Jacky Wu's face reminds me of Giulietta Masina's face, and when I watched Fatal Contact recently I thought of Masina's Gelsomina from La Strada. Gelsomina in a street fight, pitted against three.
That's badass, I know. I wish his face was capable of the range of expression her face was. Maybe it is. I'm not sure he's landed a role suited to make the comparison. His face is distinct enough to be memorable, but it's unconventional enough to place it somewhere outside the hero range. You know the hero range I speak of. It's fucked up social politics kind of stuff: at a certain point your face is different enough from an established preconception of masculine handsomeness (linked bizarrely with powerful sexuality) that you're landing roles on the opposite side of Donnie Yen (Kill Zone) and Shawn Yue (Invisible Target). It happens in America and it happens overseas. All sorts of negative things should be said about this practice in general, along with the audience's complicity, but I'll simply allude to the implications by referring to the symbolism in the slightly-different looking people often finding themselves cast as villains. That's right, we vilify them.
It's easy to compare martial art films to silent films, in both form and execution. It's also easy to observe shared facial attributes between martial artists and the likes of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, etc, and I like to make that point as well and do often. I don't think Jacky Wu falls squarely into that category however. There's something unreadable and untraceable about this face, and I'm often surprised and delighted by the contortions and articulations it makes while fighting. Again, it's not the kind of dispassionate cool of a Donnie Yen, but I don't mind that. The furthest I've seen his acting be pushed is in Invisible Target, in which he plays a truly awesome villain.
Hell, maybe he is only a good bad guy. It feels like the director of Fatal Contact doesn't even know how to frame him in a sympathetic role. What should be a character-driven piece turns into an ensemble, Wu's emotions and intentions often being stated by those near him. He's not a very good actor in the movie, but the part he plays is basically of a martial arts manchild (Spoiler: Though not motivated by the revelation, it is kind of funny and ironic that in the dramatic scene in which Wu opens up to his girlfriend about his feelings for her and the impact she's had on his personal life, and mentions that she is the brains and he is the stupid one, the girl then immediately throws herself off a building - I'm just saying that's about where I was as an audience member at that moment - like fucking let Wu's character display some depth and range - which the film only allows him to do physically in the next moment).
It doesn't bother me that Fatal Contact's rags-to-riches script is bogged down by sentiment. It happens often with that type of story. It doesn't bother me that
there are supporting characters who have complete arcs. That's actually fucking great. Kong's (Wu's role) two components as a character don't even really bother me (though they're pretty simplistic): his love for the girl, and his reluctance at accepting the brutality of the fighting underground. What bothers me is that while typically these elements would play out as a good-hearted man discovering the corruptibility and immorality of the world he enters, Fatal Contact positions Wu slightly askew from this type of growth/revelation. He's absent from the decisions that propel his character. This plays out later as a plot device, but what a horrible fucking plot device that requires the protagonist to remain vacant and impotent.
An aside:
"Born in Beijing China in 1974, he was sent to train at Beijing Wushu Academy when he was 6 years old as both his Father and Grandfather were also Martial artists. In 1995 he was spotted by Yuen Woo-Ping who had come to the academy to look for a martial artist for the film Tai Chi 2 (aka Tai Chi Boxer). His dedication and skill won his a lot of respect across East Asia. Often contributing to the scripts and choreography of his work, his natural talent and his sense of humour are vividly expressed." (IMDb).
I wonder if martial art schools in China feel like bars and restaurants in Hollywood.
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