Bian Cheng Lang Zi/Bordertown Wanderer
("Bordertown Wanderer", aka "The Black Sabre" and "A Warrior's Tragedy")
I originally saw the movie version of this ("A Warrior's Tragedy"), which
piqued my interest enough to hunt down the books it was based on.
After I read the books, I tracked down the TVB serialization of the story
and watched that.
The books: A three volume set by Gu Long, set as a sequel about a generation
after his "Duo Qing Jian Ke, Wu Qing Jian" ("Romantic Swordsman, passionless
sword") (featuring Flying Dagger Li, Li Xun Huan, and the swordsman
A Fei). As I can barely read Chinese at all, I won't attempt to
critique the writing style, except to say that it's rather choppy and
distinctive to read.
It features the usual convoluted plots and crazy characters. Fu Hongxue
is kicked out of his home with only one purpose: revenge! His mother has
raised him to pursue and kill his father's killers. Apparently, his father
and his entire family (Fu Hongxue's mother was a lover, not the wife, and
Fu Hongxue himself only an infant when his father died) were murdered by
a group of masked assassins. Fu Hongxue, trained in the use of his father's
famous black sabre, now has to figure out who the assassins were and kill
them all. He seems to have one lead, which takes him to the Bordertown
and the local lord there, Ma Kongqun, of Ten Thousand Horse Hall.
Things get violent very quickly. Fu Hongxue is not the only martially
inclined visitor: there is also Yue Kai (who claims not to need a sword),
a famous thief "Flying Spider", an arrogant young lordling, a hunchbacked
assassin, and many others. When people start dying at Ten Thousand Horse
Hall, everyone is a suspect.
As for the women...there's Shen San Niang, Ma Kongqun's mistress. Ma Fang Lin,
his daughter. Cui Nong, a local prostitute. Ding Lin Ling, who's in love
with Ye Kai. Fu Hongxue ends up in a tragic relationship with Cui Nong...
Once they leave the Bordertown, Fu Hongxue starts coming across evidence
that perhaps his quest is not as black-and-white as he once thought. Maybe
there was a good reason so many people ganged up to kill his "heroic"
father? Thick-headed and gullible he may be at times (a contrast to the
quick-witted, smooth-talking Ye Kai), Fu Hongxue doggedly pursues truth
and revenge.
The most annoying thing (for me) was probably the preachiness (especially
towards the end) and the hero-worship of Li Xun Huan. While the parable-like
encounter with the Guo family was amusing in taking the inherited vengeance
obligation to ridiculous extremes (in lining up the whole family, grandparents
and grandchildren alike --- if we're going to feud, let's get it all over
with once and for all!), the lectures got old quickly, and the ending
felt cheap.
Movie: maybe 50-60 % accurate to the books.
Someone wanted more chariot chases, guns, and explosions.
The golden armor vest seems to be taken from the prequel novel series.
The cloak of invisibility...I have no idea. Maybe it really was in one
of Gu Long's other novels. The stories of the women was probably the most
mangled, followed by the Lu Xiaojia storyline (they didn't even give him
his trademark peanuts!)
I'm really very fond of the movie, actually. (Despite a few silly bits,
and the unfortunate moustache on Ye Kai.) Just watched it again. Ti Lung
as Fu Hongxue is awesome. The man has charisma.
And compared to, say, Tsui Hark's adaptation of Jin Yong's "Smiling Proud
Wanderer" (the "Swordsman" trilogy of movies), this is totally faithful
to the original story. (Why quibble about relatively minor changes, heh.)
TVB series: maybe 80-90% accurate.
Looked cheap! Ten Thousand Horse Hall looked like any other TVB "ancient"
rich guy's house. The wilderness sets and cave sets looked ridiculously
fake. Costumes on the drab side, too, and the Spiderman costume for the
"Flying Spider" takes the cake for sheer silliness. Didn't like Fu Hongxue's
hairstyle. And I watched the Mandarin dub, which in TVB serials, usually
lacks somewhat. Ha.
All those interpolated scenes! They take away from the mystery, although it
may make things easier to understand (and avoid too many scenes where
Ye Kai explains what's going on). And they often use the actual dialogue
from the books, but change the context (and the speakers, sometimes!)
which can be irritating.
Both movie and TV series made drastic changes to the ending.
In this case, I felt they made the right decision. I didn't like the book's
ending very much myself. And the story started with Fu Hongxue and his
mother. I'm glad they let him have some sort of "closure" with her.
They treated Ma Fangling a bit more sympathetically in the series, too,
and I liked the way they concluded her storyline.
