Green Snake 青蛇 Flying Dagger 神經刀與飛天貓 New Dragon Gate Inn 新龍門客棧

Green Snake (1993 film)Green Snake is a 1993 Hong Kong fantasy drama film written, directed and produced by Tsui Hark. The film is based on the novel of the same title by Lilian Lee, itself based on the Chinese folk tale Legend of the White Snake, which depicts the love story between the female snake spirit Bai Suzhen, named White Snake in the film, and the male Human Xu Xian, named Hsui Xien in the film. Green Snake depicts the romance between the two, but features both White Snake and her sister Green Snake, originally a supporting character in the folk tale, as the two main characters. In Green Snake, the two sisters take on a Human form to try to live among Humans; however, Green Snake struggles heavily to adapt, and the sisters are threatened by several demon-hunters, including the Buddhist monk Fat-hoi. Maggie Cheung, Joey Wong, Vincent Zhao and Wu Hsing-kuo star as the four aforementioned characters, with Indian actress Nagma notably featured in a pivotal scene.[1] Plot The movie draws heavily upon the Buddhist belief of Saṃsāra and the cycle of reincarnation. A Buddhist monk named Fat-hoi (Vincent Zhao) has trained for 20 years to banish demons from the Human World. Fat-hoi does not believe in non-human beings are capable of improving themselves spiritually. He encounters a spider demon who has taken the form of a Buddhist priest. He captures the spider demon, who pleads with him as it has been spiritually refining itself for 200 years to be able to reincarnate. Fat-hoi ignores his pleas, traps him in a magical cauldron, and leaves the demon under a gazebo. When the Buddhist beads of the demon continue to shine, Fat-hoi realizes he may have made a mistake in interfering with the Spider's path to enlightenment. A storm takes place while Fat-hoi goes into the forest and he attacks two Snake spirits. But after he notices that they were only preventing rain from hitting a woman giving birth, he releases them. He is haunted by images of the female body of the mother who gave birth. The two snakes, White Snake (Joey Wong) and Green Snake (Maggie Cheung), are on the rooftop of a feast. Green Snake participates while White Snake sees local scholar Hsui Xien (Wu Hsing-Kuo) in a nearby building. The two have been training for many centuries to take human form. White Snake is the more experienced one and falls in love with Hsui Xien. She plans to have a family with him and continue her attempts to reincarnate as a human; Green Snake is the younger and more impulsive of the two sisters, but she is more prone to indulge in sensuality. They move into a house created with their magic and start a successful medical practice in town. Other than Hsui Xien's visit, the two get another visit from a buffoonish Taoist whom Green Snake leaves the household to take care of. Because of White Snake's beautiful charms, Hsui Xien, once known as the toughest and most dedicated scholar of the village, starts to lose his reputation. In another heavy storm, a flood ravages the village. White Snake and Green Snake help vanquish the flood and are helped by Fat-hoi, whom they remembered from the forest. After the flood is gone, White Snake and Green Snake tend to the medical needs of the villagers and become greatly respected. However, Green Snake slowly starts to envy White Snake and yearn for the affections of a human, often using Hsui Xien as an experiment. Though she catches them multiple times, White Snake usually shrugs this off. One day while teaching, Hsui Xien spontaneously comes back to see White Snake but instead sees a large reptilian tail in their bathing room. He escapes and becomes paranoid of the symbolic snake-related objects in the village because of the Dragon Boat Festival. Drunk from gifts from the villagers, White Snake and Green Snake take advantage and lie to him to seem as if he was hallucinating. Because the festival is near, White Snake pushes Green Snake to leave the village knowing that the Xionghuang wine consumed only on this day will make Green Snake reveal her true form (due to her inexperience). Green Snake sulks, refusing to leave because of her envy towards White Snake and Hsui Xien. The night of the festival, White Snake drags an obviously-scared Hsui Xien to drink the Xionghuang wine together. Since he already suspects his wife is a snake, Hsui Xien instead secretly dumps the wine into their pond to stop her from drinking it, unaware Green Snake is hiding in the pond. White Snake is unable to prevent Hsui Xien from seeing Green Snake's true form and he dies from shock. They are interrupted by the Taoist and his two apprentices again, who White Snake hastily disposes of. She decides to go to Kwun Lun Mountain to obtain the Lin-Chi Herb to bring him back to life, but because it is guarded by a Holy Crane, Green Snake decides to help out of guilt. Fat-hoi notices their presence and immediately follows them. After obtaining the Lin-Chi Herb, White Snake leaves Green Snake to fight against Fat-hoi but she is quickly defeated and is about to be captured in a cauldron. Meanwhile, White Snake restores Hsui Xien and they