Of course this was distributed by Well Go USA lol
As many here have mentioned, “Paper Tigers” is basically “Cobra Kai” without characters constantly defaulting to being offended about something. It’s about three middle-aged dudes who were once the greatest gung-fu practitioners in Seattle, but petty rivalries and adult responsibilities made them abandon their martial arts and their master Sifu Cheung. When Sifu Cheung dies under mysterious circumstances, the three of them come together to avenge their slain master.
I grinned like an idiot the whole time while watching this. Cosmetically, this film does not resemble the old 80s Hong Kong martial arts films at all. Yet it’s low-budget approach, goofy humor, and broad sentimentality make it the closest in ethos to those old martial arts flicks that stills play on TVB now and then. It simply gets the spirit right.
Yet if we’re going to go reaaally deep here, “Paper Tigers” ultimately belongs to a strain of low-budget Asian-American cinema that is finally starting to become identifiable because we have enough samples of it — 4 of them, at least. I’m talking about “Saving Face”, “Ping Pong Playa”, “Lucky Grandma” and now “Paper Tigers”. All these films belong in a class of Asian-American cinema where the story takes place in insular Asian-American communities that constitute its own universe. It’s the kind of milieu wherein everyone in the community knows each other, the 2nd gen are underachieving adults that suck at speaking the mother tongue, the primary action takes place in the community rec center, and the white people are all morons. Is Asian-American cinema about to have a sub-genre unique to itself? It’s early days, but so far things are looking up.
Of course this was distributed by Well Go USA lol
As many here have mentioned, “Paper Tigers” is basically “Cobra Kai” without characters constantly defaulting to being offended about something. It’s about three middle-aged dudes who were once the greatest gung-fu practitioners in Seattle, but petty rivalries and adult responsibilities made them abandon their martial arts and their master Sifu Cheung. When Sifu Cheung dies under mysterious circumstances, the three of them come together to avenge their slain master.
I grinned like an idiot the whole time while watching this. Cosmetically, this film does not resemble the old 80s Hong Kong martial arts films at all. Yet it’s low-budget approach, goofy humor, and broad sentimentality make it the closest in ethos to those old martial arts flicks that stills play on TVB now and then. It simply gets the spirit right.
Yet if we’re going to go reaaally deep here, “Paper Tigers” ultimately belongs to a strain of low-budget Asian-American cinema that is finally starting to become identifiable because we have enough samples of it — 4 of them, at least. I’m talking about “Saving Face”, “Ping Pong Playa”, “Lucky Grandma” and now “Paper Tigers”. All these films belong in a class of Asian-American cinema where the story takes place in insular Asian-American communities that constitute its own universe. It’s the kind of milieu wherein everyone in the community knows each other, the 2nd gen are underachieving adults that suck at speaking the mother tongue, the primary action takes place in the community rec center, and the white people are all morons. Is Asian-American cinema about to have a sub-genre unique to itself? It’s early days, but so far things are looking up.
