BUT MUH BRUCE LEE

Dec 13, 2017

I think there are some methodological issues at play here that make the narrowness of the choices more baffling. On top of that I think there could have been a discussion as to the metrics by which we're supposed to be judging greatness. You mention that your decisions regarding the nominated movies involved qualifiers such as the moral lense through which violence is depicted and the way in which the film treats the genre. Both of which are qualifiers I agree with completely But they lead to some confusion over a few notable absences. The fact that there's not a single Bruce Lee film seems almost unforgivable considering the lengths he went to to discuss the moral reasoning for the violence depicted (and in enter the dragon and the original unfinished game of death) as well as the influence he has had on the genre, whose scope can only be described as biblical in its proportions But beyond that I think there should be a precise and coherent definition of what constitutes a martial arts movie. Because if the raid and crouching tiger and 36 chambers, and (especially) the zatoichi series (ie films in which unarmed combat is not necessarily the focal point) count (as I agree they do) then how can we ignore the other great jidaigeki samurai martial arts flicks like Shogun Assassin or Samurai Reincarnation? Or even Lady Snowblood! And if we're considering contemporary film I don't think it's at all reasonable to list the raid (a film that revitalized and innovated the genre in a way it hadn't been in the previous ten years) without also listing the matrix movies and Kill Bill. *Especially* when we taking treatment of genre into consideration