consummate their relationship. Because of the doubts he has about human sensuality, the monk decides to challenge his inner strength by letting Green Snake try to seduce him while he meditates. When he loses the challenge, Green Snake quickly makes her way back to White Snake. Green Snake tells White Snake of Fat-hoi's challenge, but White Snake shrugs her off, leading Green Snake to assume that her older sister thinks she is inferior. To get a response out of White Snake, she attempts to seduce Hsui Xien. The two sisters get into a fight, which White Snake wins. She reveals to Green Snake that she is pregnant and cannot be with her anymore, causing Green Snake to leave. Hsui Xien goes to his class to find Fat-hoi there. Fat-hoi warns him that the sisters are snake demons and gives him a set of enchanted beads to protect himself from evil spirits. Hsui Xien instead tosses the beads into the river. He arrives at home and pleads for the two to leave while he checks to see if Fat-hoi is near. He informs them that he is aware they are snake demons. The monk goes into their home and forcefully takes Hsui Xien into his Peaceful Land temple, situated atop an island peak, in order to "restore" him. Hsui Xien resists becoming a monk. White Snake appears at the temple and begs for the return of her husband. When Fat-hoi refuses, Green Snake joins White Snake and calls the monk on his promise to let them go if he lost the challenge. Green Snake creates a flood, attempting to flood the temple, but Fat-hoi lifts the entire temple into the air to prevent the catastrophe. When that fails, Fat-hoi tries to suffocate the two with his surplice but again, the two snakes were able to overcome it. White Snake suddenly goes into labor and the flood advances towards the village. Fat-hoi recedes his surplice, thereby allowing Green Snake to enter the temple to retrieve Hsui Xien, who has accepted becoming a monk. White Snake struggles to keep her baby above water. Fat-hoi saves the baby, but White Snake is crushed by the temple, which was destroyed by the flood. Green Snake is able to rescue Hsui Xien from the temple. After she realizes White Snake is dead, she kills Hsui Xien so that he can be with her sister in the afterlife. Fat-hoi intends to punish her for her crime, but she forces him to acknowledge that he too was complicit in the death of his fellow monks, who died in the flood. Green Snake questions if even humans knows what love is and leaves, claiming she might one day return if humans ever figure out the answer. Fat-hoi stands alone with the baby. Cast Maggie Cheung - Green SnakeJoey Wong - White Snake / Bai Sou ChingVincent Zhao - Monk Fat-hoiWu Hsing-kuo - Hsui XienChan Dung-MooiLau Kong - Blind MonkNagma - Bharatanatyam dancer (as Najma)Tien Feng - Spider, AcrchaMa Cheng-miu Reception The Austin Chronicle gave the film 3.5 stars saying the film "beats the skin off Hark's half-dozen previous outings with a timeless and visually arresting story of love, loss, and airborne bald guys."[2] Flying DaggerFlying Dagger (Chinese: 神經刀與飛天貓; lit. 'Nervous Knife and Apsara Flying Cat') is a 1993 wuxia comedy film directed by Kevin Chu and written and produced by Wong Jing. The film features a large cast of stars and parodies numerous Hong Kong films. Plot The Hon [Dagger] Brothers, Chung and Lam, who are in fact uncle and nephew, are rival bounty hunters to the Fung [Bewitchment] Sisters, and take glee in thwarting each other because Chung refused to marry Lady Fung. Fung Ling and Lam are also in love, but do not acknowledge it. Emperor Tsao hires the Hons to capture the Nine-Tails Fox, whom he claims has made a major robbery of his household, including the rape and murder of his daughter and the murder of 41 servants. The Hons are distracted when they find the Fungs captured by Never Die and his brothers, who in spite of decapitation and loss of a hand, proceed to chase the Hons (the severed hand grabbing at one of them) to the lair of Nine-Tails Fox, who has recently caused his wife, the apsara known as Flying Cat to walk out on him. The group discovers that Never Die is allergic to glib talk, and begin speaking to each other glibly. Chung, too embarrassed to speak to Lady Fung in that way, instead speak to Nine-Tails Fox, the two pulling off each other's shirts, and trap Never Die, where he soon dissolves. The four bounty hunters and Never Die's hand escort Nine-Tails Fox away. Flying Cat returns to find drawn images of what has gone on previously, including what she interprets as her husband's homosexual behavior, and chastises the old man who sends the drawings out through a slot for not intervening, which he says is not his place. Nine-Tails Fox, who proudly admits to being a thief but insists he never hurts anyone, escapes from the bounty hunters to the inn of Pang Tin-hong, where he becomes involved with numerous courtesans. The bounty hunters follow him, but not before Flying Cat catches up with him. Still other bounty hunters, including the burly Western Ace, a gay man who sings 1980s American pop tunes, and a transsexual who delivers poisoned kisses, arrive at the inn. Because the Hons and Fungs pay