Drunken Fun

I chose to put Drunken Tai Chi (1984) on partly because it's just 91 minutes long - all I had time for. Good choice.

Let's see if I can summarize the plot. A very young Donnie Yen is the favored son of a rich salt merchant. His brother has to do all the work (and martial arts training), while Yen is supposed to be training. Of course, he is still a strong fighter. When a bully starts trouble on a bicycle, Yen fights back, leading to some bike jousting. The bully responds by gathering a gang to ambush Yen and his brother with fireworks. Again, he is defeated.

To avenge him,  bullie's father hires a mute assassin to kill Yen and his family. Note that this is a comedy.

Homeless and on the run, he meets an old puppeteer (Yuen Cheung-Yan) and his fat wife (Lydia Shum), who take him under their wing. They will teach him a soft method to counter the assassin's hard style. 

I am not sure about all of this plot. I was mostly watching for the set pieces. Take the bicycle jousts, or puppet fights, or fat lady kung fu. It was interesting to see some non-lethal kung fu in some of them. In one, the Yen and the bully have a contest with a two-ended brush suspended from the ceiling. The objective is to paint the other guys face before he gets you. You can see how this would work with a knife instead of a brush. It's both non-lethal, but it lets Yen draw silly faces on the bully. 

The assassin is fun, too (although he is NOT non-lethal). He has a beloved little son, and he makes him a rocking horse by punching and smashing logs into lumber. The other kids make fun of him, but the boy steadfastly defends his feral father. 

This is directed by Yuen Woo-Ping, who also made Drunken Master, and was stunt coordinator for a ton of films, including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I should have noted that before I started.