FILM

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
Dir: Lau Kar-leung aka Liu Chia-liang
Shaw Brothers, 1978 (DVD 2003, Celestial Pictures)

Kung fu is hip again, thanks to Quentin Tarantino who set a revival of the genre in motion with his Kill Bill Vols 1 and 2. So why not return to the source, and check out the film widely acknowledged to have started it all, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. Set in mid-19th century China, the film follows young Liu Yu-te (legendary kung fu actor Gordon Liu) on his journey to become a kung fu master. As usual there's a revenge plot: Liu Yu-te's parents are slaughtered and he's banished from his village after it's discovered that he's an anti-Manchu Chinese patriot. Liu Yu-te travels to the legendary Buddhist temple of Shaolin, the source of all kung fu, to learn the martial art with the goal of fighting the Manchus who ravaged his village. Liu Yu-te finds refuge in the temple and is renamed San Te by the monks. He begins a long and laborious regime of menial chores (Karate Kid, anyone?) that's finally broken a year later when it finally occurs to him to ask the monks to teach him kung fu. The monks accept and San Te embarks on yet another long and laborious period � this time involving harsh mind and body conditioning. He's sent to each of the 35 chambers of the Shaolin temple with tasks such as carrying heavy buckets of water up a hill to improve his strength. At the end of each labour San Te is disappointed, but he's eventually rewarded with an epiphany about the spiritual meaning of what he's done. (Why the 36th chamber, you ask? Sorry, you'll have to watch the movie to find out.)

The film features some great action sequences � although, at times a little over the top � an elaborate musical score, and great acting, especially from Mr Liu who makes a charismatic hero. That, along with the brilliant direction, makes 36th Chamber a modern classic.

Fun fact: Gordon Liu starred in both volumes of Kill Bill as Pai Mei, an evil Kung fun master.
� Carla Sparks

BOOK

Night Passage
Robert B Parker
GP Putnam's Sons, 1997

Some authors just know how to get the formula right. Robert B Parker is one of them. His massive output of 30 novels is practically unparalleled. Most of us who have read his books feel that his name is interchangeable with his lead detective, Spenser. So it was a major surprise to read a Parker book with a new protagonist, Jesse Stone. Mr Stone is an ex-cop who just lost his job with the LAPD due, which also ended his marriage to a drinking problem. The book opens with Mr Stone moving to Paradise, Massachusetts, where he's been hired as chief of police specifically for his qualities as a lush.

We soon discover that in Paradise Mr Stone's drunkard qualities are exactly what the head of the city council Hasty Hathaway wants. He and his henchmen control the town and are organizing a militia to ensure that they keep their power.

Will this Peyton Place of a town be saved by Jesse Stone? Will he forget about his ex? And where does scotch on the rocks fit into all this?
� Dr Markus Martin