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 Enchanting Shadow is second only to Maxu Weibang's Song at Midnight for being classic Chinese cinema's best combination of music, love, and ghosts.... | Enchanting Shadow is second only to Maxu Weibang's Song at Midnight for being classic Chinese cinema's best combination of music, love, and ghosts. (Incidentally, both were remade as great Leslie Cheung films in the contemporary period.)
Li Han-hsiang's gifts as a stylist makes this one of his most tonally evocative films. The editing, sets, music, special effects, and especially lighting make Enchanting Shadow compellingly atmospheric, although the love story suffers in comparison to the 1980s remake.
Enchanting Shadow is a relatively short film -- its use of few locations and repetition give it an impressionistic feel... more like a ghost poem than a horror epic. This is a must-see for fans of Chinese Ghost Story and early Shaw films! |
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3 years ago
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1 like this review
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A wonderful surprise, Soul of the Sword is an underrated Shaw Bros. classic that is my favorite Jaman find thus far. The story is sparse, but better... | A wonderful surprise, Soul of the Sword is an underrated Shaw Bros. classic that is my favorite Jaman find thus far. The story is sparse, but better than most of the genre and strong enough to sustain the momentum from beginning to end. Director Hua Shan (Super Inframan) should be commended for his efficiency -- not a shot or movement is wasted, and consequently, unlike in many action films of the era, there are no awkward breaks that draw attention to the primitiveness of the techniques.
The story is simple, yet uncompromising. Ti Lung, sportin' some sweet locks, struggles to attain the proper balance between domesticated family man and cold-blooded killer, making the film also a critique of jiang hu masculinity. Lastly, Soul of the Sword has a pretty powerful gay subtext that constantly threatens to undermine the central love story.
Soul of the Sword doesn't shout out its arrival in the way Zhang Cheh and Chor Yuen's films do, but that's what makes it such a sneaky surprise. |
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3 years ago
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5 like this review  People's favorite
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 This is by far the tamest Lin Cheng-sheng film I've seen to date. Like some other recent Taiwanese cinema, crime and the urban underworld plays an... | This is by far the tamest Lin Cheng-sheng film I've seen to date. Like some other recent Taiwanese cinema, crime and the urban underworld plays an important role, but the rest of the film was surprisingly cute and light. There's nothing wrong with Lin trying to attract the mainstream -- a bit of humor and romance is badly needed given the state of Taiwanese mainstream film today -- but it was a bit too touchy-feely for my taste. Further, the "betelnut beauty" angle seems more of a gimmick to lend the film Taiwanese "authenticity" than a subject of actual interest.
That said, the film does a nice (if occasionally obvious) job of showing the connections between the desire for money and the disintigration of the modern Taiwanese family. Chang Chen does a great job as usual, but it's really Lee Sinjie who steals the show as the title character.
Great visuals throughout -- as the previous reviewer stated, the scooter rides are wonderful, and reminded me of similar scenes in Hou Hsiao-hsien's films. There's also a nice juxtaposition between the dingy way the TV media covers the world of betelnut selling and the visual elegance that the film gives it. The surprise though is that while the film is sympathetic to betelnut selling as an occupation frequently compared with prostitution, it's far more critical of the movie industry's capacity to exploit women.
Betelnut Beauty is a sweet little film -- well-paced with smart moments. If you like it, you should check out the much-better third film in the "Tale of three cities" trilogy: the Taiwanese film "Blue Gate Crossing" |
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3 years ago
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1 like this review
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The Love Eterne's reputation is probably more interesting than the film itself, although for anyone curious about Shaw Bros or the huangmeidiao genre,... | The Love Eterne's reputation is probably more interesting than the film itself, although for anyone curious about Shaw Bros or the huangmeidiao genre, it's absolutely essential. Betty Loh Ti is great as always, but it's Ivy Ling Po who steals the show in the role that would -- for better or worse -- define the rest of her career. The songs are memorable, although they're much funnier (and seemingly less repetitive) if you understand its playful use of Mandarin.
As in all of his best Shaw films, Li Han-hsiang's staging combines high theatricality with a sense of cinema's affinity for color and movement. The long walk home is justly classic, and there's something tremendously enchanting about the fakeness of the hills and trees, and the joyful sincerity of the lyrics and seduction.
The story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai (the "Chinese Romeo and Juliet" as some have dubbed it) is today defined by Li Han-hsiang's adaptation. Regardless if it's adapted for the stage, for TV, or for animated feature, Ling Po and Loh Ti remain the point of departure. For instance, see Tsui Hark's "The Lovers," which takes the homosexual implications of the Ling Po-Loh Ti pairing to a more explicit level. Or Jeff Lau's underrated "Chinese Odyssey 2002," which similarly plays with the cross-dressing tradition of huangmeidiao made famous by The Love Eterne. (It also references Li's "The Kingdom and the Beauty," another huangmeidiao classic.) |
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3 years ago
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