East Chamber

Being the dear she is, SK has been downloading classic wuxia movies for me recently. Among my favourites that she managed to find were "Dragon Inn" and "The Swordsman". In my opinion, both movies are extremely good in terms of plot, fight choreography, pace and acting talent. Coincidently, both are set in the period when the East Chamber eunuchs were in power. In "Dragon Inn", many big names were namely, namely Maggie Cheung, Brigitte Lin, Leong Ka Fai and Donnie Yen as the villanous eunuch leader. Maggie was superb as Golden Jade, the cunning owner of the inn which is the movie's namesake. My favourite scene involving her was when she tried to diffuse a tense moment in the inn by sprinkling tea on both antagonists. Brigitte Lin and Tony Leung play a couple who are trying to rescue a close friend's orphaned children. Everything culminates at Dragon Inn, in the desert, in the middle of no where. A classic fight scene from the movie involves 3 of our heroes fighthing with the villain down a dune with fantastic swordplay. Very dymanic camerawork with the actors fluidly attacking and defending, while rolling with the terrain. Superb.

The Swordsman is based on Louis Cha's famous novel. I have not read the novel (the disadvantages of not knowing how to read Chinese), so I do not know how accurate it is, but it is a good screenplay. Everything revolves around The Sunflower Scroll, a mysterious kungfu manual that grants its practitioner awesome powers. Once again, we have the leader of the East Chamber going out full force to try and retrieve the stolen scroll. The hero of the story is Ling Wu Chung, played by a semi-annoying Sam Hui, whose master is the epitome of the "fake gentleman". To add flavour to the story, we have the Sun Moon Sect and the revelation of the internal power struggle in the Wah Mountain Sword School. Later in the story (sequels), we get to see it all culminate with the emergence of Asia the Invincible (a character that is synonymous with Brigitte Lin).

Any others to recommend?

CollageSwordsman

Comments

Legolas said…
Wah! Very old movies, but very nice also!
[chocoley] said…
Hmm, I'm sure if I've seen The Swordsman, is Hui man starred tht film?
Cheryl said…
wah... thought u post abt what i downloded for you... huh..*_*||
Anonymous said…
Gosh, I have forgotten how much I loved Dragon Inn till you reminded me here. Maggie Cheung, even in wuxia films, is a revelation. :)
Little Dove said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Little Dove said…
Maybe you could try:

The Bride With White Hair Part 1 & 2 (白髮魔女傳)
- Romantic wuxia

Semi-Gods and Semi-Devils (1994)
- Brigitte Lin, Gong Li, Cheung Man

Tai Chi Master (太极张三丰) 1993: Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh

Butterfly and Sword (1993): Michelle Yeoh, Tony Leung, Joey Wong

Happy watching :)
Jason said…
I like Tai Chi Master! Well, I like Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh's movies in my younger days...

Black Mask (modern fighting - Jet Li, Karen Mok, Lau Ching Wan)

High Risk (modern fighting - Jet Li, Jacky Cheung)

Wing Chun - Michelle Yeoh

Project S - Michelle Yeoh, Emil Chau

Yes, Madam - Michelle Yeoh

The Heroic Trio - Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, Anita Mui
Twilight Man said…
I must add this show to my box full of movie CDs. I think I will view them all when I retire.
William said…
@Legs:
Yeah!

@DazedBlu:
Yeah, Sam Hui. :)

@Cheryl:
Hehe, you want me to blog about THOSE?

@LifeForB:
Welcome. Maggie Cheung is a great actress.

@LittleD:
I love The Bride With White Hair! Butterfly and Sword is a little annoying with that Jimmy Lin. What's the one with Leon Lai and Michelle Reis?

@Jason:
The Heroic Trio I dig!

@TZone:
So fast retire meh?
Alex said…
I love wuxia movies! Another movie I recommend is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Jason said…
I like The Heroic Trio :)
Can find that?
Little Dove said…
The Sword of Many Loves aka The Story of the Flying Fox
Fable Frog said…
OH i love love love these old movies especially when they can fly! and involved lotsa cloths!! Jason i have "heroic trio" and the 2nd part "executioners" in vcd. :P
William said…
@Alex:
Ack! That movie is a sacrilege to wuxia movies!

@Jason:
SK sudah jumpa.

@LittleD:
A fresh outlook, that one-- with poison.

@Froggie:
I love the costumes in "A Chinese Ghost Story III".
Imeku said…
If you have watched Swordman movie or read Louis Cha's novel, recently I read a review that said it is the epitome of gay lovers in Wuxia world! It is the (love) relationship between the two male leaders (Liu Zheng Feng and Qu Yang 刘正风、曲洋)of the two different sects at the start of the plot. Did you get the picture? I did not know even know it until someone pointed that out. In the hindsight, it does look suspiciously familiar to me. Well...

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