It’s difficult being the first. Being the one saddled with re-writing the rules. So often, groundbreaking artists are not recognized in their own time, or their work is roundly criticized for breaking the mold. Even if that work is accepted and assimilated into the culture, it then becomes endlessly imitated. Altered. Abused. With enough copies, the original work starts to be seen as derivative, or bland by comparison. It’s a sad position to be in, but the late director King Hu absolutely reveled in this originality. His work was unconventional – combining popular styles of Chinese martial arts cinema with
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