After the first 15 or 20 minutes I figured I was right: not a bad film, but nothing outstanding. One of those plots that doesn't really get fleshed out, somewhat silly, and well, watchable, but unremarkable.

Then ... I noticed that I was starting to get involved in the characters' plight. I started chuckling now and then at the campy humour. I even saw the plot come together and say 'Hello, I am the Plot, and here is what I'm about.' To which I replied, 'OK, cool, just don't start getting freaky with me, and we'll be fine.' Turned out, we were fine.

Let's not be silly here, OK? This is a review. Point is, as the movie progressed I liked it more and more, until I finally fell in love with the film. Then it ended, and I wept bitter tears. Tears of regret, for having doubted Peking Opera Blues, tears of sorrow, for the film came to an end as most films are likely to do, and tears of joy, yes joy, for having had the movie play before my eyes, even if only for a couple hours for one cold, rainy evening. Actually, it wasn't raining. Or cold.

I know. I should not be running a movie review website. That's what you're thinking.

I would love to have this movie in my collection (and hopefully will). Just know: this is light hearted fare, with loveable characters, and some truly wonderful action sequences. So, buy it. Or rent it. Or borrow it. This is a highly praised movie, and although I rate it a little lower than the average review I've read for it, this film is not to be overlooked.

Oh, I forgot to say what it's about! It's about some characters who get tangled up in a web of espionage, political intrigue, and Chinese opera. No blues.

NOTE: I am under tremendous pressure from myself to finish this site. I will try to add more plot to this review very soon. If you already know the plot then don't worry about it.

DO NOT BUY THIS FILM IF: You really thought this was going to incorporate the blues into the story; you don't appreciate silliness one bit; you are a true Peking Opera Blues artist and are hoping to have your style of the blues accurately represented; you made a vow to a river gnome never to watch a movie (or read a book) whose acronym would be POB - since that's his name, and you will be cursed forever.

RECOMMENDATION: This is one for the Asian film buff. I don't know how excited someone raised on Pablum (I don't know what I mean, either) would like this. If you watch and like Asian movies and have aquired a taste for the nuances therein, this one's a classic.

Review: As Tsui Hark's dazzling "first" masterpiece nears its twentieth anniversary it remains a perfect entry point into the world of Hong Kong action cinema. Like other Tsui Hark movies, Peking Opera Blues drops the audience into the action and assumes knowledge as it whisks through an exhilarating story of political intrigue, broad comedy, romance and wirework. And like Tsui Hark films before and after, Peking Opera Blues is painted in bold broad strokes; so Western viewers can follow the traditional good versus evil scenario.

The year is 1913 (the year China began film production) and China is experiencing an uneasy peace two years after the First Democratic Revolution. But unworthy generals controlling the country are auctioning it to foreign bidders. These turbulent events throw together three very different women. Tsao Wan (Brigitte Lin) is the daughter of the current ruling General (Kenneth Tsang), and is plotting with the revolutionary Ling Pak-Hoi (Mark Cheng) to steal a secret contract from her father that allows foreign powers the rights to the country. Sheung Hung (Cherie Chung) is a street-smart hustler, helping Tsao with the promise of great riches, and Pat Nell (Sally Yeh) is the daughter of the owner of the local opera house, who dreams of treading the boards but is restrained by chauvinistic convention that disallows women to act on stage. While General Tsao clandestinely barters with the West, ruthless "Ticketing Officers," a vicious police force with looks and manner more akin to Triads, enforce local law and pose the greatest threat to the revolution.

Exquisitely mounted and finely crafted, Peking Opera Blues is a classic example of Hong Kong pulp cinema. Director Tsui allows his visual imagination full flight, while To Kwok-wai's tightly plotted script anchors the director's cinematic bravura. Minor subplots such as Sheung's elusive bag of riches are neatly handled in a movie where nothing goes to waste, and character receives as much attention as jaw-dropping action.

Peking Opera Blues demonstrates Tsui's ongoing interest in strong female characters (itself a trait of Chinese Opera), evident since the character of Green Shadow stole The Butterfly Murders, and still apparent in his current work. Here Tsao Wan's sartorial taste for military and casual gentleman's wear matches her revolutionary take-charge demeanor, while Pat Nell quietly rallies against the injustice of a male-dominated theater and Sheng transforms from opportunist to activist. Whereas Ling Pak-Hoi willingly yet unwisely uses his fists to fight, the heroic trio employ their wits to evade perilous situations. In one darkly comic scene Tsao "puppets" a dead General to avoid a fatal gunfight, and Pat Nell orchestrates the climactic "getaway" opera performance.

