Reclaiming wise sayings from movies and TV shows like Drunken Master (1978) and Avatar the Last Airbender (2005–08), Analects of Kung Phu presents a moving image philosophy for surviving contemporary life. Taught by action stars but inspired by classic Chinese texts like Lao Zi’s Dao De Jing, the work questions whether these life lessons are genuinely useful. The film explores how wisdom can be oversimplified and misused, how film subtitles miss the mark or even present a completely different narrative, and how we are guided in our day-to-day life by the movies we watch.
