| A masterpiece by a master. This movie should deserve a much higher consideration from critics, as many others works by director King Hu. The story concerns a spy fighting for war secret plans against Mongols invasion in Asia. There are not leading actors, instead this is a choral work (the main character, Lee Khan, does his majestic entrance after about 45 minutes from the beginning!).
If you like movies with non-stop kung-fu fighting, then you will be disappointed: here the action is concentred at the end, with a great series of duels (Angela Mao vs. Hsu Feng, just to say one). The movie proceeds instead by increasing the tension, the suspects and the definition of the many characters involved. It is amazing, at least for me, to see that it was shot mainly in a single location, an inn--it could probably be played on stage and still be enjoiable.
Final comment for the score: here you can listen to fragments from the "Long March Symphony" by Shan-De and from the "Turangalia Symphony" by Messiaen, both effectively used. |
