For American devotees of Hong Kong action films, 1996 will be remembered as the year the ingenuity and breakneck kinetics of this genre stormed the Western world. Among other notable inroads, Jackie Chan broke through as a Hollywood star, and Broken Arrow vaulted director John Woo to A-list status.
Sex and Zen & a Bullet in the Head, the first attempt by a major US publisher to map this phenomenon, was released only months before China's takeover of the British crown colony - which leaves the fate of Hong Kong's film industry, like the city itself, on uncertain ground. The book is a solid introduction for the novice viewer and a worthwhile addition to the cinemaphile's library.
Truth be told, Hong Kong movies have suffered a troubling downturn in recent years, partly due to the diaspora of capital and creativity before zero hour. Appropriately, Sex and Zen is a requiem to the genre's golden era, from the mid-'80s to the early '90s, when the industry regularly created films of such wild brilliance that they made Hollywood fare look comatose.
Authors Stefan Hammond and Mike Wilkins offer chapters on Chan, Woo, and up-and-comers like master fantasist Tsui Hark and street-level auteur Ringo Lam - plus sections devoted to the martial arts, noir, and fantasy/horror subgenres, among others. These consist primarily of reviews of the best films in each category - although, too often, they are not so much reviews as exhaustive plot synopses. The book shines most in its entertaining sidebars, which include a collection of those deliciously bizarre English subtitles. (My favorite: "Damn, I'll burn you into a BBQ chicken!") And there's also a helpful compendium of related online and offline resources.
While many Hong Kong luminaries have already taken their talents to the West, the promise of a new billion-strong audience and the innovative work of such resolutely native filmmakers as Chungking Express director Wong Kar-wai may yet lure them back for a creative revival. Until then, Sex and Zen & a Bullet in the Head is a vivid reminder of the years when these filmmakers forever changed the way we look at movies.
Sex and Zen & a Bullet in the Head: The Essential Guide to Hong Kong's Mind Bending Films, by Stefan Hammond and Mike Wilkins: US$12. Fireside Books: +1 (212) 698 7076.