Bottom line: enjoyable, but rarely brilliant, and sometimes annoying
I originally saw the movie version of this ("A Warrior's Tragedy"), which
piqued my interest enough to hunt down the books it was based on.
After I read the books, I tracked down the TVB serialization of the story
and watched that.
The books: A three volume set by Gu Long, set as a sequel about a generation
after his "Duo Qing Jian Ke, Wu Qing Jian" ("Romantic Swordsman, passionless
sword") (featuring Flying Dagger Li, Li Xun Huan, and the swordsman
A Fei). As I can barely read Chinese at all, I won't attempt to
critique the writing style, except to say that it's rather choppy and
distinctive to read.
It features the usual convoluted plots and crazy characters. Fu Hongxue
is kicked out of his home with only one purpose: revenge! His mother has
raised him to pursue and kill his father's killers. Apparently, his father
and his entire family (Fu Hongxue's mother was a lover, not the wife, and
Fu Hongxue himself only an infant when his father died) were murdered by
a group of masked assassins. Fu Hongxue, trained in the use of his father's
famous black sabre, now has to figure out who the assassins were and kill
them all. He seems to have one lead, which takes him to the Bordertown
and the local lord there, Ma Kongqun, of Ten Thousand Horse Hall.
Things get violent very quickly. Fu Hongxue is not the only martially
inclined visitor: there is also Yue Kai (who claims not to need a sword),
a famous thief "Flying Spider", an arrogant young lordling, a hunchbacked
assassin, and many others. When people start dying at Ten Thousand Horse
Hall, everyone is a suspect.
As for the women...there's Shen San Niang, Ma Kongqun's mistress. Ma Fang Lin,
his daughter. Cui Nong, a local prostitute. Ding Lin Ling, who's in love
with Ye Kai. Fu Hongxue ends up in a tragic relationship with Cui Nong...
Once they leave the Bordertown, Fu Hongxue starts coming across evidence
that perhaps his quest is not as black-and-white as he once thought. Maybe
there was a good reason so many people ganged up to kill his "heroic"
father? Thick-headed and gullible he may be at times (a contrast to the
quick-witted, smooth-talking Ye Kai), Fu Hongxue doggedly pursues truth
and revenge.
The most annoying thing (for me) was probably the preachiness (especially
towards the end) and the hero-worship of Li Xun Huan. While the parable-like
encounter with the Guo family was amusing in taking the inherited vengeance
obligation to ridiculous extremes (in lining up the whole family, grandparents
and grandchildren alike --- if we're going to feud, let's get it all over
with once and for all!), the lectures got old quickly, and the ending
felt cheap.
Movie: maybe 50-60 % accurate to the books.
Someone wanted more chariot chases, guns, and explosions.
The golden armor vest seems to be taken from the prequel novel series.
The cloak of invisibility...I have no idea. Maybe it really was in one
of Gu Long's other novels. The stories of the women was probably the most
mangled, followed by the Lu Xiaojia storyline (they didn't even give him
his trademark peanuts!)
I'm really very fond of the movie, actually. (Despite a few silly bits,
and the unfortunate moustache on Ye Kai.) Just watched it again. Ti Lung
as Fu Hongxue is awesome. The man has charisma.
And compared to, say, Tsui Hark's adaptation of Jin Yong's "Smiling Proud
Wanderer" (the "Swordsman" trilogy of movies), this is totally faithful
to the original story. (Why quibble about relatively minor changes, heh.)
TVB series: maybe 80-90% accurate.
Looked cheap! Ten Thousand Horse Hall looked like any other TVB "ancient"
rich guy's house. The wilderness sets and cave sets looked ridiculously
fake. Costumes on the drab side, too, and the Spiderman costume for the
"Flying Spider" takes the cake for sheer silliness. Didn't like Fu Hongxue's
hairstyle. And I watched the Mandarin dub, which in TVB serials, usually
lacks somewhat. Ha.
All those interpolated scenes! They take away from the mystery, although it
may make things easier to understand (and avoid too many scenes where
Ye Kai explains what's going on). And they often use the actual dialogue
from the books, but change the context (and the speakers, sometimes!)
which can be irritating.
Both movie and TV series made drastic changes to the ending.
In this case, I felt they made the right decision. I didn't like the book's
ending very much myself. And the story started with Fu Hongxue and his
mother. I'm glad they let him have some sort of "closure" with her.
They treated Ma Fangling a bit more sympathetically in the series, too,
and I liked the way they concluded her storyline.
Bottom line: enjoyable, but rarely brilliant, and sometimes annoying
posted by Taisch @ 7:55 PM
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