But, Ling's quick-fisted responses to danger allow Tsui Hark and legendary action director Ching Sui-Ting to unleash a breathtaking ballet of wirework thrills, which have drawn favorable comparisons with Spielberg's Indiana Jones movies. Of course, those comparisons are apt, as Peking Opera Blues burns with inventive mayhem, artfully making political intrigue a personal battle for justice, and offering the finest team of adventurers since Han and Chewie joined up with Luke. A teahouse shoot-out (a nod to the obligatory teahouse brawl?) and a climactic chase across the rooftops are but two delights for action aficionados. Tsui also darkens the mood with Tsao Wan's gun-totting rampage against her father's murderers, and her subsequent torture. That these scenes sit comfortably alongside perfectly timed physical humor is a testament to the director's mastery of tone and character.

Standout performances abound, particularly from the three main actresses. Brigitte Lin Ching-hsai conveys a wealth of emotion through almost imperceptible facial expressions, and continues the cross-dressing androgyny theme that featured in Dream of the Red Chamber (1978) and would reach an apotheosis with her performances as Asia the Invincible in the Swordsman series. Cherie Chung wears her avarice and burgeoning sense of responsibility on her sleeve, and those who regard Sally Yeh merely as the simpering foil from The Killer will be amazed at the comic and dramatic range revealed here.

Against such girl power, the men wisely retreat into the background, but Mark Cheng and Kenneth Tsang (unrecognizable beneath a white fright wig and beard) give vivid life to their roles, as does Shaw Brothers regular Guk Fung, playing Liu, the nefarious head of the Ticketing Officers.

Peking Opera Blues is a fine introduction to the spectacle of traditional Chinese Opera, referencing the opera June Snow (a tale of a woman wrongly sacrificed by unthinking men) in a sequence where the three women are united beneath an unseasonable flurry of snow. Pat Nell and Sheng perform a dual onstage performance as Mu Guiying, a famous female warrior, while Tsao Wan's taste for men's fashion echoes Hua Mulan, whose masculine disguise was required to battle her enemies. The original title of the movie, Do Ma Daan, translates as the fitting (but less memorable) "Women Warriors." With a nod to Western music, a dramatic music cue is lifted from Peter Gabriel's score for Birdy, cues for which also featured in the Tsui Hark-produced A Better Tomorrow I and II a year later.

Finally, Peking Opera Blues is a tribute to the indomitable spirit of community. Tsui (with his usual attention to background as well as foreground detail) depicts the low-class teahouse as a vibrant, thrilling place while the General's palace is foreboding and muted. Lui expires beneath the banner for the opera house he tried to close down, alluding to Chinese Opera's survival through centuries of regime changes, buckling only under the oppressive rule of Chairman Mao's Communist Party. Ironically, after Mao's Gang of Four were finally banished Chinese Opera found itself unfashionable, forcing opera players to abandon their first career for a move to the world of movies.

The film's universality comes from its' basic structure. Peking Opera Blues' plot itself is fairly simple; with the three leads banding together to help each other out during the tumultuous times following the 1913 Chinese revolution. The movie plays out a bit like a 1930's Hollywood serial, with the characters having to face several "cliffhangers" and then think of inventive ways to get themselves out of the situation at hand. Even though there are numerous references to particular aspects of Chinese society and history, the movie doesn't depend on them so much as to lose the non-native viewer.

Peking Opera Blues' Hong Kong film techniques are quite apparent as well. For instance, there are several large (and often violent) action sequences that most Hollywood directors wouldn't even think of. There are numerous genres mixed into the film as well -- it literally runs the gamut from slapstick comedy to a bloody torture sequence. Sometimes this (which seems to be a uniquely Hong Kong invention, or at least they have perfected it) tends to go a bit overboard, but in the hands of an expert director like Tsui Hark, the changes in emphasis are refreshing, not jarring. I can say that there is not a slow moment in the entire film, because it touches on so many genres without letting any of them overpower each other.

Mostly, though, the Hong Kong film feeling comes through the three leads. Western films often wouldn't allow a film starring three women to be anything other than a tear-jerker or exploitative action flick. Certainly, the three female leads acknowledge their femininity -- most pointedly thorough a touching scene when they shed their respective outfits (thus their respective professions and place in society) and bond together just as women. But at the same time, they're not whiny, trampy, needy, greedy or any of the other female stereotypes which tend to make their marks in film. People tend to think of Asian countries as having a "lower" view of women, but films like this show how much farther we (as Westerners) have to go with our own ideas of how strong women should be portrayed in movies (Erin Brockovich, anyone?). As I have stated in other reviews, I'm no book-waving/tree-hugging feminist and do enjoy the good exploitation movie every now and then, but a film like Peking Opera Blues shows how refreshing an honest portrayal of women can be.

Despite horrible subtitlng and sub-par picture quality found in many video versions, Peking Opera Blues is a film that's well worth seeking out. It's quite honestly one of the few true cinematic masterpieces ever produced and it only gets better with age, especially compared with most of the dreck coming out on both sides of the ocean these days.