Taiwanese cinema is something else.
To say the least, my proximity to this particular market has been scant in the twenty-seven years since Asian genre cinema gained its second foothold in the mid-nineties, so when I talk about just how fucking lit a film like Chang Peng-I’s Night Orchid is, it’s about as raw a reaction as you’ll get from me.
The film sort of dives right into the middle of nowhere, during a deep conflict pitting swordsmen and warlords against one another in a story penned by none other than screenwriter and literary legend Gu Long, which takes off from a pre-existing TV series featuring Robin Hood-like character Chu Liu-xiang, played by Adam Cheng. Cheng takes the mantle once more, here joining actress Brigitte Lin who plays Su-su, a mysterious damsel he saves from a ritualistic sacrifice.
There’s an air of foul play in the midst as Chu and other heroes find themselves on a playing field battling wits and swords against the sorcery and mystique of a sexy Persian witch, and an elusive, seemingly faceless killer with ties to the seductress. As romance blooms between Chu and Su-su, a startling revelation brings things to a head in a climatic development that finds our hero battling a foe wishing to stir unrest in the Central Plain.
That’s about as much as I can summarize without having to rewatch the film and turn this review into a cumbersome affair. A lot happens in this fast-paced endeavor, which rightly confirms the “mile-a-minute” description in the film’s programming notes for the 10th Old School Kung Fu Film Festival. In the first twenty minutes, a dog gets tossed from one end of a space to another, a band of clandestine, spandex-wearing killers begins wreaking havoc, ferocious sword fights commence, Chu appears, a glass horse meant as a gift dissolves into a purple gas indicating it was fake, and a giggly little girl lops a man’s head off out of nowhere before flipping off into the dark of night like she a damn train to catch.
All that craziness happens in the first twenty minutes or so, and that tells you roughly all you need to know about what to expect in Night Orchid. It’s hard to get a grip on what this story is about and you never really know until we finally meet the film’s villain, so you’re not alone if the film’s pacing gets to be a little unnerving for you to the point where you’re taken out of the story after trying to figure out who everyone is and where it all fits. This film rather feels like a fitting offering to anyone familiar with the lore of the Chu character as portrayed by Cheng and written by Gu, so really what drives the interest at this point is the film’s fluidity and progression, and spectacle as a genre piece with a specific niche in mind
Perhaps one of the biggest compliments for this film is the addition of Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung cohort Fung Hak-on who has a small, albeit supporting role in the film in addition to serving as one of its two martial arts choreographers, the other being the amply-experienced Alan Chung. The action is as ambitious as it is kinetic and fast, laced with acrobatic fervor and high-energy choreography and editing. The violence isn’t too gory or grotesque but the red stuff surely makes itself present where applicable.
Fans of Asian films may even also take note of a few interesting appearances by beloved actor Eddy Ko, and the formidable Master Pain a.k.a. “Betty” himself, Fei Lung from Steve Oedekerk’s Kung Pow: Enter The Fist. These roles appear mainly early on in the first half, but it’s a fun addendum to the unique experience of enjoying rarities like Night Orchid, a film that’s mostly all over the place for anyone new to the realm introduced here, but still just as fun and engaging as any whimsical wuxia oddity you can unearth.
Night Orchid screens for the 10th Old School Kung Fu Film Festival from April 21 to April 30.