Kung Fu Hustle Screening Analysis

For my screening analysis, I viewed the film Kung Fu Hustle at the Gish. The film takes place on the gang-infested streets of 1940’s Shanghai and follows a young wannabe gangster named Sing on his quest to join the “Axe Gang”. While the film features hard core Kung-Fu fighting sequences, the tone of the film is very comedic, filled with slapstick gags that add an almost cartoon-esque vibe to it. The climactic stand off scene between Sing and the entire Axe Gang was one of the most visually active scenes in the film. When sing is being swarmed by the gang, the entire gang is moving in slow motion. When the camera focuses on Sing, all of his movements against the gang are in normal speed. While the two differences in speed were never shown together in the same cut, the rapid changes between the cuts added to the visual intensity of the scene. When Sing defeats the mob and is preparing to face off with The Beast, there is an extremely exaggerated slow-motion shot as Sing punches The Beast in the cheek. The speed changes back to normal as The Beast flies off the balcony before going back to extreme slow-mo as Sing returns to kick The Beast in the chest. These rapid transitions between different speeds are common throughout the entire film, as well as Martial Arts films in general. It adds to the fantasy factor, giving the action a very stylized and artistic look and feel.
At one point in the scene Sing is circled by the mob with men jumping out at random points. The camera is stationary, with Sing’s opponents simply jumping in and out of the frame. Most of the men exit the frame in slow motion. The camera then switches to an overhead shot of Sing being surrounded by the mob, with the same action as the previous cut, only this time we are able to see the entire action when one of the men is being kicked out of frame, and we get to see multiple men entering and exiting the frame at once. During the overhead shots, the speed appears slightly faster than normal giving it an almost video game-like appearance as Sing is moving in a slightly choppy manner and men are wildly flopping through the air. Most of the hand-to-hand combat scenes used flat spacing with both opponents focused in the center of the frame. However, as the mob is swarming toward Sing, there is a craning shot that pans down at a curve to give a three-dimensional feel and to emphasize the massive size of the mob. During the duel between Sing and the Beast, there are a series of zoom shots focusing on specific body parts. This method can be used in both a comedic way and a serious way. For example, when the two are having their “slap fight” the camera focuses on their arms, adding emphasis to a scene that was already intended to be funny. When Sing kicks The Beast in the neck, the camera zooms in on the sole of Sing’s foot behind the beasts’ neck, to emphasize the intensity and pain taking place in the scene.
As the film progresses, certain types of shots become more frequent as well as limited. The fight scenes earlier in the film tended to have more straight forward, center-frame shots to focus on the fighting. Toward the end, such as the scene where Sing jumps off of the eagle and turns into a meteor, there are a lot more experimental and close-up shots of the characters faces to add to the emotional grit of the climax, as well as giving the action more of an artistic, stylized appeal.