Red Trousers: The Life of the Hong Kong Stuntmen (2003)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Robin Shou

Writers:

Craig Reid (screenplay)
Robin Shou (screenplay)

Genre:

Documentary | Short | Action | Fantasy

Plot:

A short action film interwoven into a documentary tells the story of the legendary unsung heroes of Hong Kong film...

Plot Keywords:

Dominatrix

Cast

Robin Shou	...	Evan / Narrator / Himself
Beatrice Chia	...	Silver
Keith Cooke	...	Kermuran (as Keith Cooke Hirabayashi)
Hakim Alston	...	Eyemarder
Craig Reid	...	Jia Fei (as Craig D. Reid)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Buffulo	...	Computer virus thug / Zu's zombie fighter
Mindy Dhanjal	...	Zu Yao Her
Duck	...	Forest Devil / Himself
Kok Siu Hang	...	Flying machine body guard / forest devil / himself
Sammo Hung Kam-Bo	...	Himself (as Sammo Hung)
Lueng Shing Hung	...	Zu's Zombie Fighter
Kam Loi Kwan	...	Flying machine body guard / computer virus thug / forest devil / zu's zombie fighter / himself
Alice Lee	...	Nurse
Mike Leeder	...	Mr. Goa
Chi Ming Leung	...	Forest Devil
Chia-Liang Liu	...	Himself (as Lau Kar-Leung Sifu)
Monique Marie Ozimkowshi	...	Dominatrix
Jude Poyer	...	Flying machine body guard / himself
Ng Wing Sum	...	Flying machine body guard / computer virus thug / zu's zombie fighter
Ridley Tsui	...	Himself
Chi Man Wong	...	Computer virus thug / forest devil / zu's zombie fighter / himself

Also Known As:

Hong ku zi (Hong Kong: Mandarin title)
Hung fu zi (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language and violent images.

Runtime:

100 min | USA:53 min (TV version)

Country:

Hong Kong | USA

Language:

English | Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Certification:

Germany:12 (uncut version) | USA:R | UK:15

Company:

Tai Seng Entertainment

Movie Connections:

Edited from Lost Time: The Movie (2003)

Terribly Impressed...not even an action junkie

I just caught Red Trousers against my own will when a martial arts fanatic friend of mine dragged me to the theater. And oh boy was I glad he did. Not only was Red Trousers uniquely made combining movie and documentary, but to refer to it as eye-opening is compeletly underselling it. The stuntmen in Hong Kong should be each be given an award for their dedication to an artform that is in every sense being digitalized everywhere else in this world. I checked out the Red Trousers website and was sad to see that the film is only in limited release throughout the country...however if you are one of the lucky millions living in the big cities nationwide, make sure you see it. This visually spectacular, stunning gem of a documentary deserves much much more recognition. The one part I liked the best (besides the absolutely breathtaking, bone-breaking sequences) were the interviews with children at various martial arts schools in China. The one-track focus many of these young children possess toward their goal and the torturous training methods really goes to show how easy kids in the U.S. have it. During his interview, Sammo Hung, star of Martial Law and hundreds of HK flicks, stated that during his childhood in those opera/martial arts schools, he had to do a one and a half hour handstand every morning before he was even allowed to brush his teeth. Congratulations to Tai Seng and Robin Shou for doing a great job presenting to us the fantastic world of stuntmanship.