From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1991 film
Iron & Silk
is a 1990 Canadian action comedy-drama based on the
eponymous book
by American writer
Mark Salzman
. It details his journey to
China
after college to study Chinese
wu shu
, better known in the west as
kung fu
, and to teach English. Though not trained as an actor, Salzman starred as himself, as did
Pan Qingfu
, who claimed no one else could portray him on film.
[1]
Salzman's experiences occurred in
Changsha
,
Hunan
, though the film was shot in
Hangzhou
,
Zhejiang
. The film was directed by
Shirley Sun
, and was the editorial debut for
Geraldine Peroni
.
Plot
[
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]
Mark Franklin arrives in
Hangzhou
, China to teach Chinese teachers the English language. He learns the refinements of correct behavior among Chinese people, makes friends with his pupils, falls in love with the young doctor Ming, learns
wushu
(Chinese martial arts) from the famous teacher Pan... but also learns about political repression, especially when he's forbidden contact with some of his friends.
Cast
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]
Main cast
[
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]
Others
[
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]
- To Funglin as Old Sheep
- Hu Yun as Fatty Du
- Dong Hangcheng as Teacher Cai
- Lu Zhiquan as Teacher Li
- Xiao Ying as April
- Yang Xiru as Dr. Wang
- Zhuang Genyuan as Teacher Xu
- Jiang Xihong as Teacher Zhang
- He Saifei
as the
Yue opera
performer who played
Madame White Snake
- Xia Saili (He Saifei's sister) as the Yue opera performer who played
Xu Xian
- Chen Huiling
as the Yue opera performer who played
Xiaoqing
Reception
[
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]
The movie gained mostly positive reviews, ranging from a "modest charmer; a true sleeper"
[2]
to "unsophisticated [and] bittersweet".
[3]
The movie was met with some criticism, ranging from "an unhappy teenager's fantasy of finally fitting in"
[4]
to "we're talking geekarama here".
[5]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Kristof, Nicholas D.
(January 22, 1989).
"FILM; An Old Eli Performs As Kung Fu Star in China"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
2010-12-17
.
- ^
Brown, Joe (March 8, 1991).
"Iron & Silk"
.
Washington Post
. Retrieved
2010-12-16
.
- ^
Thomas, Kevin (March 8, 1991).
"MOVIE REVIEW : 'Iron & Silk': Innocent Abroad"
.
The Los Angeles Times
. Retrieved
2010-12-16
.
- ^
Kehr, Dave
(February 22, 1991).
"Ambiguous 'Iron & Silk' Is Cut From Different Cloth"
.
Chicago Tribune
. Retrieved
2011-03-29
.
- ^
Briggs, Joe Bob (October 9, 1992).
"
'Iron & Silk': Ok, It's Great Kung Fu But The Star Is A Wimp"
.
Orlando Sentinel
. Retrieved
2022-02-12
.
External links
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]