Journey to the West Conquering the Demons

and toilet humor are deeply rooted in commercial) flavor to them,
EVEN GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN MODERN CHINESE SOCIETY SEEM TO BE AN OPEN TARGET FOR CHOW
o g r a P h s b y C F P
evidenced by his willingness to satirize modern stereotypes by inserting them into his films. By allowing actors to speak in their native dialects, Chow allows for a multiethnic cinematic vision—one that challenges the harmonious and uniform standard Mandarin overdubbing of modern Chinese film. Actor and Shaolin Monk Shi Xingyu, playing the Fist of the North Star, another demon hunter, screams and cavorts in his rough-and-tumble, native Shandong dialect, while Show Luo (罗志祥) lisps through pretty-boy formalities with a Taiwanese accent. It pokes fun at one of the most commonly understood problems in modern China—the difficulty of communication. This linguistic conflict has always been an element in Chow’s movies—a long-running joke that pokes fun at the diversity of tongues in Chinese society . In Chow’s 2004 Kung Fu Hustle begins to blabber in English, and his fellow villagers yell that they can’t understand what he’s saying.Even gender and sexuality in modern Chinese society seem to be an open target for Chow . Of course, all modern storytelling requires a romantic lead, and in Journey , it’s Duan (Shu Qi), a beautiful and simultaneously aggressive fellow demon hunter who pays more homage to Golden Swallow , the female protagonist of King Hu’s 1966 Come Drink With Me (《大醉侠》D3zu#xi1), than the typical, coquettish damsel in distress. When asked to dance suggestively , she
performs the only routine she knows, an aggressive martial arts form;
ironically , it’s up to the Monkey King (Huang Bo) to teach her how to move with sensuality .
While Chow already tackled the Chinese legend of Journey in his 1994 The Fish Demon attacks Xuanzang
, opposite Jason Statham. She was a recipient of the Golden
不不不，是“空虚”！我是肾虚公子! 不不不, 我不是空虚公子，我是肾虚……我告诉你哦，我从小肾就……不, 我从小就很空虚！
As far as blockbusters go, Journey is
a trend-setter; according to The Wall Street Journal, the film has grossed 762.3 million yuan ($122.6 million) since opening February 10, becoming the second highest-earning domestically produced movie in Chinese history. While Journey is entertaining, it is,
simply, just that. If you plan on
catching this film when it releases
in the U.S., be prepared to be
entertained but not much else.
Chow gives us a one-of-a-kind
action-comedy that fits snugly into
his own acting style. The bells and
whistles are amusing, the laughter
contagious and the deaths brutal. It’s not Cannes material, but it makes
for weekend fun and a good bit of
language learning. - TERENCE HSIEH
(谢燕辉)
Buddha's palm attacks the Monkey King Buddha's palm strikes the evil Monkey King。