Brigitte Lin Movies
An actress of striking intensity and fierce dedication to family life, Taiwanese born Brigitte Lin has thrilled audiences since her earliest film appearances in the early '70s. From the hopelessly romantic films of her early career to the powerful and mysterious costume fantasies of her later roles, Lin's stunning beauty and powerful screen presence lent itself successfully to a both the romantic and the fantastic. Born November 3, 1954, in Taiwan, Lin attended Taiwan Chingling Girls' Secondry School in her early years and later enrolled at Tanjiang General Education College. After being spotted by a film producer on the streets of Taipei in 1972, Lin made her film debut in Outside the Window, though due to legal complications, the film went unreleased. It was through her role in Window that Lin would find real-life romance with co-star Chin Han, though Han's marital status prevented the couple from pursuing their relationship despite various rumors and insinuations. Her formal debut and initial exposure came with her second film, Yun Piao Piao (Floating Clouds) a few short years later. Moving to California in the late '70s to escape the rumor mill and attend some college courses, Lin was romanced by and engaged to Charlie Chin, though the relationship soon fell through, due in part to Chin Han's divorce. It was shortly after this time that Lin's roles began to shift from the romantic to the fantastic, most notably with her role in director Tsui Hark's masterful, standard-setting fantasy Shu Shan (1983) (Lin would again team with Hark for the acclaimed Peking Opera Blues in 1986). Through the remainder of the '80s and into the '90s, Lin's career expanded as she became a staple of Hong Kong action/fantasy cinema. It was during this period that Lin made many of the films that would bring her familiarity to Western audiences. Her roles in the popular Swordsman films, and as the striking title character in the art-house hit The Bride With White Hair and its sequel, showcased an actress with dynamic abilities who could send shivers through audiences with her fearsome gaze. Lin won best actress at the Golden Horse Film Festival in Taiwan for her role in Red Dust (1992), and also won acclaim for her role as Asia the Invincible in East is Red (1992). 1994 found Lin in the first of two collaborations with colorful Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar Wai with her role in Ashes of Time, and brought the publicly unexpected marriage of Lin to businessman Michael Zing. Though she appeared in a few more films, Lin stated that she was retiring from the entertainment industry to dedicate herself to her marriage and her newborn daughter, making her final career appearance as the mysterious woman in the blonde wig in Wong Kar Wai's Chungking Express (1994). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Master Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai directed this lyrical, dream-like martial arts epic. A famously troubled shoot, the film took two years and 40 million dollars to produce (a shocking sum for a national cinema populated with low-budget quickies) and features a virtual who's who of the Hong Kong film world. Conceived as a prequel to the popular martial arts novel The Eagle-Shooting Hero by Jin Yong, the movie is less a straightforward action thriller than a visually striking meditation on memory and love. It nominally centers on Ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung), who ekes out a lonely existence as an itinerant hired sword. Getting on in years and tormented by memories of a lost love, he also works an agent for other mercenary assassins from his remote desert abode. Ouyang's old friend and fellow swordsman, Huang Yaoshi (Tony Leung Kar-Fai, who starred in the The Lover) drowns his lovelorn misery in a magical wine that makes him forget. Later, a mysterious young man named Murong Yang (Brigitte Lin) hires Ouyang to kill his sister's unfaithful suitor, Huang Yaoshi. The following day, that spurned sister, Murong Yin (Lin again), hires Ouyang to protect her dearly beloved. Meanwhile, Hong Qi (pop star Jacky Cheung) finds some redemption for a life of killing by accepting a poor girl's offer to avenge her brother's death -- a task that Ouyang brusquely shunned. In another subplot, a master swordsman (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) is slowly going blind. He agrees to defend a village from horse thieves so that he can afford to go home and see his wife before his eyesight fails completely. This film is one of the most celebrated examples of 1990s Hong Kong cinema: it won multiple awards in its native Hong Kong, along with a Golden Osella for Best Cinematography at the 1994 Venice Film Festival.
