Marshaling the comic arts

Hollywood is certainly no stranger to importing cinematic talents from Asia’s movie capital, but there is a crucial difference between comic superstar Stephen Chow -- who knocked on U.S. doors this weekend with his pan-Asian blockbuster “Kung Fu Hustle” -- and his high-profile Hong Kong peers.

Thus far, all of the Hong Kong superstars who have moved up onto the international stage -- Jackie Chan, Chow Yun Fat, Jet Li and the inimitable Bruce Lee -- specialized in action films, whether they were donning period costumes or modern-day trench coats. (Chan was Asia’s biggest action star long before his Hollywood career took off.)

By contrast, Chow is revered in Asia as “The Master of Comedy.”

Produced, written and directed by Chow, “Kung Fu Hustle” relies heavily on cartoons and comic book influences as it tells the story of small-time delinquent Sing (Chow) and his obese and slow-to-catch-on sidekick (Lam Tze Chung), who together dream about climbing up the social ladder by joining the powerhouse Axe Gang in a small town in 1940s China.

While action films have no problem hopping borders, comedies can be hit-or-miss at the box office as they try to transcend different cultures and languages. Despite that formidable hurdle, however, Chow’s movie has already garnered plenty of fanfare: Slapped with an R rating for its exaggerated and comical ultra-violence, “Kung Fu Hustle” became Yahoo’s second most watched trailer in the weeks leading up to its Friday release in the U.S.

“The humors in ‘Kung Fu Hustle’ are both specific to the Chinese culture and universal in appeal,” said Michael Barker, co-president of Sony Classics, which picked up the movie for distribution. (Film critic Roger Ebert described it as “Jackie Chan and Buster Keaton meet Quentin Tarantino and Bugs Bunny.”)

“Kung Fu Hustle” was an immediate hit upon opening in Asia last year, breaking records set by Chow’s own “Shaolin Soccer” in 2001. The movie has grossed more than $65 million in Asia so far, and recently beat Wong Kar-Wai’s masterpiece “2046” for best picture at the Golden Horse Awards, Hong Kong’s equivalent of the Oscars.

Oddly enough, Chow said he never sets out to make a comedy.

“My goal is simply to try to tell a good story,” Chow said, discussing his filmmaking philosophies recently at his Hong Kong production company. “There will be moments that are funny, moments that are not so funny, and then moments that are very sad. It’s never about ‘trying to make a comedy.’ Then, of course, I want some funny jokes and have my audiences enjoy some laughs. Eventually the humor parts of my movies stand out and they become comedies.”

Chow said as much while making the rounds of universities last year to promote the new movie. At one point, during question-and-answer sessions with college students, he was asked about his growing legacy. Chow responded, only half in jest, “I thought I made many movies about human tragedy; but the audiences interpret them as comedy.”

The audiences responded with more laughter.

Basis of his appeal

It’s exactly this approach that makes Chow the comic master of Asia. A lightweight, slapstick comedy is about facile jokes and cheap thrills. But the best comedies touch the audiences’ hearts, exploring the sadness that lies beneath the surface.

“Chow is becoming the Charlie Chaplin of Hong Kong,” said Geoffrey Wong, a Hong Kong film critic, describing Chow’s enormous appeal. “Chow likes to portray grass-roots characters that speak for most of the people in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. He would always be the smart little street kid who struggles and tries hard to find a way to succeed. His films speak to audiences from different cultures because the jokes and references are universal. The story of ‘Kung Fu Hustle’ surpasses any significant cultural differences.”

Chow joined Hong Kong’s TV station TVB in the early ‘80s as mostly a sidekick. After years of struggling, he got his first breakthrough when his debut movie performance, in the 1988 police drama “Final Justice,” won him the best supporting actor honor at the Golden Horse Awards.

That triumph, however, did not lead directly to stardom. Chow found himself relegated to B movies, where he toiled away in an effort to become a character actor. Frustrated, he turned to comedy in his search for success. He broke through with a 1990 gangster spoof, “My Hero,” in which he used a beguiling combination of outright nonsense and comic book influences that confounded -- and mesmerized -- Asian audiences. Chow alternated between sure-fire commercial fare (the “God of Gambling” series and the “Saint of Gambling” series) with more sophisticated comedies (the “Royal Tramp” series, “The Deer Duke” and “Mad Monk,” which reinterpret common ancient Chinese tales as modern-day satires) that allowed him to build a following and expand his range as an artist.

His reputation as a comedy master was cemented in 1996 with the two-part movie, “A Chinese Odyssey I: Pandora’s Box,” and “Chinese Odyssey II: Cinderella.” Adapted from the classic Chinese novel “Journey to the West,” about a monk’s odyssey to the Western frontier in search of a sacred Buddhist scroll, Chow refashioned the story drastically to add a love triangle, time travel and social commentary.

A mild box office disappointment at the time, the “Chinese Odyssey” series has since increasingly won the admiration of film and culture experts.

Process of discovery

INTENTIONALLY or unintentionally, “Kung Fu Hustle” is somewhat autobiographical.

In the movie, the good-for-nothing protagonist Sing eventually discovers his talent as a one-in-a-million kung fu master, not unlike the way Chow finally discovered his calling as the comic filmmaker of his generation who can make audiences laugh and cry at the same time.

“The story of ‘Kung Fu Hustle’ is about this guy who is on the margin of the society. He wants to become something but he is not good enough to achieve anything,” Chow said. “He tried to become a gangster so that he would have power, but he failed. He wants to become a good guy, but he fails too. He keeps wavering about what he can do with his life.”

“Kung Fu Hustle” opened Friday in eight theaters in New York and Los Angeles, and plans are underway to expand to over 2,000 screens nationwide. The movie is being released in Cantonese with English subtitles, in the tradition of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “House of Flying Daggers.”

There may be those who suspect that Chow, with 50-plus films under his belt, has been trying to ride the wave of kung fu fever with his latest two movies, “Shaolin Soccer” and now “Kung Fu Hustle.” But Chow, a die-hard Bruce Lee fan, has been teaching himself kung fu since his teens.

“I come from a very poor family background. I was in love with kung fu but did not have the money to go to a class to study it, so I learned kung fu by myself by reading books and imitating the moves in kung fu movies,” Chow said. “I am 42 now and have been practicing kung fu for more than two decades. But I am really not very good at it because I did not receive proper training.”

The novel “Journey to the West” ends with the various characters returning to heaven, but Chow’s version opts for an ending in which his character, the Monkey King, forsakes such immortality for love.

Asked what his choice would be, Chow laughed.

“Of course love! What is the point of immortality if there is no love? For me, life is all about passion and love,” Chow said. “ ‘Kung Fu Hustle’ is a movie about what I feel about life as well as my tribute to Bruce Lee. I would love to see the movie embraced and enjoyed by the American audience, but I can’t make movies based on that kind of calculation. Whether the movie works in the U.S. or not, I will continue to make movies with stories I feel strongly about, and hopefully the audiences will feel my passion too.”