Welcome to 2008 and another year of hilighting special (and not so special) moments from individual films. That (and this) would be Row Three’s Finite Focus column. In the spirit of starting out the new year on a fun and energetic note, I point to Stephen Chow‘s hugely successful Kung-Fu Hustle (Gong fu). For an action-comedy film, Chow uses an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach here. Loads of special effects are integrated with a juvenile romance story, a community defense story, a gangster picture with western elements and all of this loaded with American and Chinese film references.

The scene that is probably my favorite in the film is really just a bridge scene. In order to move to the story at hand (the defense of a poor neighborhood from gang interests accidentally orchestrated by a down-on-his-luck con-artist), yet also set up the primary antagonistic force (the Hatchet Gang), a musical montage that intercuts the rise of the gang’s power and lucre (via black and white noirish stills) with a dance number is used. This type of scene couuld have just as easily been in Chicago or Robin and the 7 Hoods or heck, even L.A. Confidential. White suits, tiny axes and radio-mic-inspired choreography just makes me smile that big smile. Arbitrary dance numbers shoehorned into a film (see also the end of Takeshi Kitano‘s Zatôichi or Lindsay Anderson‘s O Lucky Man) are just great icing on the cake.

On a purely technical level, I love how busy the scene is whilst simultaneously being fun and implicitly violent. One of the things that always stuck out in Chow’s work is how he often includes a scene of extreme violence or humiliation amoungst the revelry. This is not as obvious in this particular dance scene (as say it is just prior when a woman is shot in the back at close range with a shot-gun), but it is there nonetheless. If Chow’s upcoming CJ7 keeps with the spirit here (and it promises to do so), it could be an entertaining bright spot in 2008.