Five years. That’s quite the sabbatical.
What happened, then? Time is at a premium these days, and watching scores of kung fu flicks isn’t really possible. This is saddened, and a source of frustration and regret. However, I’ve never lost my love of the genre. Instead, I’ve ploughed considerable resources into collecting posters and lobby cards, and getting a huge amount of enjoyment from it.
These have been sourced from sellers in the UK, Canada, US, France, Germany, Italy, Lebanon, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
I remember the first lobbies I bought. An old Cathay set (Forbidden Killing) from Jamal in Germany. I loved them, but didn’t see the point of them. Later, I bought a poster from him. The Angry River. It’s a beautiful poster - an explosion of vivid colours and hand-drawn characters.
Slowly, I began to appreciate these exquisite pieces of cinema memorabilia. The art styles featured in these posters varies hugely. Some are photo-heavy; others entirely hand-drawn. So many are incredible-looking pieces of art in their own way. As I explored them, they slowly tightened their grip on my mind. I contacted Ricky Baker, enquiring about several posters I’d seen for sale. Over the past five years I’ve struck up many friendships online with people whom I can trust, and share my love of Asian cinema art.
So, the walls of the Inn are now adorned with these wonderful pieces. The scope of this blog has been irrevocably altered. Hopefully, it will make it richer and more thorough in its appreciation of this under-appreciated niche area of world cinema history. I’ll post some thoughts about some of the posters in my collection sporadically, in the hope that others can grow to appreciate them as much as I do.
