A publicity shot of Lau Ka-leung from early in his acting and filmmaking career Photo: IC

If you are not a huge fan of Hong Kong kung fu films, you may not know his name. However, you might have heard of the people who have been more or less influenced by him: Ching Siu-tung, Tsui Hark, Jackie Chan or even Quentin Tarantino.

Last week, the kung fu master, actor and director Lau Ka-leung passed away after years of fighting cancer, aged 79. The biography of Lau reflects thousands of images on the big screen - a generation of kung fu stars as well as action films made in Hong Kong.

Method master

After the death of Bruce Lee in 1973, there was a period of silence for kung fu stars on the big screen. Lau Ka-leung and his team, along with Hong Kong's biggest movie studio, Shaw Brothers, breathed fresh air into the industry.

Lau was the fourth generation successor to Chinese martial artist Wong Fei-hung. Influenced by his family to start learning kung fu at a very early age, Lau soon became an expert.

Lau once explained in an interview that his father and grandmother loved to perform Cantonese opera. The experience of learning Cantonese opera from his father also helped him with his acting.

Such skills he developed as a kid were valuable assets when it came to making kung fu movies. Lau was gifted with knowing exactly which style of kung fu is best for different people and where the camera position can best represent it.

"There are four kinds of kung fu such as to strengthen your body or for performance… My kung fu is for films," said Lau.

Not only was Lau a director for kung fu movies, he was also the first to introduce the role of "action director" to the Hong Kong film industry, though in the beginning he was just asked to consult on the design of kung fu movement.

In 2005, Lau was the action director of Tsui Hark's Seven Swords in which Lau also played a role. Ultimately, this film was Lau's last time acting.

Director Wong Kar-wai once expressed that he asked Lau about what is the most suitable style of kung fu for the leading actress in The Grandmaster.

Lau responded that Wing Chun, which the leading role Ip Man used, is straight movement whereas the Eight Diagrams is in circles and would be great to watch if a girl adopted it. The suggestion proved successful with Zhang Ziyi's performance in the film. 

Lau's influence was not limited to Hong Kong. Lau has a god brother, Lau Ka-fai, who was named after Lau Ka-leung by Lau Ka-leung's mother. Lau Ka-fai has been the leading actor in many films directed by Lau Ka-leung like The 16th Chamber of Shaolin (1978) and Legendary Weapons of China (1982). The frequent collaboration led Lau Ka-fai on the way to becoming an international kung fu star and later played the master in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill (2003). In 1990, Lau Ka-leung also did some action directing for the US movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Stubborn streak

In the 1960s, Lau worked as an action director in almost every kung fu film directed by Chang Cheh, one of the most influential directors of the time, referred to as "The Godfather of Hong Kong cinema."

Director Chang Cheh recalled in his memoir that Lau's ambition to become a director placed the two men at odds. However, Hong Kong film researcher Wei Junzi and Zhu Yuming revealed after they had an in-depth interview with Lau that the split actually came during the filming of Shaolin Temple (1976) when Lau wanted Chang to shoot real kung fu - the styles featuring animal poses - but Chang rejected the idea.

Lau's insistence on depicting pure kung fu also led to conflicts with other big names in the industry. Jackie Chan was one of them.

In 1994, Lau and Chan cooperated for Old Wine in New bottle. Chan's typical role was more like a vaudeville performer instead of a traditional kung fu star. Chan's comedic actions as well as the scenes recording him getting injured in the filmmaking process as a feature during the end-credits of the film did not satisfy Lau, who always saw kung fu as a very serious thing, full of rules.

The film was later proven to be a box-office hit but was the only official cooperation between Chan and Lau.

Reflecting an era

When kung fu films were experiencing their golden years during the last century, Lau's "family" team (a group of kung fu stars all surnamed Lau including Lau Ka-fai) created the most representative films.

One of the characteristics of Lau's movies - and most of the kung fu movies made during that period - is seen at the beginning of each film as they open with a series of kung fu bouts. Though, most of these scenes have nothing to do with the rest of the story, they are now seen as an iconic element in the films produced by Shaw Brothers.

At the same time, Lau's rejection of any use of special effects also led the decay of the Lau style of action films.

The ups and downs of Lau's team is closely related to fate of Shaw Brothers as well as the changes within the industry.

The way Shaw Brothers made movies was hugely affected by productions that started flowing out of big Hollywood studios. As the industry developed and Shaw Brothers lost its advantage, Lau and his team also faced pressure from competitors.

New kung fu films made by Ching Siu-tung, Tsui Hark and John Woo replaced the popularity that Lau's films had achieved.

These younger directors made great use of what they learned from the older generation as well as the western filmmaking theories and technologies to create their own style.

Now, there are still young people who treasure the style of the old times. Lu Zhengyu, who has been very popular online recently since he filmed a number of situation comedies as well as short films, also shot a short kung fu film in the style of the old Shaw films as a tribute to Lau's generation.

The imperfections of Lau's films, whether in technologies or film language, have all become a style and source of humor for the audiences of today.

Global Times