by Martin Unsworth
Before getting into this documentary’s purpose, it spends some time acquainting its audience on Bruce Lee, the real McCoy. In the potted 10-minute prologue, you learn all you need to about the legendary martial arts star, but it’s the characters that the studios scramble to find someone to pick up as the star of their movies that is the focus here. Yes, Brucesploitation was a thing. And while the real Lee was a master of his craft who was taken seriously and took his fighting the same way, the cash-in films took kung fu to fantasy levels at times, whether they were Bruce Li, Lai, Le, or any other variation.
Director David Gregory (Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life & Ghastly Death of Al Adamson) has collected an impressive selection of the ‘fake’ Bruce Lees. Their story is a fascinating one, and we learn plenty about them as well as the way the Chinese film industry worked at the time.
Even if you’ve never seen a Bruce Lee film before, let alone a Lee clone picture, Enter the Clones of Bruce will pique your interest enough to want to track them down. You can’t ask for any more from a documentary.
Enter the Clones of Bruce had its European premiere on August 27th