In the years following Ashes of Time's initial theatrical release, the original negatives were lost and multiple versions of the film began to crop up all across the globe. As a result, director Wong Kar-wai longed to compile these various versions into a restored, remastered, and definitive final cut. With Ashes of Time Redux, the director restructures the film according to seasons, effectively clarifying the central narratives, and digitally colorizes the film to render cinematographer Christopher Doyle's masterful imagery all the more lavish and intoxicatingly gorgeous. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
In the years following Ashes of Time's initial theatrical release, the original negatives were lost and multiple versions of the film began to crop up all across the globe. As a result, director Wong Kar-wai longed to compile these various versions into a restored, remastered, and definitive final cut. With Ashes of Time Redux, the director restructures the film according to seasons, effectively clarifying the central narratives, and digitally colorizes the film to render cinematographer Christopher Doyle's masterful imagery all the more lavish and intoxicatingly gorgeous. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung Kar-Fai, (more)
Ng Min-Keng spins this kung-fu revenge fantasy featuring Brigitte Lin Ching-Hsia. As a child, Snow witnessed her family getting murdered at the hands of dark-hearted martial arts masters looking for a priceless, magical lyre. The highly sought-after instrument plays music that has the power to kill, and over her upbringing, Snow (Lin) learned to harness its might, making her a formidable kung-fu master in her own right. Once she reaches adulthood, she sets her sites on the villains responsible. In their first bloody encounter with Snow, featuring scores of flying swordsman being evaporated lyre's music, the baddies learn of the whereabouts of the legendary stringed instrument. As a violent struggle between the bad guys ensues, Snow's quest for vengeance is hindered some when she learns of her long-lost brother Lui Lun (Yuen Biao). ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
In this martial arts-adventure, three warriors who are gifted with swords -- Smiling Sam (Andy Lau), Big Knife (Elvis Tsui), and Samurai (Brigitte Lin) -- are en route to Central China for a tournament where their skills are to be put to the test. A villain who has disguised himself as Smiling Sam has killed one of the children of the royal family, and now the famous sword fighter is a wanted man. Knowing he's innocent of the crime, Smiling Sam's friends try to keep him (and themselves) one step ahead of the law while the try to determine the true identity of the murderer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- 1994
Master Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai directed this lyrical, dream-like martial arts epic. A famously troubled shoot, the film took two years and 40 million dollars to produce (a shocking sum for a national cinema populated with low-budget quickies) and features a virtual who's-who of the Hong Kong film world. Conceived as a prequel to the popular martial arts novel The Eagle-Shooting Hero by Jin Yong, the movie is less a straightforward action thriller than a visually striking meditation on memory and love. It nominally centers on Ouyang Feng (Leslie Cheung), who ekes out a lonely existence as an itinerant hired sword. Getting on in years and tormented by memories of a lost love, he also works an agent for other mercenary assassins from his remote desert abode. Ouyang's old friend and fellow swordsman, Huang Yaoshi (Tony Leung Kar-fai, who starred in the The Lover) drowns his lovelorn misery in a magical wine that makes him forget. Later, a mysterious young man named Murong Yang (Brigitte Lin) hires Ouyang to kill his sister's unfaithful suitor, Huang Yaoshi. The following day, that spurned sister, Murong Yin (Lin again), hires Ouyang to protect her dearly beloved. Meanwhile, Hong Qi (pop star Jackie Cheung) finds some redemption for a life of killing by accepting a poor girl's offer to avenge her brother's death -- a task that Ouyang brusquely shunned. In another subplot, a master swordsman (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) is slowly going blind. He agrees to defend a village from horse thieves so that he can afford to go home and see his wife before his eyesight fails completely. This film is one of the most celebrated examples of 1990s Hong Kong cinema: it won multiple awards in its native Hong Kong, along with a Golden Osella for Best Cinematography at the 1994 Venice Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigitte Lin, Leslie Cheung, (more)
