|
Johnny Law (Yuen Biao) is a member of the Henry Chao Family Circus Team. When the tent and all
the physical properties are bombed by the invading Japanese, the whole circus troupe has to disband and each member find his own future way. Johnny decides to join the Chaos
and casts his lot with them. Patriarch Chao fails to find his brother from whom he is hoping to get help. Johnny also fails to find his uncle who is well off, enough to be
able to do something for them. However, he seems to have disappeared and his assets taken over by a group using his factory to manufacture cigarettes. Already down and out,
they are lucky to find Annie, a co-trouper who left and is now a successful restaurateur. She helps them - Henry, son Charlie and Johnny - get jobs at the factory.
Technically, Bone Twister's focus of interest is the display of various intricate stunts for viewers
who like watching martial arts films. The added pleasure is to see these same cast doing aerial acrobatics as circus entertainers. The acting of the ensemble cast, which
includes Yuen Biao is adequate for the story. However, there is not much of a story to show. The inadequacy of translating Chinese into English in the dubbing makes the
dialogue less clear. Sometimes in the too close-up shots of the art and technique of Taekwando, the grace and the skill of the martial arts are lost to the viewers. However
the aerial stunts are compensation.
Bone Twister shows the
importance of the family members staying together and looking out for each other. They know what it is to have nothing and to go hungry. When younger family members "manage"
to steal food for their next meal, father Chao insists that they return the food and apologize; he even accompanies his children to the restaurant. He sometimes bemoans the
loss of the "old ways" like respect for parents or elders, because such are still the right thing to do. Charlie is chosen as a tester of the opium-laced cigarettes. In a
dazed and lost state, Johnny's concern and desire to help him indicate the signs of caring and friendship.
(Date reviewed: December 20, 2002)
|
