Bruce Lee through his almost magical but genuine martial art combat with his enemies. However, the authentic Kung Fu that the 1970s Hong Kong martial arts flms refer to is diferent from the one that Xu pursues. First, martial art flms in the early 1970s, such as Fist of Fury, employ montage in order to supplement for the real combat. Secondly, Xu pursues not only the actors and actresses with genuine martial arts skills but also the aesthetics of real time as a way of presenting the most authentic martial art experience. Nevertheless, a Western flm critic Jay Weissberg states that these less kinetic matches are fascinating, but this flm will draw devotees of the artsier form of the genre but elude 70 JOLIE ZHOU CAMÉRA STYLO broader appeal.12 Tis broader appeal is largely explained through the visual appeal that fast montage and unrealistic fght scenes grant their viewers. In Judge Archer, many fght scenes once again represent Xu’s privileging of the real time. For example, he shows the ultimate duel between Liu and Guo’s disciple in the restaurant in a single continuous shot. Xu utilizes deep focus cinematography in order to enhance the breathless atmosphere of the ultimate duel, with the two combatants in the left foreground of the frame and Guo in the middle-ground and the crowd in the background. Tere is no fast pace cutting, no montage, and no gimmick for any of the fght scenes in Judge Archer. Xu states that one must respect the form of a movement in martial arts, in which the movement reveals one’s spirit.13 Another emphasis in this scene, as well as the other fght scenes in Judge Archer, exemplify the conventions for Chinese martial arts professionals. Te shot after the ultimate duel shows an out-of-focus image of Guo’s hand on his thigh in the foreground with a sharp focus image of the two combatants in the background. Tis shot epitomizes martial arts ethics, in which no fght should be followed the competition between two rivals. In conclusion, Xu contributes to the innovation of a new Kung Fu subgenre with a specifc emphasis on martial arts professionalism and philosophy. Te theme of Liu Baiyuan’s self-refection, wrapped in a peculiar narrative structure and a rich exploration of Judge Archer’s dexterity, marks a new height for martial arts flms. As Xu mentioned himself, although his thoughts may be as old as Kuang Yimin in Judge Archer, he wants to forever ingrain this tradition in the minds of his audiences.12 ______Notes 1. Wuxia pian: “Te wuxia f lm features sword fghting within supernatural plots against ancient and historical settings.” (A note from Te Oxford Handbook of Chinese Cinemas, 2013: 282) 2. Kung fu flms: “Te kung fu flm exhibits empty-hand combat set within more realistic plots.” (A note from Te Oxford Handbook of Chinese Cinemas, 2013: 282)

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______Bibliography Bordwell, David. Planet Hong Kong: Popular Cinema and the Art of Entertainment. 2nd. ed. Madison, Wisconsin: Irvington Way Institute Press, 2011. Print Li, Bin. “挟刀揉手，以形破力: An Interview with Xu Haofeng.” Film Art, No. 1 (2016): 41-46. Web. 23 June 2016. Rojas, Carlos, and Eileen Cheng-Yin Chow, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Cinemas. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. Web. 23 Feb. 2017. Sai, Ren. “《箭士柳白猿》：类型之武侠电影的不射止射. “Judge Archer: The Deviance of Genre for Wuxia Pian”. Film Art, No. 3 (2013): 26-28. Web. 23 June 2016. Wu, Guanping. “武之美学，器之精神: An Interview with Xu Haofeng.” Film Art, No. 2 (2013): 44-50. Web. 23 June 2016. Weissberg, Jay. “Judge Archer.” Variety, Vol. 3 Dec. (2012): 44. Academic OneFile. Web. 21 June 2016. Xu, Haofeng. “武侠电影之前世今生 (The History and The Present of Wuxia Pian).” Film Art, No. 3 (2014): 5-14. Web. 23 June 2016. Yip, M. “In the Realm of the Senses: Sensory Realism, Speed, and Hong Kong Martial Arts Cinema.” Cinema Journal, vol. 53 No. 4 (2014): 76-97. Web. 16 Mar. 2017

______Filmography Te Sword Identity. Dir. Haofeng Xu. Grindstone Entertainment Group. 2011. DVD. Judge Archer. Dir. Haofeng Xu. Grindstone Entertainment Group. 2012. DVD. Final Master. Dir. Haofeng Xu. United Entertainment Partners North America. 2015. DVD. Chinese Boxer. Dir. Yu Wang. Shaw Brothers Studio, 1970. Intercontinental 72 JOLIE ZHOU CAMÉRA STYLO

Video, 2005. DVD. ______Endnotes 1 David Bordwell, Planet Hong Kong: Popular Cinema and the Art of Entertainment (Madison, Wisconsin: Irvington Way Institute Press, 2011), 131. 2 David Bordwell, Planet Hong Kong, 10. 3 Bin Li, “挟刀揉手，以形破力: An Interview with Xu Haofeng” Film Art 1 (2016): 41. 4 Guanping Wu, “武之美学，器之精神: An Interview with Xu Haofeng” Film Art 2 (2013): 44. 5 Jay Weissberg, “Judge Archer” Variety 3 (2012): 44. 6 Guanping Wu, 46. 7 Ibid., 46 8 M. Yip, “In the Realm of the Senses: Sensory Realism, Speed, and Hong Kong Martial Arts Cinema” Cinema Journal 53.4 (2014): 87. 9 M. Yip, “In the Realm of the Senses,” 87. 10 Jay Weissberg, “Judge Archer,” 44. 11 Haofeng Xu, “武侠电影之前世今生(Te History and Te Present of Wuxia Pian)” Film Art 3 (2014): 12. 12 Guanping Wu, 46.

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