Bruce Lee My Brother

李小龙

Hong Kong/China, 2010, colour/b&w, 2.35:1, 129 mins.

Directors: Ye Weimin 叶伟民 [Raymond Yip], Wen Jun 文隽 [Manfred Wong].

Rating: 6/10.

Beautifully shot biopic of the star’s early life in 1950s Hong Kong is more charming than dramatic.

STORY

San Francisco, 27 Nov 1940. Bruce Lee is born to Cantonese Opera star Li Haiquan (Liang Jiahui) and his wife He Aiyu (Zhong Liti) while Li is on tour with his troupe. The following year, just before the family returns to Hong Kong, baby Bruce appears in the film Golden Gate Girl 金门女. Back in Hong Kong, Li Haiquan is the main provider to a large extended family in a sprawling flat presided over by his mother (Li Xiangqin), who insists on the baby being called Li Xifeng 李细凤, despite being registered as Li Zhenfan 李振藩. Following the Japanese takeover of Hong Kong in late 1941, Li Haiquan is forced to perform for the occupiers. After the war, life slowly returns to normal in Hong Kong, and in 1948 Bruce’s younger brother Li Zhenhui, aka Robert, is born. As a boy, Bruce grows up as a brawler, befriending another kid in the neighbourhood, Xiaoqilin, aka Unicorn Chen (Ouyang Jing), the son of a martial artist. In 1950, film director Feng Feng (Zhang Daming), a family friend, suggests that Bruce acts in his production The Kid 细路祥 , choosing the stage name Li Xiaolong (Little Dragon Lee) for him. Following that, Bruce performs in a dozen or so films during the next few years and becomes a teenage star, inviting his friends, who now include UK-educated Liu Lianguang (Zhang Yishan), to the studios. Both Bruce and Liu Lianguang fall for Cao Min’er (Xie Tingting), daughter of actor Cao Dahua (Zhang Zhaohui), though Bruce is secretly loved by longtime childhood friend Liang Wennv (Gong Mi). After losing a street fight with a western boxing enthusiast, Hong Kong policeman’s son Charlie Owen (Yan Zhili), Bruce decides to seriously study martial arts.

REVIEW

Beautifully shot by Guan Zhiyao 关智耀 [Jason Kwan] (Merry-Go-Round 东风破, 2010; Love in a Puff 志明与春娇, 2010) in low-key pastel colours that almost border on B&W, and designed with an enormous amount of attention to period 1950s detail, Bruce Lee My Brother 李小龙 is an often charming slice of retro cinema whose qualities are overshadowed by having the name Li Xiaolong 李小龙 [Bruce Lee] in the title. Ye Weimin 叶伟民 [Raymond Yip], who directed one of 2010’s most under-rated movies, the road comedy Lost on Journey 人在囧途, and here co-directs with writer-producer Wen Jun 文隽 [Manfred Wong], surfs the current Hong Kong nostalgia wave with style and a ton of characters, without actually generating much drama. If the movie was simply a saga centred on a Cantonese Opera performer’s extended family in 1950s Hong Kong, it would rate as pleasant but undemanding entertainment; however, with Li’s name in the title, audiences can justifiably expect more than is delivered here.

Hedged in by the fact that Li’s life after his 1959 move to the US is pretty much copyrighted to his widow Linda Lee and Bruce Lee Enterprises – as an opening inter-title takes pains to point out – the movie is limited to a very specific area of his pre-megastar life, as recalled in a memoir by his younger brother Li Zhenhui 李振辉 [Robert Lee]. Here and there, hints of the later Li are threaded into the story – some of his physical mannerisms, the reasons for the xenophobia apparent in his mature movies, and even the main musical theme by Gu Jiahui 顾嘉辉 [Joseph Koo] from The Way of the Dragon 猛龙过江 (1972) – but there’s a feeling that the film-makers dare not go too far down any of those roads. In fact, there’s very little action in the whole movie, apart from some fisticuffs with a young westerner and a rather fabricated finale in which Li & Co. rescue a pal from some drug-dealers, and even his martial arts training under Ye Wen 叶问 [Ip Man] (who is neither identified nor clearly seen on screen) is almost ignored.

In place of all this, scriptwriter Wen has come up with a family drama that’s too episodic to develop much narrative traction and isn’t really from the point-of-view of Li’s brother (only a kid at the time), either. Individual episodes do have considerable charm: Li taking part in a cha-cha dance competition with his younger brother, family moments in the sprawling Hong Kong apartment, or the teenage Li and his friends carousing with each other or various girls. But the film lacks the longer dramatic arc that raised, say, Echoes of the Rainbow 岁月神偷 (2010) from being just an exercise in nostalgia for an idealised past.

