Women of KF cinema tributes

[Jimbo]

[Jimbo]

[mickey]

Definite and Complete HAWTNESS, Jimbo!!!

I could not get through the first montage until I found out about the music.

I enjoyed Michelle Yeoh as well. I was really upset about her knee injury in CTHD. She was not the same after that.


Thank you for bring those to us,


mickey

[Jimbo]

Glad you enjoyed them, mickey! The fans who put these tribute videos together are really good at it.

Back in the early '80s before Michelle Yeoh became an actress, she had gone to Scotland to study dance but suffered a serious back injury. I heard that that derailed her aspirations to become a dancer. Although you really couldn't tell from her very physical early onscreen performances. But you're right, her injury during CTHD likely affected her even more.

IMO, Moon Lee (Lee Choi-Fung) was one of the most underrated female screen fighters of the '80s and early '90s. Like Michelle Yeoh, she had a considerable dance background, but she also had some MA background as well. I remember in Taiwan reading a Chinese-language magazine article/interview of Moon Lee, and she mentioned 'Northern Shaolin', although IMO she moved more like TKD. Both Moon Lee and Michelle Yeoh could project that onscreen 'fire' (intensity) that great screen fighters project. But IMO, Moon Lee often surpassed Michelle in terms of sheer physicality and onscreen ferocity, even though she never equaled Michelle's star status.

[Jimbo]

Oshima Yukari was matched against Moon Lee in a number of films, as they had great screen chemistry as opponents. She easily matched Moon Lee's intensity. Yukari is a legitimate Goju-ryu karate black belt, but her kicks suggested a greater TKD influence in her screen fighting.

[Jimbo]

Kara Hui Ying-Hung, IMO the queen of Shaw Brothers period epics. She especially excelled in Lau Kar-Leung's complex sequences involving traditional Chinese weapons. She herself has said she prefers her 'period' KF films over her 'modern' action films.

[wolfen]

Women In Action 2010 - The Power of Moon (Lee)

Action moments from Moon Lee´s Killer Angels (1989), Devil Hunters (1989), Princess Madam/Under Police Protection (1990).
Music: Arman Van Helden - Shake That Ass, Chemical Brothers - Hey Boy Hey Girl, JayDee - Plastic Dream 2003.

[wolfen]

Moon Lee singing "Betray" (背叛) by Chai Li (蔡立儿, Cherrie Choi)




News Item

Moon Lee Choi-Fung Divorces After Dirty Laundry Aired

Former “Girls With Guns” star Moon Lee Choi-Fung, 42, got divorced from husband Dennis Law Kai-Yan in 2007 after Law allegedly discovered Lee having an affair with their twenty something godson. Supposedly, Law walked in on Lee and Moon Lee Choi-Fung at an event in Hong Kong in Janaury 2008.the godson — who worked for Law’s performing arts company — while the two were intimately involved. Exposing the alleged affair to the media in June, Law declared: “No matter how you look as it, as a husband or as a godfather … to discover something like that in your own bedroom … of course, it’s a shock and something that’s very hard to accept. What hurts most is that a loving family and marriage have been destroyed. After I learned the truth, I found out that this affair was an open secret among many people at the performing arts company.”

In response to Law’s declaration, Lee took out an ad in a newspaper denying the allegations. Reportedly, Law and Lee have now divorced with Lee receiving US$12,000 per month in alimony.

Moon Lee retired from film for Reasons unknown around 1999, I tried to research why. She ran a dance studio in HK until about 2007 probably no where near the financial rewards comparable to films, had some very nasty public divorce and now seems fully retired only running a travel blog.

Moon Lee's ex Husband wrote a book to demonize Moon Lee and maintains a blog solely for this purpose. He really really, really hates her.
Rich guy marries a beautiful movie star and is angry that she married him for his money. Hmmm...
"no man can break through the pass of beauties".

(I noticed in his endless excoriation of his ex-wife he talks a lot in one post about her 'insatiable sexual appetite'.
Hmmmm kungfu sex with Moon Lee. Some guys should be so lucky. I mean he got his money's worth, he got cucked, so what! let it go.)

http://twofacesofmoon.blogspot.ca



https://www.amazon.com/Two-Faces-Moo.../dp/B00L3PI9GS

Two Faces of the Moon: A Unique Insight Into Chinese Extra-Marital Affairs



Moon Lee's Current Travel Blog

http://blog.sina.com.cn/lisaifeng

[Jimbo]

Thanks for posting, wolfen.

Yes, I heard about the Moon Lee affair. Sucks when things like that happen. I heard the dance studio she ran was in Colorado.