Hong Kong filmmaker Andy Chin directed this colorfully gaudy and delightfully satirical fantasy based -- very loosely -- on the classic novel Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils by Jin Yong. Popular Asian pin-up queen Brigitte Lin stars in dual roles as Li Chou-shui, an outcast member of the San sect, and her twin sister, Chong-hoi. Chou-shui is engaged in a vicious and ongoing magical duel for power with another exiled San sect member, Mo Han-wen, played by the popular Chinese actress Gong Li (Raise the Red Lantern). Han-wen's magical mastery is somewhat undermined by her sexual attraction to Chong-hoi, which Chou-shui exploits to hurt Han-wen's pride and sap her will at every opportunity so that she can gain the upper hand in their ever-more fierce confrontations. These battles attract the interest of the powerful leader of the Sing Suk sect, Ting Chun-chou (Norman Tsui), who believes that he will take over in the wake of the women's mutually assured supernatural destruction. Ting starts slaughtering all of his rivals, but runs into trouble when an opportunistic lackey named Purple (Sharla Cheung) steals a scroll containing the Yi-ken sutra, capable of bestowing incredible powers, and gets a Shaolin monk who can interpret it for her own particular ends. Funny, visually spectacular, and paced slightly this side of light-speed, the film is marvelously entertaining, if a bit challenging to follow for newcomers to the world of Hong Kong fantasy. Frankie Lam co-stars with Liu Kai-chi and James Pak. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigitte Lin, Gong Li, (more)
A Hong Kong fast food restaurant acts as the link between two unusual stories of police officers in love in this eccentric, stylish comedy-drama. Director Wong Kar-Wai plays freely with traditional narrative structure, dividing his film into two loosely connected segments. The first centers on a depressed cop struggling to come to terms with a recent break-up. His sad isolation is transformed when he encounters a beautiful, mysterious femme fatale, whose involvement with the criminal underworld proves troublesome for both. The second story explores the odd relationship between a female restaurant worker and another recently jilted police officer. The strange woman decides to regularly clean and redecorate the man's apartment in his absence, allowing the two to form a close intimacy without meeting face to face. Both stories present a beautifully atmospheric look at modern urban life and romance, with its combination of isolation and casual, unexpected meetings. Chungking Express came to the attention of American audiences thanks to the efforts of director Quentin Tarantino, whose own brand of fractured storytelling and urban cool owes a debt to Wong Kar-Wai. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigitte Lin, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, (more)
Clarence Fok Yiu-leung spins this slick action-comedy crime flick featuring an all-star cast. The film centers on Black Cougar (Alan Tang Kwong-wing), a crack thief who gets the job of a lifetime -- a shadowy client is paying him an obscene amount of money to swipe a photograph from a police station. Alan enlists the help of cabal of master criminals including a sexpot weapons specialist named Ching-ching (Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia), a gambling maven (Tony Leung Kar-fai) and an infantile computer geek (Dicky Cheung Wai-kin) who goes berserk if he doesn't have a pacifier to suck on. The group quickly learns that the whole thing is a set up by Black Cougar's evil brother Bloody Wolf (Wah Yuen). While Black Cougar gets captured by a band of villains, the rest of the team is forced to fend off the baddies. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
The third installment in the Hong Kong Swordsman trilogy is intended to recapture the success of the second film, including its gender-bending performance by Brigitte Lin. Lin reprises her role as Asia the Invincible, a swordsman whose use of a supernatural scroll caused him to turn into a woman. The scroll is once again the object of contention. Resurrected from the dead, she finds that everyone from Japanese ninjas to the Spanish navy are after the scroll. She is confronted by further gender complications when a woman named Snow Joey Wong, a former lover of Asia, assumes Asia's male identity. ~ Jonathan E. Laxamana, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigitte Lin
