Largely recognized for elevating the wuxia style in unprecedented heights, with movies like “A Contact of Zen” and “Dragon Inn”, King Hu has additionally applied his spectacular aesthetics to this 1979 movie, which lingers between the thriller and the ghost story, as standard together with Zen Buddhist philosophy. Eureka Leisure presents this epic in all of its 191 minutes, in a completely restored version, in beautiful 4K.
The story is customized from a Tune Dynasty people story and revolves round Ho Yunqing, a younger scholar who’s tasked by an eminent monk to transcribe a Buddhist sutra stated to have immense energy over the spirits of the afterlife. To execute his work in peace, he travels to the deserted premises of an ex-general deep within the mountains, the place he encounters plenty of unusual individuals. These embody Mr Tsui, the person who welcomes him within the space, the mysterious and delightful Melody and her mom and caretaker of the monastery, Ms Chang, and a half-mad previous man named Cheng. Quickly, a Lama and a Reverend additionally seem and a battle ensues between forces making an attempt to steal the sutra and ones who need to maintain it from their palms. Moreover, virtually with out noticing, Ho finds himself married to Melody, whereas a bit later one other lovely lady named Cloud emerges.
King Hu builds his story taking his time, with the film highlighting the mountainous setting and all of the natural world of the realm in probably the most spectacular approach, notably concerning the excellent colours. In that trend, the movie, for a big half, features as a mixture of a tour information and a nature documentary. This side advantages probably the most by Henry Chan’s excellent cinematography, which highlights the bucolic setting in an awesome method, together with his prowess extending to the assorted settlements that characteristic within the movie.
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Other than the give attention to nature although, King hu weaves an intricate story of a battle between good and evil, the place nothing is because it appears, and through which Ho Yunqing finds himself being unwillingly steered towards instructions he doesn’t want and even imagined following. The build-up of the story is ingenious, with Hu beginning with a way that one thing is incorrect in the way in which the characters behave, which is communicated in very refined trend, via some temporary appears and a permeating sense of uneasiness.
This tactic lasts till the second half of the film, the place finally the reality, the opposing “fractions”, and their objectives are revealed, and a full-blown and fairly extended battle ensues, involving magic and a steady duel of percussions which dominates a big portion of the movie with its excessive rhythm, which highlights Ta Chiang Wu’s effort within the division. The prowess within the manufacturing values additionally extends to the costumes, that are additionally designed by King Hu.
The battles are few and primarily happen within the second half of the movie, however don’t fail to spotlight Ming Tsai-wu’s work within the division, whereas they’re additionally visually spectacular, notably contemplating the date the movie was shot (1979).
The performing can be on a really excessive degree. Chun Shih offers one other nice efficiency because the educated however fairly naive Ho Yunqing, whereas Feng Hsu as Melody presents a personality that seems form however is definitely greater than crafty, with gusto. Sylvia Chang as Cloud within the actual reverse function is equally good, though in a smaller half, Rainbow Hsu is delightfully annoying as Madam Wang and together with Feng Tien as Cheng are the primary sources of tcomedy within the movie.
“Legend of the Mountain” is one other nice movie by a real grasp of cinema and an exquisite audiovisual expertise.
