Kung Fu Hustle is a Chinese Action / Comedy Film

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Kung Fu Hustle
Kung Fu Hustle is a Chinese action / comedy film with a backdrop of martial arts. The film was released in China in 2004 and a year later in the United States. The movie (written, produced and directed by Stephen Chow who also played the lead role) was an instant commercial success in the domestic and international market.
Many famous action heroes from 1970s in Hong Kong cinema are starring in the movie that serves as a small tribute to the local cinema history (White 269). It showcases the ancient form of martial arts called WUXIA in its all action sequences masterfully. Stephen Chow, as a director, presents the imagery to reflect the conditions in the present and past China, Shanghai in specific. The historical references have also been used to show how Hong Kong became part of China after the British rule ended in this region. Chow makes smart use of martial arts genre to present the political and cultural references throughout the film.
The movie makes several references to other movies, not particularly from the same genre, such as Spider-Man, Internal Affairs, Axe Gang, The Godfather, The Untouchables and Gone with the Wind. Chow and his team make intelligent use of mise-en-scene and dialogues to recall these historical points in this Chinese film.
The mise-en-scene, or to say the setting, in Kung Fu Hustle is a true depiction of the economic conditions China faced from the 1960s to 1990s (Gibbs 20). The setting of Pig Sty Alley connects to the colonial history of Hong Kong when the land was disputed between mainland China and Britain before it was handed to China in 1997. The tremendous scene of water rationing in which a boy is taking a monthly shower and the water supply stops and then the landlady explains to everyone to use the water on only certain days of the week is a depiction of the water draughts the city of Hong Kong went through in the 1960s.
During the same scene when the boy is taking a shower camera is at a low angle and when he stands up in the next cut camera is placed above his head to show him as a person trying to rebel against the landlady. And after this, the camera pans to show the landlady’s conversation with everyone. Here, the film editor has completely synched the editing techniques with what is being depicted and showed in the entire scene.
Further, on editing, the camera mo...