Philosophy | Styles in Movies | Articles
Martial arts is a form of expression, an expression from the inner self to your hands and legs. We humans cannot fly. Like all forms of life in our universe, a gesture, a smile, or just walking down the street is an expression. For example, I would not choreograph a person raising a right fist then the left leg in a particular order. It's the rhythm of the whole, from raising an eyebrow to the entire movie. For me, shooting, editing, and scoring rely on rhythm. It must be part of you. The essence of art is flow, the flow or images, the flow of music, the flow of communication between an artist and the audience. Certainly there are fundamental technical aspects, but in the end, it's the harmony as a whole.

Martial arts is martial arts. I look at filmmaking as the revelation of an inner emotion. When you're watching a movie, you're getting a feeling. I want to entertain people. It's a different set of rules. If you want martial arts, go to a school, take classes. In movies it's not a documentary, it's not an instructional tape. In movies we take it to another level, we can exaggerate. It's larger than life.

I take martial arts into a whole philosophy. I respect Bruce Lee so much because his whole martial arts is about the way to live. You look at martial arts...My martial arts when I was a beginner. It all began... A punch was just a punch. Then it derived to more than just a punch. It became many things. It became many styles. It became many punches. But as I progressed a punch comes back to just a punch. But this punch is no longer the same punch. It's deep. Wow, it's pretty cool, you know.

Philosophy | Styles in Movies | Articles