The Blade

When an orphaned sword-maker learns that his father was murdered by tattooed assassin, he sets out to get revenge. But when he loses his right arm in a scuffle, he must learn new ways to fight. Employing feverishly kinetic pacing, wild camerawork, and an intense primal ferocity rarely seen in wuxia films, Tsui Hark’s reworking of Chang Cheh’s One-Armed Swordsman is a radically contemporary meditation on unbridled masculinity in the martial arts world and man’s animalistic instincts. The brilliant action choreography by Stephen Tung Wai, Mang Hoi and Yuen Bun finds elegance amidst chaos, turning clashes of bodies into violent dance. Even though it underperformed at the box office at the time of release, The Blade has since been rightfully reappraised as one of Tsui’s boldest and finest works.

29/8 (Sat): Film talk with Long Tin