Well Go USA
Let’s get one thing out of the way: I had a ‘kung fu’ phase. Yup, college kid, watching all those Jet Li and Jackie Chan movies, some good, some great, some bad, but a lot of them. I say ‘kung fu’ because I also watched martial arts movies of many other countries too, not just China, but ‘kung fu’ movies are a style in their own way. I first came across Donnie Yen (who is by the way 55 years old and in better shape than most of us will ever be) in the movie Iron Monkey, which I didn’t realize had actually been released in China in the early 90’s — it was released in the US in 2001.
Donnie Yen was fantastic there, playing the real life 19th century folk hero Wong Kei-ying, taking his son (also quite famous) around the movie. After that, Donnie Yen showed up in way more Chinese movies, most notably the Ip Man series, playing a different famous Chinese folk hero, and even dipped his toe in some US movies like Blade II and Shanghai Knights. Of course lately he’s come to more acclaim due to his role as the monk Chirrut Imwe in Rogue One, and the one thing the world should realize is that Donnie Yen is very cool.
Big Brother comes from director Kam Ka-Wai, who worked with Donnie Yen on the Ip Man movies. Donnie Yen stars as Henry Chen, a teacher who is just trying to reach those kids. It’s a hoary trope by this point, but this movie makes you believe that Donnie Yen can solve every problem these troublemakers have. Henry is a ‘cool’ teacher who cares, which is an extremely stupid concept of course, but here? It works.
You have some kids with an alcoholic father, another girl with a sexist father, a Pakistani kid worried about racism and never achieving his dream, and of course, the ‘cool bad boy’ who really has a heart of gold but needs the help of a mentor/teacher/parent figure. Henry nearly effortlessly fixes everything, but of course, things get complicated and drama happens. And because it’s a Donnie Yen movie, of course he gets to kick some ass.
The movie splits itself between comedic ‘Oh, you kids’ hijinks and sincere attempts at people trying to become better. It’s a truly ‘feel good’ sort of movie, but it does that partially due to the excellent acting from these kids (some adults are a bit cartoonish), and of course, the endless charisma of Donnie Yen, who is truly believable as someone who can really fix everything.
Sure, we get into some tragic backstory, with some legitimately haunting wartime footage, and there’s the classic ‘evil mobsters that want to tear down the school’ subplot. But there’s also some fairly radical ideas about the limitations of the institutionalized education programs in Hong Kong and China, which is certainly atypical for any Chinese film. The underlying message is a great one, regardless — the education system shouldn’t be about standardized tests, it should be about helping kids find their best paths to success and fulfillment. Not simply cogs in the great machine.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from Big Brother, and yeah, the title isn’t particularly great, and the Chinese title is a bit more nuanced. The movie is simple and fluffy, but due to the star, it’s worth a look. But perhaps after this one, this concept should retire.
Big Brother has a run time of 1 hour 41 minute and is not rated by the MPAA.
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