Within the world of filmmakers Xu Haofeng (The Final Master) and first-time co-director Xu Junfeng’s new project, 100 Yards (门前宝地), there are many rules its characters must follow, but one acts as a guiding principle: no violence within 100 yards of the martial arts academy. It’s a dictate that creates a safe zone for the people around the school, but also serves to restrict the members from participating in injudicious actions. It’s here that the conflict begins as pride seeks to disrupt the delicate balance between local and foreign powers, as well as the newly-appreciated perspective on martial arts. After a global premiere during Shanghai International Film Festival 2023 and a Canadian premiere during TIFF 2023, 100 Yards screens during the 2024 Fantasia International Film Festival for its Quebec premiere, bringing with it a cross section of political intrigue and martial arts during a period of its widening prosperity. 100 Yards is at once captivating and frustrating as the ideas are rich, but the execution utilizes so much shorthand that the players and the stakes are never as entrancing as intended.
L-R: Jacky Heung as Shen An and Andy On as Qi Quan in 100 YARDS. Photo courtesy of Fortissimo Films.
1920s Tianjin, China: After years of cultivating martial arts and raising its profile among the community, Master Shen (Guo Long) is on the verge of death and sets up a duel between his son, Shen An (Jacky Heung), and his apprentice, Qi Quan (Andy On), to determine who will take over the club. In accordance with the rules of the club, the duel is held in private with only Master Shen in observance, his last act proclaiming the winner as Quan. Unable to allow the loss to rest and unaware of the machinations around him, An sets about to reclaim the club against the wishes of his father, setting into motion actions from which neither fighter will recover.
Jacky Heung as Shen An in 100 YARDS. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA/Fantasia International Film Festival.
There are a couple of elements, nearly all of them technical, which make 100 Yards worth engaging with, the key ones being the scoring, art direction, and stunt work. The first thing that you’ll notice with the film is the music from An Wei (The Hidden Sword) which blends traditional Chinese period elements with those of American westerns, evoking a specificity of time and place, while also incorporating a slight mysterious inflection. This carries throughout the entire film, infusing 100 Yards with the sense that politics are everywhere and only the smart ones will be able to navigate the treacherous waters of Tianjin. Central characters act upon motives that are fueled by pride, while secondary and tertiary possess motives rooted in survival — this is only enhanced by An Wei’s work, the music suggesting that there’re hidden boundaries that are being perforated at near every turn. The incorporation of Chinese and Western music styles is not too much of a stretch given two elements that are true of the film: Western influence in China toward the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1911) and the physical presence of Westerners within the narrative itself. That the music and the art direction (overseen by Xie Yong (The Sword Identity)) of the animated opening evokes such Western influences is a telltale signifier that the narrative will not only incorporate these elements, but may do so in a way that enhances the power struggle of the central characters. In this way, the narrative is infused with subtext regarding keeping the martial arts circle within the Chinese community by looking at the ways in which letting in foreigners has impacted other areas of Chinese life. Granted, much of the narrative examines this textually, but the additional scoring and art elements make sure that it’s not forgotten.
This, of course, brings us to the stunt work overseen by co-director Xu Haeofeng and co-martial art director Duncan Leung (The Grandmaster). As constructed, the fight sequences are beautiful, focusing on the elegance of martial arts rather than the brutality that action films often lean on. This supports the narrative elements that explore the significance of rules and traditions by putting together stunt scenes that uplift these ideals. As always, the best fight sequences aren’t just about who is strongest (most American fight sequences are this), but what the fights convey in place of dialogue — what emotion do they channel, what motivation do they serve, and what is gained/lost through combat? Within 100 Yards, the fights almost entirely highlight the rigidity of tradition and systems as measures to maintain status quo, tools of imperialistic ideals and misogyny. Whether it’s An trying to regain control of his father’s academy (despite having no real wish to run it), An struggling to understand his father’s wish for An to leave the circle, or Quan’s shift from ideal leader to something else with each challenge from An, the fights continually advance in style, structure, and execution in ways that further enhance and provoke the narrative as a conversation would.
The odd thing about the film comes in the form of three aspects (editing, camerawork, and narrative) that cut like a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the editing functions to help the audience see as much of a conflict as possible, especially when the actors are moving. In the case of a fight sequence, of which there are many in 100 Yards, editing is often used to help convey the momentum of one fighter into another or to display the result of impact. When the editing is such that movement in a consistent direction is used, it doesn’t matter if the edit cuts at the point of impact or not, thereby disturbing the visible movement of the actor/character, the audience will create the fluidity in their mind and fill in the gaps of the edit. Within 100 Yards, however, there are several instances in which camera placement and editing work against each other, creating a sensation of disorientation as the audience is forced to grapple with geography in order to maintain a sense of what’s happening. One specific sequence takes place in an outdoor market with An taking on several combatants, and the camera switches from in front of An and to the sides as he fights each combatant, reducing our ability to understand the perspective of the fight as the background position seems to change. If the intent were to imply a sense of disorientation on the part of the character, this combination of camerawork and editing would enhance the overwhelming combat, except An is perfectly calm through this and virtually all other fights, implying a individual completely confident in his capabilities, so the chaotic presentation of the fight reduces the overall efficacy of scene momentum.
L-R: Andy On as Qi Quan, Beahayden Kuo as Xia An, and Jacky Heung as Shen An in 100 YARDS. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA/Fantasia International Film Festival.
Later, there are back-to-back scenes of An talking with Chairman Meng (Li Yuan), the martial arts club’s second to Master Shen, where they are in one place at the start of the scene and suddenly elsewhere in another; the dialogue is of such an expository nature that the second scene takes on an aura of confusion as the same conversation could’ve taken place within the first scene yet had to take place in the second location for narrative purposes. It’s as though a scene was removed at some point, an issue that plagues much of the film for the way that it shorthands a great deal of relationships that mean something to the characters but next to nothing to the audience by the way too few secondary characters are explored. In the case of Tang Shiyi’s Gui Ying, a pivotal character to the narrative and who’s given an extraordinary sequence to highlight why Master Shen respected her, so much of what we’re given is through the POV of others that she’s rarely treated as a person and more as a chess piece. This makes sense insofar as 100 Yards is rich with political and gender intrigue through the lens of a thriller, therefore introducing characters within the world of the story as significant to the central characters while maintaining an air of mystery makes sense, but it’s really hard to care about them in the way the exposition and score imply we should when there’s so much short-handing going on in order to center the Quan and An conflict.
L-R: Andy On as Qi Quan and Jacky Heung as Shen An in 100 YARDS. Photo courtesy of Well Go USA/Fantasia International Film Festival.
Running at 108 minutes, one can’t help but wonder if there’s a longer cut that can maintain the solid pacing of the film, but enables other choices to fill out more. We’re given only one brief sequence with Beahayden Kuo’s Xia An that gives the audience zero context on relationship to An before a longer one that’s supposed to rattle him, yet does nothing to us when it really should. The film is a story about pride and the failure to withstand a loss, a task it nails in its enthralling climax, but it sets up so many mysteries with so many characters without doing the work to make them feel realized that one feels more like they are going along for a ride rather than being a partner in the journey. That distance in the viewing is felt deeply, reducing all the effectiveness in the technical work on screen down to appreciation of its individual parts.
Screened during Fantasia International Film Festival 2024.
In theaters and on digital November 8th, 2024.
For more information, head to the official Fantasia International Film Festival 2024 100 Yards webpage.
Final Score: 3.5 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
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