Painted Faces (1988) - A Review

 

An important movie to watch if you're interested in 80s Hong Kong cinema.

Painted Faces is a biographical/historical drama released in Hong Kong in 1988 starring Sammo Hung, Lam Ching-Ying, Cheng Pei-Pei, Cheung Man-Lung, Siu Ming-Fui, Chung Gam-Yam, Yeung Yam-Yin, Wong Kim-Wai, Goo Fai, and Alex Law Kai-Yui. Painted Faces was co-written (with Mabel Cheung Yuen-Ting) and directed by Alex Law Kai-Yui, with martial arts directed by Yuen Wah and the Sammo Hung Stuntmen's Association.

Sammo Hung plays his Master, Yu Jim-yuen.

Painted Faces tells the story of Yu Jim-yuen (played by Sammo Hung), the headmaster of the China Drama Academy, one of the main Peking Opera schools in Hong Kong. The main attraction of the China Drama Academy was the Seven Little Fortunes, a group of children who performed plays that used music, acrobatics, acting, and martial arts to tell historical stories real and legend. The Seven Little Fortunes had members who became Hong Kong legends later on: Jackie Chan (called Big Nose in this movie, and played by Siu Ming-Fui as a child and Cheung Man-Lung as a teenager), Sammo Hung (played by Yeung Yam-Yin as a child and Chung Gam-Yam as a teenager), Yuen Biao (played by Goo Fai as a child and Wong Kim-Wai as a teenager), Corey Yuen Kwai, Yuen Wah, and Yuen Qiu among many others.

Master Yu forcing flexibility into Yuen Biao.

We see some of the tortuous training the students go through, and what a stern master Yu is. Though Yu is very strict and stern with his students, he is totally ill at ease around the woman he is interested in, Master Cheng (played by Cheng Pei-Pei). Throughout this, we also see the students get into mischievous situations, causing Master Yu to brutally punish them. The Peking Opera school kids are picked on by other 'regular' kids, and they get into scuffles. Eventually, we see teenage Jackie's first romance progress at the same time Master Yu's relationship with Master Cheng is developing.

The students at the China Drama Academy.

As the movie goes on, Master Yu begins to worry that he is not preparing his students enough for success for when they leave his school. Master Yu's Opera brother, Uncle Hua (played by Lam Ching-Ying) tells him of his troubles being an older stuntman, but also how lucrative it is for the young men. As the popularity of Peking Opera dies down in Hong Kong, Master Yu has to decide what to do with his school, his students and the rest of his life...

The real Master Yu Jim-yuen.

 Painted Faces is one of those movies I always read about in my research of martial arts movies in the 90s, before I had internet access. Magazines and books would always talk about this movie and about how good it was. It was always on my radar; I looked for it every time I went to the video store on the weekends in my search for everything Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao (their movies were my priority at first, I began to branch out as I learned about other martial arts movies and actors/actresses). I could never find it physically. I eventually watched it online in the early 2000s, but the quality was terrible. The main thing I remember is the dance scene where the Seven Little Fortunes go to a dance party. Also the tragic Uncle Hua scene. I was... underwhelmed at the time.

Watching a better version recently, and my thoughts about it have changed. I liked it a lot this time! It helped that I knew what was going on (the subtitles on the previous version I watched were hard to see). The acting is excellent in this, especially by Sammo Hung, Cheng Pei-Pei, and Lam Ching-Ying. You feel for these characters: For Master Yu, you hope he gets together with Master Cheng, and you hope everything works out for his school. Master Cheng is so nice and elegant, it's hard to imagine Master Yu not falling for her. Uncle Hua is absolutely tragic, and his final scene is a bit disturbing. The kids as Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao are great as well, with Jackie as the most mischievous one, and also the one who gets into an awkward romantic relationship. There isn't really a plot to the movie, it just shows the progression of Master Yu's life and the Seven Little Fortunes lives from training, to performing, to becoming stuntmen. There isn't really any martial arts action, it's more brawls (and there are only like two or three), but it would be weird for this type of movie to have that type of action.

The real Seven Little Fortunes.

 As you can guess, I highly recommend watching Painted Faces. It gives us a glimpse of what Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, and the other Seven Little Fortunes went through to become the forces they became in the Hong Kong movie industry. I will admit, this movie is not entirely factual. Having read Jackie Chan's autobiography I Am Jackie Chan (which is a must read), and seeing interviews from the other Seven Little Fortunes, the torturous training is actually toned down a lot. The punishments they received (either beatings with reeds or a walking cane; or torturous acrobatic exercises) are toned down as well. Jackie described his master as a very vain and proud man, whereas in the movie he is a bit humbler. Jackie and Sammo's rivalry is only hinted at, and Sammo (not what he was called as a child, he got the name after becoming a successful figure in the movie industry) stays longer in the school than he actually did in real life. Plus the fact that the female students at the China Drama Academy are not shown, and the rest of the Seven Little Fortunes get no focus. Still, this movie is amazing, and it may even make you emotional by the end. Check it out! This movie is a tribute to the man who gave many Hong Kong stars (both in front and behind the camera) the skill to succeed in the movie industry, and become legends in the process. Sammo Hung won the Best Actor award for his performance in this movie, so you've got to see it just for that!

Reviewed by David Williams