When
Wed 19 Feb 2025
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Although a relative failure on its initial release, Hu’s epic and seminal wuxia masterpiece has come to be regarded as one of the most significant and influential works of modern Asian cinema. Based on a short story by Pu Songling first published in 1679, Hu’s often balletic, mythic and visually audacious orchestration of the widescreen frame, and the film’s phantasmagorical staging of specific scenes such as the mesmerising bamboo forest fight sequence, were directly referenced by Ang Lee in his equally significant Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
A hugely ambitious film, drawing together the various traditions of Taiwanese, Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese cinemas, it “marks the apex of Hu’s work in the [wuxia] genre” (Stephen Teo).
Courtesy of Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute.
About Melbourne Cinémathèque
Australia's longest-running film society, Melbourne Cinémathèque screens significant works of international cinema in the medium they were created, the way they would have originally screened.
Melbourne Cinémathèque is self-administered, volunteer-run, not-for-profit and membership-driven.