[Jimbo]

After nearly 30 years, I still think this is the finest example of a woman vs woman screen fight:

[wolfen]

Thanks for posting, wolfen.

Yes, I heard about the Moon Lee affair. Sucks when things like that happen. I heard the dance studio she ran was in Colorado.

Yes a very sour note on a career or to end one. She was in HK also , her site looks like it ceased activity about 2007. The scandal ended that career.

Moon Dancing Studio

She was in her 30's when she quit films and went back to dance, she was first scouted for films because of her aptitude in dancing.

荃灣青山道298 號南豐中心 2104A 室
Room 2104A, Nan Fung Centre,
298 Castle Peak Road,
Tsuen Wan, N.T. Hong Kong
電話/Tel：(852) 2612 4454

Moon Lee Reminisces about her Film Career

"Having a grounding in and really knowing kung fu are two different things.Just knowing the basics, you have no real power not like kung fu.
I really fooled many people into believing I was a skilled fighter"
I think she would have been better off to staying the film world in some capacity especially with those looks. Teaching Chinese dance was extremely limited and the competition too severe. Too bad she had been completely grounded in real kung fu, she would have been more resilient in handling the divorce scandal.

《殭屍先生》 李賽鳳的專訪






I think the husband in the scandal was more in love with his own face than anyone else He is so twisted and ungiving as shown on his blog. He can't even acknowledge that Moon Lee inspired him to an interest in Dance and dance productions. We must always honor our roots no matter how we feel about them. Given that I think his artistic output and creativity must be negatively affected ie in his theatre productions. It's a type of woodenness.
To this day he is trying to persecute Moon Lee and even stop her from writing her own blog. He writes and in English and indicates the HK press doesn't favor him too much, he just doesn't get it about honoring talent and accomplishment.
So he re-married one of Moon Lee's dancers (Moon Lee II ) from her troupe playing out the role of Chinese Boss with Concubine.

[Jimbo]

I read some of what the husband had to say, and it's obvious that, contrary to what he claims, he is definitely not over Moon Lee. If he were, he would have moved on. He's clearly still spiteful, even referring to the boy she had an affair with as 'not good-looking'. Seriously, how is that a factor? Would it have made him happier if she'd cheated on him with Magic Mike? And if the photos say anything, in the looks department, he isn't one to talk about others' appearance. Of course she did something very wrong. But he says he's moved on but obviously has not.

Of course, I wasn't there and it's really none of my business. I don't take anyone's side in this matter. But to me, her ex-husband seems to be the stereotyped 'rich Chinese man' who married a HK actress. Probably more for his money than anything else. And he probably married her for her looks and maybe because she was an actress. From the outside looking in, sounds pretty superficial to me.

[Jimbo]

I mentioned in an earlier post about a screen fighter's ability to project 'fire'/intensity onscreen. IMO, this is essential for any screen fighter, unless someone is playing a soulless robot. This intensity can be projected in different ways and to varying degrees, depending on the individual and situation in the storyline. But 'spirit' and personality are necessary to come across as more convincing and to project power in a movie. I believe it's what Bruce Lee referred to as 'emotional content'. It's what gives choreographed fight scenes in movies a sense of immediacy or 'danger', and also gives the impression of power.

Whereas in real life fighting, it's generally better to be cold and non-expressive. It's not an appearance thing but a focus thing. Fighting onscreen and for real are two very different things.

In these scenes from Karate Girl, the younger girl wearing black is a perfect example of someone having very impressive technical ability but no 'fire'/intensity. Unless she is playing some emotionless, mind-controlled slave, there is no reason for her to be so wooden. Plus, the fight choreography overall is what I refer to as a 'bowling pin setup'; the opponents just stand there and wait to be knocked down, or are otherwise offering little to no resistance. They don't appear to want to harm her at all. Thus it comes across like a TKD demo you would see at a tournament or public exhibition. It would be interesting to see how the main star, Rina Takeda, and the younger girl in black would perform under a different director or choreographer who does emphasize expressiveness.

[GeneChing]

We've discussed Rina Takeda on the following threads:
High Kick Girl
Karate Girl aka KG
The Kunoichi: Ninja Girl
Dead Sushi (デッド寿司)

Perhaps I'll chase down some of the other aforementioned women here, just for archival sake. Or maybe one of you can.

[Jimbo]

Angela Mao Ying was the first female KF star who excelled in screen fighting with hands and feet. In her earlier films, her trademark glare was unmatched.

She is an alumna of Taiwan's Fu Hsing Opera School. Also early in her career, after she had some Hapkido training, it was widely reported that she fought off a knife-wielding mugger by kicking him.