- 1993
Jeff Lau Chun-wai spins this wild and woolly parody of Wong Kar-wai's martial arts epic Ashes of Time, which was actually produced by Wong himself and features many of the same cast members as Ashes. This loosely plotted film centers around the misdeeds of a pair of royals (Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Veronica Yip) looking to usurp the throne. Also appearing in this film is the bubble-headed Third Princess (Brigitte Ling Ching-hsia) who martial arts ability is dubious at best, a mysterious flying head (Tony Leung Kar-fai), and the dreaded kung fu form "Toad Has a Pee Pee." Because of Ashes' notoriously difficult production, Dong Cheng actually beat the film to the theaters. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Cheung
Editor and co-writer of the original, David Wu Tai-wai directs this follow-up to the wildly popular romantic fantasy-horror masterwork Bride With White Hair. The last film ended with Cho (Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing), following the defeat of the Wu Tang clan, waiting atop the snowy peak of mount Shing for a rare flower to blossom and heal his ailing lover. Ni-chang (Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia), feeling spurned by Cho thanks to the evil doings of a pair of Siamese twins in the previous movie, has morphed into a demon with a head of white poisonous hair. She creates a cult dedicated to her hatred of men, vowing to kill every member of the Eight Clans of Chung Yuan. Among them is Fung Chun-kit (Sunny Chan Kam-hung), Cho's cousin who is in love with the beautiful Lyre (Joey Maan Yee-man). On their wedding night, Ni-chang, Ling (Christy Chung), and a number of other disciplines crash the party and kidnap the bride. Back in their lair, they slowly turn Lyre against her would-be groom. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
Following on the success of 1987's Chinese Ghost Story, Hong Kong was inundated with romantically themed tales of the supernatural. Most were awful, but Ronny Yu's The Bride With White Hair has become a classic of the genre. Based on a two-volumed 1954 novel written by Leung Yu-Sang, the film tells the story of star-crossed lovers and bloody conflict. The two meet when Lian (Brigitte Lin Ching-Hsia), a beautiful sorceress who was raised by wolves, saves young warrior Zhuo Yi-Hang (Leslie Cheung) from a pack of hungry animals. Though she disappears before he can thank her, Zhuo is entranced. Later Zhuo becomes a master swordsman with the Wu Tang Clan, a tight-knit martial arts society dedicated to the villainous Ji Wu-Shuang (played by both Francis Ng and Elaine Lui), a mutant half-man, half-woman creature who rules the land with an iron fist. Though Zhuo is more interested in quiet life of contemplation, the clan elders see Zhou as their best weapon against their evil King/Queen. Meanwhile, Lian has grown into a formidable adversary herself -- especially with the use of her trusty whip, which can slice a man in two. She has been recruited by Ji to thwart the rebels. In the midst of battle, Zhou and Lian meet. Ji -- who secretly lusts for Lian -- orders her to kill Zhuo. She refuses, much to his displeasure, and orders her tortured to within an inch of her life. Zhuo discovers Lian's semi-conscious body and nurses her back to health. The two soon fall passionately in love and vow to always trust one another. Unfortunately, Ji's black magic revenge spoils the lovers' new-found bliss. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigitte Lin, Leslie Cheung, (more)
Raymond Lee Wai-man remakes King Hu's 1966 masterpiece about revenge and intrigue between imperial eunuchs during the Ming Dynasty. At the film's outset, the villainous Eunuch Tsao (Donnie Yen Chi-tan) has assassinated one of his primary court rivals and is looking to take out his former rival's right-hand man Chow Wai-on (Tony Leung Kar-fai). Tsao orders that his rival's children be exiled, hoping that Chow will try to rescue them. Instead, Chow's lover Yau Mo-yin (Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia), along with her small band of fighters, saves the children and takes to a desolate tavern called the Dragon Inn, run by the sexy, but wily, Jade (Maggie Cheung man-yuk). Chow soon catches up with Yau at the Inn, catching the eye of Jade. Before the two can move the children to a more secure location, Tsao's henchman pay them an unwelcome visit. While the two sides maneuver, Jade plays both sides of the fence. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maggie Cheung, Brigitte Lin, (more)
