crossbow0106
This is about 60% of a great film. Jaycee Chan plays a drummer in a band who beds down a gangster's girlfriend, only to be found out. Sid (Mr. Chan) has a father (Tony Leung Ka Fei) who is also a gangster and the other gangster wants revenge, specifically Sid's hands chopped off. Sid flees to the mountains of Taiwan, whereupon he stumbles across a group of zen drummers. He is captivated by them and looks to join him. They take him in and make him go through rigorous training to prove himself. Herein lies the problem in this movie. Its not a fatal one: This film should have stayed with the zen drummers. Instead we get more of the gangster goings on in Hong Kong. The parts shot in Taiwan (its beautiful countryside, and the cinematography is great) make up a very good film. Although she doesn't do enough, the so pretty Lee Sin-Je (also known as Angelica Lee in other films) is part of this. Her beautiful piercing dark eyes are always welcome (an aside: see "The Eye" with her as the star, not the horrible Jessica Alba remake), but I wanted more reaction from her. She's a very good actress and looks beautiful, especially when she smiles. There is a bit too much of the gangster stuff going on, it drags the film a bit. However, its still worth watching for the zen drummers and Jaycee Chan is a fairly good actor. Recommended, just could have been a great film.
Harry T. Yung
The following are extracts from the program of a recent performance of U-Theatre that I attended: "The 'U' of U-Theatre is a phonetic transcription of a Chinese character meaning 'superior, excellence'. In ancient China, this word also referred to 'professional actor'…..U-Theatre is an arts group established in 1988 by Liu Rou-yu…..As a student of Polish director Jerzy Grotowsky, Liu had undergone professional training that took place in the woods….. She decided that the focal point should be 'the development of a performer's body and mind'…In 1993, Huang Chih-chun was invited to join as a drum instructor, and he introduced the training method of 'learning meditation prior to drum techniques'….For U-Theatre, performance is not an end in itself, but an aspect of a holistic way of life." U-Theatre has performed in art festivals around the world – New York, London, Moscow, as well as numerous in cities in Asia, Europe and the two American continents.This movie is first and foremost about U-Theatre. One approach could be to dramatize the history of this arts group. Instead, the Hong Kong movie makers chose to fit it into a gangsters' yarn, for reasons that are painfully obvious. The gangster story is banal and too drawn out. But I do give credit to the movie makers for devoting more than half of the movie to U-Theatre, in the middle section when the protagonist, a kingpin's son, is in exile in Taiwan and becomes a new student in U-Theatre. As well, both founders Liu Rou-yu and Huang Chih-chun are in the movie playing themselves, together with other members of the group, giving the movie authenticity.While I am not particularly impressed with the script, the acting is fine. Jaycee Chan, looking as like his father Jackie Chan as I've ever seen him in a movie, handles his character's spiritual transformation reasonably well. Lovely Angelica Lee, among the best Chinese actresses today, is not even challenged in her role. The Hong Kong gangster movie veterans have all delivered – Tony Leung Ka-fai, Roy Cheung Yiu-yeung, Josie Ho, Kenneth Tsang Kong. For eye-candy, there is Cheng hei-yi, better known to the Hong Kong Canto pop crowd as Yumiko.
DICK STEEL
Anything with drums, and I am there. The beats of drums in any music always appeal to me (no prizes for guessing I'm a drum and bass fan), because I suppose it's fairly easy to express your mood to beats, and this expression can be done through anything that gives you that satisfying clang, and more so when you need to vent frustrations out in a relatively safe manner by hitting out at something inanimate, without personal injury of course.And I like it too as it doesn't come across in a threatening manner to those who want to pick up the instrument. I mean, there are no complicated chords, complex notes, intimidating keys or confusing hand eye leg coordination that calls for dexterity. What it has essentially is a pulled canvas, a set of drumsticks, and calls for strength, intensity and endurance as you express the beats of any rhythm within you.The Drummer is the latest movie to premiere from Hong Kong, written and directed by Kenneth Bi, starring Jaycee Chan, Tony "The Lover" Leung and Li Sinjie. Jaycee has been particularly busy this latter half of the year, with 3 releases (including this one), from action in Invisible Target, to art-house drama in Where The Sun Rises, and now a movie about Zen Drummers. Somehow I find that he possesses this charming quality that comes across as easy going, a little naive, but yet having no lack of serious acting chops when the time calls for it. With the few films of his that I've seen (save for the forgettable debut efforts like the Twins Effect), I'm quite impressed and would definitely be in the queue for more in future to see how he would mature into the different roles that come along his way.In The Drummer, Jaycee plays Sid in the titular role, and somewhat a departure from his earlier characters, at least initially. A pompous prick who drums for his rock band, he gets into the pants of a mistress of a triad boss (Kenneth Tsang), and without saying gets himself into deep trouble. In trying to shield his son, Dad (Tony Leung, in yet another typical hot headed gangland leader role we're familiar with from the Election movies) sends him packing to a rural part of Taiwan to weather the expected storm of triad displeasure, and in this exile, Sid comes across the training grounds of the Zen Drummers.It's a basic story about the coming of age of an impatient youth, as he tries hard to gain acceptance to drum for the Drummers, who are of course, in no need for any impetuous hothead. And you know the drill from here, where there's a clash of cultures and philosophies pertaining to drumming, and in teaching him the ways of their own, we get plenty of "wax on wax off" moments, as virtues like patience, discipline, hard work, perseverance, you-name-it-the-movie's-got-it get imparted and appreciated by the newbie, transforming before your eyes from selfish individual, to a valuable team player.For the most parts, the movie develops at a rather predictable manner with near clichéd sub plots, but the appeal of the characters made it quite enjoyable to sit through, despite its run time of almost 2 hours split between dramatic moments, and those embodying Zen like teachings and quiet, contemplative pieces. I thought that the movie, like the virtue it's imparting, requires patience in order to savor the goods of a delightful performance, as typical stories of such nature you'd come to expect - the big fight, the finale dance, that rewarding end performance. However, to my slight disappointment, The Drummer didn't deliver w hen it really should. Instead the editing interrupted and intruded on proceedings, and what could have been worth a ticket to witness, felt like spare change.The romance bit also fell short, and somehow was junked from developing further as the narrative decide to switch gears and focus on father and son instead. Hence, Lin Sinjie's role as Hong Dou became a little sidetracked midway. Which was a pity, given that the potential for some good old fashioned romance didn't make the grade. But what I found really jarring, was the decision to reintroduce triad moments in the last act. Again typical in wanting to provide closure, but done not too subtly that it sticks out like a sore thumb.All in all, it's still a gorgeous looking film with good acting from the leads, and not to mention the professional performances by U-Theatre, the real Zen Drummers who come alive when they're behind their set of drums. Make sure you watch this in a theatre with a booming sound system. If you haven't had enough of the mesmerizing, hypnotic beats, then head on down to the official website and ensure you got your speakers turned on. And check out the production blog too while you're at it!