well and are supported by the police, Pang sides with them against the new bounty hunters, claiming that he and his wife are Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui. The transsexual kisses Chung, causing him to turn green and infect him with poison. After the other bounty hunters are defeated, Pang sends Lam and Ling outside, insisting that they are under eighteen, although both claim to be eighteen, in order to explain that the cure for the poison is to have sex nine times, then eat the strange fetus that will be born three days later. Chung tries to take Lady Fung to bed, but inadvertently passes the disease to Pang, whose wife and he fight a lot and never want it at the same time. While Ling and Lam are outside, Never Die's hand grabs Ling's shoulder, and she thinks it is Lam's and rests her head on his shoulder. Thus distracted, Tsao captures the two of them, and the thieves and the bounty hunters team up against their common enemy and rescue the young ones. At the end of the film, Lady Fung gives birth to the strange fetus, and the Hons, Fungs, Fox, Cat, and Pang seemingly forgetting about the idea that it is to be eaten and ready and excited to receive it as if a normal birth, are horrified to see that the baby is in fact Never Die. Cast Tony Leung Ka-fai as Hon Cheung (Big Dagger)Jacky Cheung as Nine Tail FoxJimmy Lin as Hon Lam (Little Dagger)Sharla Cheung as Big BewitchmentMaggie Cheung as Flying CatNg Man-tat as Pang Ting-hong (Innkeeper)Gloria Yip as Fung Ling (Little Bewitchment)Chan Hung-lit as Dicky LuiKingdom Yuen as Brothel keeperYuen Cheung-yan as Never DieLee Ka-ting as Erotomania manLo Lieh as Must DiePauline Chan as Evil Lady of Yi HoDavid Wu as Western AceKu Pao-mingFang FangSam HohWong Chung-kui Music The stock music score is created by Chan Daai-lik and Foo Laap. Among the sources of the music are "The Attack" from Quigley Down Under by Basil Poledouris as the theme for the Hon Brothers, the main theme from A Fish Called Wanda by John Du Prez as the theme for the Fung sisters, as well as music from Jay Chattaway's Maniac, Alan Silvestri's Death Becomes Her, and David Newman's Heathers, among others. New Dragon Gate InnNew Dragon Gate Inn (新龍門客棧), also known as Dragon Inn in North America, is a 1992 Hong Kong wuxia film directed by Raymond Lee and produced by Tsui Hark, starring Maggie Cheung, Brigitte Lin, Tony Leung, and Donnie Yen. A remake of Dragon Gate Inn (1967), New Dragon Gate Inn was shot as a standard wuxia action thriller, with fast-paced action including martial arts, swordfighting and black comedy set in 15th-century China. Synopsis The film is set in 15th-century China during the Ming dynasty. Cao Shaoqin, the powerful eunuch who controls the spy agency Eastern Depot, has gotten rid of his political rival Yang Yuxuan, the war minister. Yang's daughter, Yuying, has been sent into exile in a remote desert region in northwest China. Cao intends to use Yuying as bait to lure her father's loyal followers into a trap and eliminate all of them. Zhou Huai'an, one of Yang's former subordinates, has asked his lover, the swordswoman Qiu Moyan, to help him save Yuying and meet him at Dragon Gate Inn. Unknown to them, Cao has sent three of his best fighters to kill them. Jin Xiangyu, the inn's owner, has been luring unsuspecting guests to stay in the inn to rob and kill them under the guise of running a legitimate business. She has a crush on Zhou, who already loves Qiu. When Zhou is cornered by Cao's men at the inn, he pretends to agree to marry Jin to trick her into revealing the location of a secret tunnel that would allow them to escape the inn, after which he would leave with Qiu on the night of the supposed wedding. Just then, Cao shows up at the inn with his forces. Zhou, Qiu and Jin have no choice but to put aside their differences for the time being and work together to defeat and kill Cao in order to save Yuying. Qiu dies of her wounds during the battle, while Jin burns down the inn and accompanies Zhou as he rides into the distance. Cast Maggie Cheung as Jin XiangyuBrigitte Lin as Qiu MoyanTony Leung as Zhou Huai'anDonnie Yen as Cao ShaoqinLau Shun as Jia TingYuen Cheung-yan as TiezhuHung Yan-yan as Cao TianYen Shi-kwan as He HuLawrence Ng as Lu XiaochuanWang Tongchuan as Diao BuyuYuen Bun as XiaoheiziElvis Tsui as the Yanmen Pass generalChan Chi-fai as YimohongYumiko Cheng as Yang Yuying Themes New Dragon Gate Inn was one of the films in which Brigitte Lin portrayed a woman in disguise as a man, in addition to Peking Opera Blues, Swordsman II, Royal Tramp II, Handsome Siblings, and Ashes of Time. DVD releases On 17 July 2000, the film was released on DVD by Hong Kong Legends in Europe in Region 2. Four and a half years later, the Fantasy Swordplay Collection DVD was released on 14 February 2005 in a three-disc set. The set included two other films: The Swordsman and Moon Warriors. One year later, The Donnie Yen Collection DVD was released on 29 May 2006 in a four-disc set. The set included two other films: Once Upon a Time in China II, and a two-disc platinum edition of Iron Monkey.

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