Ma Fung-kwok Movies
- 1996
A notable entry among the many action films released in Hong Kong in the 1980s and 1990s, this is director He Ping's homage to swashbuckling epics and American westerns. Most of the film occurs in the canyon of the title, rendered in Mandarin as Riguang Xiagu. A traveling mercenary known as the Avenger arrives in the valley to settle an old score. He befriends the widowed owner of the local inn and her son while waiting for his enemy to arrive. The Avenger also meets up with Crazy Man (Ku Feng), an old warrior who has been waiting for years for his enemies to come to the canyon and in the meantime has become a devout Buddhist. Crazy Man's foes arrive, and the Avenger joins in the battle on his behalf. His experiences in the valley lead the Avenger to question the purpose of his life as a fighter. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
With The Story of Qiu Ju, internationally acclaimed Chinese director Zhang Yimou shifts his attention from powerful historical dramas (Raise the Red Lantern and Ju Dou) to contemporary life. Gong Li plays the titular heroine, an average woman in a rural village whose life is unexceptional until her husband is physically attacked by the village elder. When the elder refuses to apologize, Qiu Ju decides to seek legal action with the help of a local magistrate. Soon, her quest for simple justice balloons into a series of frustrating battles with a complicated and unproductive bureaucracy. In contrast to the rich, painterly look of his previous films, Zhang adopts an unadorned, realistic style that allows the film's increasingly absurd situations to speak for themselves. Indeed, while the look at government gone wrong has serious underpinnings, the overall tone remains one of understated satire. As might be expected, The Story of Qiu Ju was received with greater appreciation by international critics than in its home country. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
