Red Trousers: The life of a Stuntman 紅褲子

Wonderful acknowledgement to the Hong Kong stuntmen hampered by a weak short film that occupies too much time of the documentary.

Directed by Robin Shou

Starring: Robin Shou, Hakim Alston, Keith Cooke, Ridley Tsui, Jack Wong, Sammo Hung, Lau Kar Leung, Jude Poyer

Approx. 96 mins

USA, English, Cantonese and Mandarin

2004

Robin Shou of Liu Kang fame from the 1995 film Mortal Kombat takes the helm and brings us the documentary Red Trousers: The life of a Stuntman. For those who don’t know Robin Shou has participated in a number of films in the Hong Kong film industry, though by no means a big name in Hong Kong he has been notable in working with Donnie Yen in Tiger Cage 2 (1990), Philip Ko Fei in Guns & Roses (1993), Moon Lee in Fatal Termination (1990) and Cynthia Khan In the Line of Duty III (1988). Robin Shou is one of the lucky few who have successfully transitioned to Hollywood in films like DOA: Dead or Alive (2006) and Death Race (2008).

Red Trousers: The life of a Stuntman is an interesting case of a combination of a short film and a feature length documentary combined into one, though the final outcome is not entirely a good combination it was an interesting experiment. At times it feels rather self-serving vehicle for Robin Shou, using the notion of acknowledgment for Hong Kong stuntmen as a means to advertise his work. Considering Robin Shou wrote the script, directed, produced, starred and choreographed it’s no wonder why it feels like a vanity project.

So to begin with let’s talk about the short film Lost Times meshed within the documentary. Robin Shou plays Evan a member of the feared group of assassins known as the Forest Devils. His latest assignment sees him having to execute fellow assassins and he is unwillingly paired another member, Silver (Beatrice Chia). Together they venture forth and kills various nameless individuals.

The documentary loses much of its time to his Lost Times companion piece, you will be hard pressed to be invested with such a weakly veiled idea of a story. The short jumps around between locations and characters with little meaning or objective leaving the viewer uncaring to the proceedings. By intermittently cutting away from the story and splicing the behind the scenes footage may have hurt the proceedings but without doing so the short would not be able to engage the audience enough. The short segments are not particular over long and thankfully the moments that the short is interrupted it is during the stunt moments where it would segues into behind the scenes footage, giving interesting insight into the creation and preparation.

There is a host of fight scenes but none of it really stands out and it is troubling that a film dedicated to Hong Kong action is lacking in the area it should excel and it’s even more disappointing considering the talents involved including Keith Cooke, Jude Poyer and Hakim Alston with the talented Andy Cheng (The Scorpion King, Twilight) and Ridely Tsui (God of Gamblers, Skinny Tiger Fatty Dragon) contributing to the choreography.

The documentary itself is a combination of interviews and behind the scenes footage from the inclusive short film Lost Time with a few snippets of footage from existing films that usually feature Robin Shou. The biggest draw is of course the inclusion of Sammo Hung and Lau Kar Leung who are both featured heavily in the documentary. Both provide very interesting insight to the life of a stuntman. Lau details his humble beginnings as a ‘red trouser’ and how they were shunned upon by the actors and directors, they earned little to nothing and demanded little respect. It’s a fascinating piece that audience will understand the hardship of the early era of Hong Kong cinema. Added to this is interviews from stuntmen and coordinators like Jude Poyer (Hitman, Kingsman) and Ridley Tsui. As a contributing coordinator on the project we get to see Ridley Tsui directing the action and he gives a detailed interview on his experience in the Hong Kong film industry. Jude Poyer presents his insight on his venture to Hong Kong and being accepted in the Hong Kong Stuntman Association. There is an interesting moment where we see stuntman (who is now a famed coordinator) Jack Wong Wai-Leung perform a stunt but he gets frustrated by his own performance. We get to see footage of a wire gag gone wrong and the wire snapping plummeting the stuntman to the hard ground, we see his eventual recovery and he details the life that proceeded after. The inclusion of footage at the Beijing Performance Academy where audience gets a wonderful insight on the potential new talents in the stunt industry and it is a very heartfelt moment. It is a glimpse of the kind of hardship that Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung had to deal with and there interviews sheds light on their uncertainty of their own future.

Now the documentary itself is extremely enlightening providing detailed information but it does on occasions feel like there’s many missed opportunity. At times it feels like a showcase for the short film itself with many of the behind the scenes footage taken from the project itself and I think it would have benefited more from additional footage from other projects or workshops and the like. The DVD itself released by Tai Seng is packed with a wealth of features and it’s an amazing addition to martial arts cinema fans. There is the Sammo Hung and Lau Kar Leung interview in its entirety featured separately with new information that has been exorcised from the actual feature itself. There is also a very heartfelt additional footage of the Beijing Performance Academy where there are more students who aspire to be the next bug action star.

Sure it’s a vanity project for Robin Shou, more to serve his interests than to really portray the stuntman industry in Hong Kong but the information and interviews he has compiled is detailed and worthy enough for those with an interest in the life of a stuntman.