Two Taoist Tales – Eureka

Director: Yuen Cheung-Yan (Taoism Drunkard), Chen Chi-Hwa (Young Taoism Fighter)
Screenplay: Mai Kei (Taoism Drunkard), Tse Chi-Sheng (Young Taoism Fighter)
Starring: Yuen Yat-Choh, Yuen Cheung-Yan, Chu Hoi-Ling, Lo Pi-Ling, Yuen Shun-Yi, Hilda Liu Hao-Yi, Yen Shi-Kwan, Kwan Chung, Tai Bo
Country: Hong Kong
Running Time: 95 min (Taoism Drunkard) 100 min (Young Taoism Fighter)
Year: 1984 & 1986
BBFC Certificate: 15

Earlier this year, Eureka released Yuen Woo-Ping’s Miracle Fighters on Blu-ray. As I mentioned in my enthusiastic review of the film, it was a big success on its original release in Hong Kong. As you might imagine then, this led to follow-ups. Whilst not ‘official’ sequels (unless you count some of their international titles), a trio of films have become known as being part of the Miracle Fighters series – Shaolin Drunkard (1983), Taoism Drunkard (1984) and Young Taoism Fighter (1986).

None of these films share characters or storylines but they’re all made by the Yuen Clan and all have a similar supernatural kung-fu comedy tone and focus on Taoist monks practising what seems like magic.

The films were gradually less and less successful, likely due to the waning popularity of period martial arts films as the 80s moved on, so the series never continued after those initial four titles.

That hasn’t stopped Eureka from turning their attention to the last two films in the series though. It’s surprising they didn’t release them all in one box set, but the films are only loosely connected and perhaps Shaolin Drunkard was not available. Eureka did, however, choose to combine Taoism Drunkard and Young Taoism Fighter into one collection. After enjoying Miracle Fighters a great deal, I requested a copy of this new set, entitled Two Taoist Tales, and my thoughts follow. I’m going to review the films together as they share similar qualities and flaws.

Taoism Drunkard sees director Yuen Cheung-Yan play the titular monk, with a taste for ‘the good stuff’. After accidentally breaking a sacred statue, he’s asked by his master to find a virgin boy for a special ceremony.

He eventually comes across Chiu (Yuen Yat-Choh), a young man who is due to become the protector of a special writ, which his grandmother (played by Yuen Cheung-Yan again) is currently looking after.

The drunken monk continues to hassle the disinterested Chiu for his services but the pair face bigger problems when the furious ‘Old Devil’ (Yuen Shun-Yi) storms into town to get his hands on the writ for himself.

Young Taoism Fighter stars Yuen Yat-Choh once again, this time playing Ko Sang, a troublesome Taoist disciple. He wants to be the best but can’t be bothered to put the effort in, so sneakily steals the manuals of more advanced techniques so he can jump ahead. In particular, he’s interested in learning the ‘separation style’, which allows him to separate his soul from his body.

Meanwhile, the evil Tien Wu Clan master (Yen Shi-kwan) is busy trying to kidnap, fight and kill all of his rival kung-fu masters, so he can rule the martial arts world. He also drinks the urine of young children to boost his powers for some reason!

Looking to get revenge for the death of her master, a female martial artist played by Hilda Liu Hao-yi is looking for the Tien Wu Clan master. She keeps bumping into Ko Sang, who slows down her progress along the way, but the pair eventually join forces to finish off the mighty villain.

Your enjoyment of these films is going to depend on your taste for Hong Kong comedy of the era. Both titles are very silly, with particularly broad performances and puerile humour. Possibly due to the input of producer Lo Wei, there are quite a few sex/body-part gags, in particular, especially in the first of the two films.

These gags don’t always work, due to either their age or simply through being lost in translation, but if you have a taste for these lowbrow comedies, there’s fun to be had.

In his commentary, Frank Djeng says how he thinks Young Taoism Fighter feels more Taiwanese than its predecessor (it was shot there), with a slower pace and less verbal humour. He seems to see this as a negative, feeling the film isn’t fast-moving enough and the jokes too juvenile. Personally, I feel the relaxed pace does the otherwise wacky film some favours though and the dialogue-based gags in Taoism Drunkard are largely lost on Western audiences like myself, so I preferred the follow-up overall. Plus, I wouldn’t say all the d*ck gags in the previous film were any less juvenile.

What is likely to entertain more than the jokes, however, is the sheer bizarre nature of the films. Both have a ‘throw it at the wall and see what sticks’ approach, with all sorts of crazy shenanigans unfolding on screen. Taoism Drunkard’s most notable jaw-dropper is the “banana-eating monster” which is some kind of spherical robotic guardian of the writ, with a large, sharp-toothed mouth that it uses to attempt to bite the penises off those who trespass in his domain.

I found both films a little too confusing in places. Taoism Drunkard throws a few too many characters into the mix and there’s an awful lot going on. Young Taoism Fighter is a little more focused but is still episodic and badly muddies the waters on a couple of occasions by featuring lengthy scenes that are revealed to be dream sequences after the fact.

The humour and storytelling are a bit all over the place then but, thankfully, the action sequences are consistently excellent, as you’d expect with the illustrious Yuen Clan behind them.

Both films contain great fights on top of inventively choreographed comic set pieces. The final showdown of Young Taoism Fighter is particularly good. It’s broken into two sections. The first keeps things out in the open, relying on complex two-on-one moves (often in relatively long wide shots) rather than using props and such. The villain pulls out a cool skeleton hand weapon partway through though, which turns into a sword and then a chain later! The second part of the finale then moves inside and gets increasingly wild, with disembodied limbs even attacking the villain at one point! It’s a fittingly bizarre end to the pair of films.

So, whilst the madcap nature of the films in Two Taoist Tales can make for uneven viewing, they’re lovably bonkers and both buoyed by some wonderful fight scenes. Fans of the wackier side of Hong Kong cinema will be in for a treat.

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