CROUCHING DANCER, HIDDEN WIRES

If you haven’t taken Hong Kong action movies seriously, now may be the time to start. Dance critic Joan Acocella of The New Yorker pays particular attention to “wirework, whereby the fighters are attached to wires, like Peter Pan, so that they can move upward as well as in the usual directions… such feats leaven the film’s violence with a sort of joy. By producing a longer arc of action, wirework allows for longer takes–hence, expansion, afterthoughts, fantasy.” The New Yorker