Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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57 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
one of the best films on celluloid, 12 Nov 2003
By A Customer
This film is a delight and full of wonderful quotes, characters, scenes, effects and atmosphere. Everything about it reeks of quality. Many who have seen a lot of Hong Kong action cinema will know what to expect from Chinese Ghost Story, but to those who are new and happen to like ghost stories, romance, horror, kung fu and action (or any of the above) will find a tremendous movie that is at once touching, uplifting, enthralling and scare-inducing. I simpy cannot praise this film enough.
The direction is superb and knife-edge sharp, carrying with it the incredible blink-and-you-miss-it speed that is the trademark of its producer (Tsui Hark): within the opening credits of the film the luckless character of the tax collector Ning Tsai Shen (played by Leslie Cheung) is established, along with several bandits being dramatically dispatched by a wandering swordsman. From this point the speed never lets up. Every scene has a beautiful rendering of light, the colours rich and deep (but often black, given how much of the film is at night!). The characters are all distinct and extremely memorable: not least the mercenary-natured undertaker, rapping taoist priest swordsman `Yen' (played by Wu Ma) and certainly unforgettable the androgynous thousand year old tree spirit with a hundred-foot long tongue! and of course the tragic and beautiful ghost of the title, Nieh Tsou Tsing (Joey Wang).
Elements of many western movies have been borrowed, most notably the roving demon-camera from the evil dead films: in many cases all these elements are used to better effect in Chinese Ghost Story.
The action is superb, even for Hong Kong's amazing standard: it is firmly in the wu xia style, but no where near as gentle and floaty as `Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon': a personal favourite is Swordsman Yen's unusual way of `climbing' a tree mid movie. The action is incredibly tight and fast, featuring not only battles between human fighters but conflicts with monsters too: the end sequences are stunning.
A marvellous film that is considerably more than `just' a fantasy movie, horror movie or romance- a little of all three, and something else besides. Don't miss a chance to see this film, it is absolutely magnificent.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Supernatural Perfection!, 22 Mar 2001
By A Customer
An extraordinarily charming fantasy horror tale, made in the greatest period of the greatest film-making place in the world. Joey Wang is sensational as the tragic ghost, and Leslie Cheung is at his usual excellent level. A great performance also by Ching Siu Tung as the hermit swordsman with a heart of gold, and exemplary special effects all round. Special mention to the music also, which is just lovely, especially the main tune, and the story itself, romantic, action packed and funny as hell (the whole bit where Leslie Cheung evades some monsters without even noticing them is teriffically funny). Although some don't like it, the sequel is also worthy of a mention, being an excellent continuation of the first film in my view.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Breathtaking Imagery rich treat, 9 Oct 2002
About 7 years before Gary Oldman camped it up and creeped out as Bram Stokers Dracula, A Chinese Ghost Story brought a fresh and visually stunning light show to a waiting Chinese audience.Brought up on a diet of the staple kung fu films and historical dramas, the average ghost story, though plentiful, tended to be light(ish) comedies. After the commercial success of films such as Rouge, which brought a dramatic weight the genre, A Chinese Ghost Story took the next unfaltering steps. From the opening scene, the imagery is incredible. Many Hollywood horror films have subsequently aped the lighting and use of textures to create a vivid palate on the screen, but this piece of work remains the brightest and the best. Intriguingly, the film does not deal with horror per se but of love through the barricade albeit sometimes tugging to heavily on the comedy strings. However, scene after scene urges the story on whilst never once letting go of the mood. The story line itself is a bit silly, based mainly on Buddhist beliefs and the special effects can be crude at times, but the top notch cast, scenery, lighting and music all set this film well above the rest. Francis Ford Coppola could only imitate. Now that's class.
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