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A Jet
Li Biography, by James Robert Parish.
Despite an apparent linear continuity in dealing with every
movie Li's made, Parish doesn't make a mere list detailing their faults or merits. His
work is much deeper since he systematically reveals ups and downs of a feature production,
he adds a plot summary not exempt of spoilers, he specifies the dates of release (in HK
and in the USA) and the box office grosses and successes. He usually finishes it off by
describing the audience and critic reception adding various American journalist
quotations. Sometimes Parish fails to make his point crystal clear since he may dilute his
analysis of the situation with so much wealth of detail. But this thorough approach is
logical and serves well the author demonstration.
Li sees each movie as an excuse to a new challenge and he
is motivated by new experiences, by meeting new people or to improve his acting skills.
During the production of Once Upon A Time In China, director Tsui Hark unexpectedly
brought him new perspectives on his acting approach, which helped him to improve his
performances. The chronological progress is therefore logical since it perfectly follows
Li's progression in his private and professional life.
To support this private and intimate approach, a multitude
of Jet Li's own words are quoted in addition to various film critic review excerpts of
Li's different features. Again, it leads the reader to understand Li's own reflections on
his career ups-and-downs. For instance, repeated failures to find a proper project,
multiple injuries or witnessing Hong-Kong people misbehaving with Mainlanders made Li
seriously think of giving up. But, Parish demonstrates that Li worked as hard to become an
accomplished movie person (in production, acting, action choreography, script-writing and
even film direction) as he did to become a Wu Shu expert, in spite of some misfortune.
Parish knows that his readership may be a mix of Li's
fanatics and mere moviegoers. He takes then the opportunity to be educational, but never
boring. He explains indeed what are the typical constraints in the HK movie productions
and the local film genres and techniques (e.g. Wu Xia Pian or Kung Fu, and wire works).
This has the double advantage to never lose the reader into the complexity of a chaotic
Chinese film production system, which is miles away, in its conception, from the Hollywood
asepticized methods. And it helps the reader to contemplate Li's merits in dealing with
such traditional and demanding system and still displaying his tremendous skills whilst
promoting Chinese cultural heritage. The tough production of Hong-Kong/China co-production
Shaolin Temple 3: Martial Arts From Shaolin (by Lu Chia Liang, 1986) is a
perfect example.
This comprehensive biography