There was a long moment when it seemed that the Chinese martial arts drama, “100 Yards,” a sweeping period action set in the mid-1920s Tianjin, may not have a North American release. To be fair, that was about a year ago. Regardless, it did feel longer, particularly if you were Bastard Swordsman after the positive buzz that arose at such international film festivals as Shanghai and Toronto and Fantasia. It was in August 2023 that Well Go USA proved their plans of distributing “100 Yards” in America. However, it long had had much promise considering that “100 Yards,” which was co-directed by Xu Hoafeng, who is a notable focus in the power struggle after the death of a respected kung fu master.
In 2016, Xu’s “The Final Master” marked the initiation of the director’s association with American action audiences. This was a balance, as (he was previously best known as the screenwriter of Wong Kar-wai’s “The Grandmaster”) Three years down the line, Xu’s “The Hidden Sword” was rather inexplicably and suddenly withdrawn for ‘market reasons’ though it was also screened in 2017 in a couple of international film festivals (Montreal, Taipei). Some of us started to worry: will the palpable “100 Yards” be ever screened outside the festival circuit? Wanting it out of the shadows into screening mainstream in 2016 was, by all means, understandable, at least some of us wished so.
By the way, it is out there and oh, it is so, so great as far as the relief it provides the audience in the 2017 festival follows. Simply put, “100 Yards” is the greatest illustration of how Xu stands out as a filmmaker worthy of potential recognition. It’s a period piece and this means it draws on dense plotting which at times bears the use of over-witty dialogue, and rather overboard thrilling action which more often than not fails but sometimes succeeds in capturing the attention of the audience. But on the other hand, Xu’s characters ensure the opposite: Wresting and engaging in verbal give and take frequently instructs them most bluntly that they are neither who you think they are nor who they think they are, irrespective of their history or past relations, who judging them would have been inseparable.
Guo Long, aka Master Shen, assigns his top student, Andy On, aka Qi Quan, to fight an opponent. According to Shen An, he has been waiting for this opportunity for a long time, having returned from a mission only recently. Also, the Master’s son gets introduced to the audience for the first time, which is why he acted cocky at first a state that would require being humbled according to Master Shen’s words even if he is bedridden now.
Multiple interruptions were necessary, including Tian Wei’s viewpoint shot, while Quan and An remained in character, untying the blanket allowed Shen to set the scene. The martial artist clenched the pillow in one hand while observing Quan and An, even while being physically restrained, made the master’s presence known.
The fight was characteristically multifaceted, as Qi Quan took the lead, and swiftly in Jian An, once again preventing yet another showdown by closing the distance with powerful punches.
“An, your kung fu improved,” remarks Quan.
“It was you who taught me 10 years ago,” An responds calmly.
“If you don’t beat [An], he won’t know what I taught you,” the master says, cutting the conversation off. “Then much later, he will be beaten by other people.”
We go on to discover more about the alleged enmity between Quan and An through a variety of episodes and plots. Quan appears to be taking Macht’s position in the martial arts academy’s circle of Tianjin academies. Master Shen also advised An that he should give up martial arts and get an easy job in a bank. But An gets a new job which is not to his liking, and his superiors do not care about the new role he has assumed; rather, he will forever be a martial arts fighter in their eyes. The leaders of the school circle, who were more accommodating to Quan and offered to be the head of their organization and assumed greatly did not distinguish whom they would promote. They are more concerned about who the new head is than what he intends to do about peace (and thus control) in Tianjin. Thus it was legally settled in the name of the movie that each school has what is commonly referred to as a boundary of safety which is understood to be a fixed distance around the premises of the academy. That is fighting is prohibited outside a distance of 100 yards from the martial academies in Tianjin. At least in theory.
Eventually, it becomes apparent to us that while An and Quan–along with their love interests, Gui Ying (played by Tang Shiyi) and Xia An, respectively do indeed have the roles they play, they also bear none of those distinctions. Their role as the all-powerful figures in the series is shattered with the death of Master Shen, and completely new possibilities present themselves. In order to portray Xu’s hyper-modern character dissonance, visual continuity or even coherence always seems to be left on the cutting room floor, with the co-director Xu Junfeng opting to remain in contact with the audience and organically shifting the Nancy Xu-directed scenes by dressing them up as character interaction.
While An walks over to engage in the film’s climactic brawl, the camera shifts enough times and perspectives giving the viewer the impression that there is still more to discover about the street, with so much subtle tuning in its rotation including but not limited to an imaginary dangling corner. Even An is unable to acquire such dense insight within a single image.
“100 Yards” stands out as it is cheerful though mind-numbing. The movie is definitely a modern cut with an elegant touch to it that works flawlessly alongside the stunning and easily most intriguing fight choreography of this year. Working together with the action direction, Xu becomes undeniably one of the finest action directors.
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