In this second of three "Swordsman" martial arts thrillers, the swordsman Ling Jet Li is traveling with his sister to a religious retreat when they are informed that the leader of the sect has been captured by a mysterious being who has been transformed into a nearly immortal woman through the agency of a sacred scroll. At the same time, the Japanese are once again threatening to take over the Chinese mainland, and this dire fate can only be thwarted by a heroic few. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jet Li, Brigitte Lin, (more)
- 1992
It is 1949, in Singapore, and two acting troupes are rehearsing their forthcoming performances on the same stage. In this comic tour-de-force, scenes from one show are rehearsed and then scenes from another, and the two entirely different plays become intermingled in a hilarious fashion. The first play is a tragic melodrama about two star-crossed lovers. The second is based on an old Chinese classic comedy, called "The Peach Blossom Land," about a cuckolded husband who is magically transported to a beautiful otherworldly paradise, populated exclusively by men who look like his wife's lover, and women who look like his wife. Further compounding the confusion, a crazy woman wanders into the theater looking for someone no one there knows, whom she calls Liu Zi-ji, who may or may not exist and may or may not be missing. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Cinematographer-turned-director David Chung Chi-man spins this taut homage to Alfred Hitchcock. The film opens with high-powered lawyer Jane (Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia) receiving a blackmail letter from someone threatening to reveal some creative accounting she did a few years back to get out of debt. In the process of immigrating to Canada, she immediately suspects her assistant May (Pauline Wong Siu-fung) whom she refused to take along with her. Jane has May shred all documents related to her crime, but along the way May learns that Jane herself is blackmailing Mimi (Elizabeth Lee Mei-fung) and stashing piles of cash in her luxe home. Later, May's childhood friend Queenie has learned that her twin sister Catherine (Joey Wang Tsu-hsien) has just gotten out of jail and is deep in debt. May soon comes up with a way to dig up some cash fast. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
Kin (Tony Leung Ka-Fei) is up to his neck in gambling debts. When he asks his wife May (Brigitte Lin) to embezzle funds from her employer to pay them off, she refuses-but Kin doesn't take no for an answer. He plots to kill her and make her death look like a suicide, but things don't go as planned. May survives, and now she is bent on having her revenge. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigitte Lin, Tony Leung Kar-Fai, (more)
- 1986
- NC17
Noted art director Tony Au Ding-ping helms this acclaimed romantic fantasy featuring Chow Yun-fat and Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia. Sony Yu (Chow) is a famous orchestra conductor who recently suffers from a series of bizarre visions of a beautiful woman and a Qin dynasty era terracotta statue. When he ventures to a exhibit of such ancient relics, he meets Cheung Yuet-heung (Lin), who not only looks exactly like the woman in his dreams, but also suffers from similarly intense but decidedly more violent visions -- in one Yu gets garroted by the imperial guard and others are simply too gory to be divulged. Soon the two consult with a medium who takes them that they are the reincarnation of a pair of lovers murdered some 2000 years previous. Yu's girlfriend Wah-lei realizes that she has no part in this relationship and graciously bows out. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chow Yun-Fat, Cher Yeung, (more)
- 1986
This slapstick comedy drama stars three of Hong Kong's most attractive and popular actresses of their time: Brigitte Lin is the daughter of a general, Cherie Chung is a petty thief, and Sally Yip is the daughter of the manager of the Beijing Opera theater. The story is set in 1911 when the Chinese revolution overthrew the monarchy and established a republic. The general's daughter has to steal an important document from her father's safe in order to help out the guerrillas who are fighting for the republic. Her exploits and those of her two friends flow back and forth between the Imperial Palace and the theater of the Beijing Opera. Action, farce, and political satire tumble over each other as the story leads up to its dizzying rooftop climax. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigitte Lin, Sally Yeh, (more)
