bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

quizIds

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

paywallTypes

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Paul Fonoroff

Starring: Chen Kuan-tai, Leung Siu-lung, Teddy Robin Kwan, Wong Yau-nam  
Directors: Derek Kwok Tsz-kin, Clement Cheng Sze-kit  
Category: IIB (Cantonese)
Kung fu has rarely been as much fun as in this homage to 1970s-style martial arts pictures in which its retro subject is given a 21st-century spin. Director-scriptwriters Derek Kwok Tsz-kin and Clement Cheng Sze-kit (who share screenwriting credit with Frankie Tam Kong-yuen) successfully negotiate the thin line between poking fun at the genre's clich?s and maintaining respect for a cinematic form they clearly adore. 
Proudly flaunting its low budget and cast of past-their-prime stars, Gallants triumphs as one of the most refreshingly creative, thoroughly Hong Kong productions in quite some time.
The plot is deceptively simple, centring on a nerdy young property agent, Cheung (Wong Yau-nam, above, radiating a suitably cartoon-like persona), sent on a hapless mission to obtain the multi-year lease of a dilapidated village tea house whose owner is keen on expelling his long-term tenants. The plot thickens when it is revealed the tea house was formerly an important kung fu training centre whose leader, Master Law (Teddy Robin Kwan), has lain comatose in an upstairs bedroom for more than 30 years. In the interim, now elderly disciples Dragon (Chen Kuan-tai) and Tiger (Leung Siu-lung) barely make ends meet. 
That is, until Cheung inadvertently stirs things up between  them and the toughies employed by the deceased landlord's Americanised son (rapper MC Jin Au-Yeung), who it turns out suffered childhood trauma at the hands of primary schoolmate Cheung. Add to the mixture a fight competition organised by Master Pong (Chan Wai-man), a once-sexy doctor who still carries the torch for her comatose patient (Susan Shaw Yin-yin,  whose own career arc has gone from sex bomb to nuanced character actress), and a pretty mainland kung fu ace (Jia Xiaochen)  who may or may not have feelings for Cheung, and Gallants' surface simplicity proves to be merely an illusion.
The scenario is well served by the directors' nod to Shaw Brothers-type technique, complete with freeze frames, choppy editing, psychedelic graphics, and Tam Ping-man's portentous narration. While these flourishes imbue the proceedings with zest and texture, the narrative eventually runs out of steam and the finale falls a bit short of the energy generated earlier.  
What truly endows the picture with retrospective weight is the older cast members in roles that reverberate with their oeuvre from a bygone age. When kung fu icons like Chen, Leung, and Lo Mang  (here playing the landlord's most dexterous henchman) go at it, in fights choreographed by Yuen Tak no less, we know it's the real thing.  
Stealing the show is Kwan, who also composed the film's amusingly evocative score, in the best role of his acting career. Displaying a raunchy sense of humour and physical authority previously untapped on screen, Kwan attacks the part with a gusto befitting the movie's motley gang of gallant misfits.
Gallants opens today



Gallants