Casting is good, from Liang Jiahui 梁家辉 [Tony Leung Ka-fai] as Li’s hard-working, traditional paterfamilias to smaller names cameoing as 1950s directors and actors (e.g. stuntman-actor Qian Jiale 钱嘉乐 [Chin Ka-lok] as Shi Jian 石坚), though some roles are almost thrown away (the fine Ye Xuan 叶璇 [Michelle Ye] as one of Li’s aunts). As the teenage Li, Li Zhiting 李治廷 [Aarif Lee] doesn’t look much like the part – though neither does Liang as his father nor Vietnamese-Chinese actress Zhong Liti 钟丽缇 [Christy Chung] as his Eurasian mother – but is far better than in Rainbow without actually managing to draw a really engaging character. Li gets the close-ups and iconic moves, but in terms of real acting he’s outperformed by Mainlander Zhang Yishan 张一山 (the lead in Looking for Jackie, 2009) as his best friend. As the girl between them, model Xie Tingting 谢婷婷 (younger sister of actor Xie Tingfeng 谢霆锋 [Nicholas Tse]) has a memorable face but not much chance to do anything with it apart from look dreamy.

[In the Mainland the film’s Chinese title was 李小龙  我的兄弟, literally “Bruce Lee: My Brothers”.]

CREDITS

Presented by Media Asia Films (HK), Shanghai TV Media (CN), Beijing Antaeus Film (CN), Beijing Mengze Culture & Media (CN), J’Star Group (HK). Produced by Masterpiece Films (HK).

Script: Wen Jun [Manfred Wong]. Book: Li Zhenhui [Robert Lee]. Photography: Guan Zhiyao [Jason Kwan]. Editing: Zhong Weizhao [Azrael Chung], Ye Wanting. Music: Chen Guangrong. Production design: Zhang Shihong [Silver Cheung]. Costume design: Zhang Shijie [Stanley Cheung]. Sound: Nie Jirong, Liang Zongwei. Action: Qian Jiale [Chin Ka-lok]. Special effects: Fat Face Production. Choreography: Huang Rui. Cantonese opera direction: Yun Tak-cheung. First draft script: Liu Haoliang. Second draft script: Chen Jiayi. Script consultation: Huang Yaoqiang, Qiu Jiaxiang, Wang Liming.

Cast: Liang Jiahui [Tony Leung Kar-fai] (Li Haiquan), Zhong Liti [Christy Chung] (He Aiyu/Grace, Li Haiquan’s wife), Li Zhiting [Aarif Lee] (Li Xiaolong/Bruce), Xie Tingting (Cao Min’er, daughter of Cao Dahua), Zhang Yishan (Liu Lianguang), Ouyang Jing (Xiaoqilin/Unicorn Chen), Chen Huanren (Skinny), Gong Mi (Liang Wennv), Ye Xuan [Michelle Ye] (Li Heyin, Eighth Aunt), Liu Haolong (Wei Junzi), Ruan Dejiang (Liang Xingbo), Yan Zhili (Charlie Owen), Li Xiangqin (Li Xiaolong’s grandmother), Lu Songzhi (Li Qiuyuan/Phoebe), He Siyan (Li Qiufeng/Agnes), Ying Changyou (Li Zhongchen/Peter), Dylan Sterling (Li Zhenhui/Robert), Peng Gen (Li Xiaolong/Bruce, aged nine), Liang Rui (Li Xiaolong/Bruce, aged three), Li Yang (baby Li Xiaolong/Bruce), Gao Junyu (Li Qiuyuan/Phoebe, aged 12), Du Huizhi (Li Qiuyuan/Phoebe, aged three), Yao Siting (Li Qiufeng/Agnes, aged 11), Mo Yayuan (Li Qiufeng/Agnes, aged 2), Wei Zili (Li Zhongchen/Peter, aged 10), Liao Dongmei (Skinny’s mother), Yuan Xingzhe (Fifth Aunt), Xu Huiwen (Seventh Aunt), Zhao Gongrong (Fourth Aunt’s husband), Chang Xiangguo (Fourth Aunt’s mother), He Xinwei (fellow student), Anders Nilsson (Andrew, priest), Li Xintong (Liang Wennv, aged 8), Wang Sai (Xiaoqilin/Unicorn Chen, aged 9), Yang Sirui (Skinny, aged 9), Zhang Daming (Feng Feng, director), Zhang Zhaohui [Eddie Cheung] (Cao Dahua, actor), Qian Jiale [Chin Ka-lok] (actor Shi Jian), Yang Gongru [Kristy Yang] (Mei Qi, actress), Zheng Danrui [Lawrence Cheng] (Gao Luquan), Yu An’an [Candice Yu] (Cao Dahua’s wife), Wang Yuan (Feng Baobao, child star, aged 4), Song Jia [Xiao Song Jia] (Yu Suqiu, actress), Wan Ziliang [Alex Man] (Wu Chufan, director), Kuang Wenwei [Abe Kwong] (Guan Wenqing, director), Zhang Quanxin (Wu Hui, director), Wu Jieqiang (Hu Peng, director), Wu Yue (Wang Liang), Wu Zhixiong (Brother Xiong), Wu Yonglun (Lun), Wang Gehui (May), Liang Zhuoman (Elvis), Huang Zhiwei (Ye Wen/Yip Man), Roger (Charlie Owen’s police father), David Mersault (foreign assistant), Ash Gordey (Charlie Owen’s trainer).

Release: Hong Kong, 25 Nov 2010; China, 25 Nov 2010.

(Review originally published on Film Business Asia, 3 Jan 2011.)