This was internationally famous Jackie Chan's breakthrough action film, the work that got him past the ethnic boundaries of Hong Kong and into competition at the New York Film Festival in 1986. It also got him into the hospital after performing a stunt in which he fell through a glass canopy -- and stopped breathing. The story itself is not particularly profound. Kevin (Ga-kui) (Chan) is an honest, self-effacing cop who manages to capture drug lord Cho (Cho Leung) almost single-handedly. A reluctant Kevin is then assigned the job of protecting Cho's secretary Selena (Brigitte Lin) who is going to testify against him. Sure enough, the trial date comes, and Selena disappears, while Cho has to be set free for lack of evidence. The next thing he knows, Kevin is framed by Cho for the murder of a fellow (dirty) cop and is running like heck from the bad guys as well as the police. Some incredible stunts in this film include Chan being dragged behind a double-decker bus. One of Jackie Chan's trademarks are hilarious outtakes shown during the end credits, and they are among the best here. This feature is repeated to great advantage at the end of his 1998 hit Rush Hour as well. Police Story picked up "Best Picture" and "Best Action Choreography" at the 1986 Hong Kong Film Festival and was nominated for several other awards that year. Sequel after sequel followed. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung, (more)
- 1983
- NR
Taiwanese filmmaker Chu Yen-ping directed this typically peculiar (and not too far from insane) action-comedy. It is nominally set during World War II, although it really exists in a world all its own, as references run the gamut from the '40s to the '80s. Hard-bitten Lieutenant Duan Wen (Jimmy Wang Yu) puts together a crack team of commandos in order to rescue a group of Allied generals who are captives of the Japanese military. There's an escape artist, a leather-clad tough girl with a bazooka (Brigitte Lin), a couple of wisecracking guys in kilts, and Sun Yueh in an extremely bizarre costume which brings to mind a homeless person called into military service. Pearl Cheung and international superstar Jackie Chan play some petty crooks looking for some money, and Adam Cheng shows up as the apparently gay leader of a tribe of hooded Amazons. As if that wasn't enough to completely baffle most viewers, there are also some Asian Nazis running around in futuristic jeeps, some sorcerers who drink human blood, and heaping helpings of gunplay, martial arts, singing, and dancing -- all in 88 breathless minutes. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- 1983
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Legendary Hong Kong filmmaker Tsui Hark spins this lavishly designed fantasy epic featuring some of the most cutting edge, oft-imitated special effects of the day. The film, set in 5th century China, centers on Ti Ming-chi (Yuen Biao) a young innocent from the West Zu army who wandered away from the battlefield and into a magical underworld filled with demons and murderous swordsmen. When his life is saved by the noble warrior Ting Yin (Adam Cheng Siu-chau), Ti joins forces with his band of fighters -- including a Buddhism monk named Abbot Hsiao Yu (Damian Lau Chung-yan), his klutzy underling Yi Chen (Mang Hoi) and a fearsome old wizard named Long Brows (Sammo Hung) -- in their quest to save the world from the terror of the Blood Demon. In spite of Long Brows' powers the Demon attacks and poisons Abbot Hsiao. Ting and company take the injured monk to the enigmatic Countess of Jade Pond (Brigitte Lin Hsia) hoping that her skills can cure him. Though she manages to cure Hsiao, the demon soon possesses Ting. The combined power of Ting and the demon are too great; the Countess can only surround her castle with a solid block of ice and wait while Ti, Yi and one of the countess's guards (Moon Lee Choi-fung) ventures to the top of Blade Peak to find the legendary Twin Swords. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yuen Biao
Chu Yin-Ping directs the Hong Kong martial arts action film Faster Blade Poisonous Darts. Brigitte Lin stars as a woman who is kidnapped. Adam Chang plays the adventurer who attempts to rescue her. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigitte Lin, Adam Cheng, (more)
