“The Eight Diagram Pole Fighter” sings an opera of bloody vengeance using spears as its instruments and martial arts as its arias.
Director Chia-Liang Liu, also responsible for “The 36th Chamber of Shaolin,” brings an adeptness to martial arts camerawork that conveys a consequence often difficult to capture, by even masters of the genre.
In contrast to the affably chaotic Jackie Chan Hong Kong action films of the same era, “Eight Diagram” has a devoted simplicity to its structure. Four out of seven sons in a regal family are killed by an opposing dynasty’s army. The remaining sons, and their sisters, navigate their way through the path to retribution.
It’s a minimalist plot, resembling works of classical theatre and opera.…