Bruce Lee shows in The Kid that the earthshaking phenomenon of his kung fu films 20 years later is not just a matter of martial arts. He proves in this film he's a gifted actor and, more importantly, a star. It's obvious that delivering a lively and vivid performance at the tender age of 10, Lee is a performer blessed with acting skills, natural charisma and a devotion to performances, who loves the camera and whom the camera loves back. The entire film revolves around Lee's character, an orphan raised by a poor teacher (the great Yee Chau-shui) but is on the verge of plunging into a future of depravity, led astray by the small-time crook nicknamed Flying Dagger, an embodiment of the allure that characterizes men of violence... The two father figures are both complex characters, representing divergent codes of morality that would go on to inform Hong Kong cinema for a long time to come.

10/12

(Sat)

7:30pm *

Cinema, Hong Kong Film Archive

23/12

(Fri)

7:30pm

Cinema, Hong Kong Film Archive

* Post-screening talk with Sam Ho