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?
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?
Comments
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 :)
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
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?
Can find that?
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".