Synopsis
A mischievous snake who assumes human form interferes with the romance between her reptilian sister and a hapless man.
A mischievous snake who assumes human form interferes with the romance between her reptilian sister and a hapless man.
Blue Snake, Ching se, White Snake, Green Snake, นางพญางูขาว ขอเพียงรักอยู่ แม้คู่กันไม่ได้
Tsui Hark's belligerent wuxia film savagely attacks the conservative conventions of the genre, portraying the kung fu master monk who roams the countryside banishing animal spirits not as the hero but the unambiguous villain who hides his sexual repression behind a veil of religious purity. Rounding out the violent Buddhist contrasts is the feckless Taoist, who also wants spirits vanquished but can do nothing but flail around impotently. The film's social critique broadens when two snake spirits take the form of radically different women. One attempts to assimilate, falling in love and even getting pregnant, the latter detail used as the ultimate proof of her humanity and worth. The other looks upon this with disgust, and her constant reversions to…
everything tsui hark imagines he achieves, not even touching the density of thought or ethics or feeling, this is an accomplishment beyond words.
Two trans girls visit a town where everyone is horny but come into conflict with a powerful volcel warrior (dir. Tsui Hark, 1993)
I do want to say something of substance I guess. It's fucking incredible? Even on a dvdrip the vibrance of the lighting is stunning to behold. Besides like Hausu I can't remember having seen another live-action movie so awash with color. That plus Tsui Hark's freeform camera movement (always floating and gliding and flipping) gives it that great fantastical feel. It plays like a living myth, if that makes sense. It makes sense to me. I dunno. I love movies so much!!!
84
Like free falling through the loud, endless tumble of a waterfall. So sharp and sensual and scintillating it'll cause your brain to shatter. Hark sprints past Wuxia conventions in favor of subversion within fantasy. Simply a delicacy; pastel injected and pre-packaged with sweat along its skin.
Tsui Hark merges the punk outrage of his early films with the lavish effects-driven wuxia of his later, much more successful works in this pointed denunciation of the hypocrisies both sexual and racial of China's religious traditions, the backward superstitional blindness of Taoism and the calcification of Buddhism into a rules-based organized structure that has forgotten the most basic rule of all major religions and moral philosophies: "Be excellent to each other."
I'm giving this incredible work the full five stars even if it's not perfect. When the film is working, it's doing so at a level most movies could only dream of glimpsing. Tsui Hark's impressionistic, practically abstract fable about the hypocrisy of Buddhism and sexual mores, is lavish, soaked in a surfeit of colour. Two snakes train for 500 years to attain human form and find out what it means to be human only to be thwarted by a horny monk with impressive superpowers; they do King Hu-style battle in a beautiful world too gorgeous to be reality. Letterboxd is currently using a poster which hints at the watercolour atmosphere staining every frame of the film and there isn't a…
I hate life right now, but I must say, this is the greatest film ever made. For 99 minutes I forgot my problems and visited a beautiful magical fairy tale land where the lotus flowers never die and the monks can fly and there are beautiful snake women that live in the most beautiful home I've ever seen and human emotion is more valuable than gold. Just the fact that it exists, and the fact that there are other Tsui Hark films out there for me to watch...both these things keep me going.
Like my uncle Mike says about art, "in the end, if it gets us through the day, it qualifies."
A montagem de Green Snake sempre parece tender à uma progressão conflituosa, que prioriza uma movimentação ágil engrandecedora tanto de uma sensibilidade quanto de uma hostilidade. Como se todo raccord fosse parte de uma conjuração mística, de um golpe mortal ou dos dois ao mesmo tempo.
One of the most beautiful films ever made and the fact that this isn’t fully restored and readily available on blu ray is a fucking crime.
Kinda like Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind, but with the punks throwing chinese religious traditions out the window instead of a cat.
This was a former best friend’s favorite film - safe to say that, we didn’t agree when it came to movies. It was pretty tho! Maybe i’ll watch again on a random acid trip.
Like most of Tsui Hark’s movies, I feel like there is some kind of cultural context that I’m missing. That being said, Green Snake is so beautiful and mystifying I didn’t really care that much. Just ignore your confusion and let the gorgeous set pieces, practical effects and overall oddness wash over you.
Contém spoilers
Experiência imagética repleta de inovações na montagem e efeitos visuais. Apesar de cada frame exprimir subjetividade, os significados sempre estão muito claros para o espectador. É o resultado de um trabalho humanista, que compreende muitas noções existenciais, culturais e espirituais à favor de uma transcendência.
É uma narrativa que une espiritual e mundo físico a partir da música, natureza, cultura, patriotismo, arquétipos e símbolos. Essa ideia desenvolve-se através da personagem-título.
A cobra verde pode ser uma manifestação cultural, o envolvimento mútuo entre homem e natureza, a imoralidade, o perigo iminente, a sedução, a inveja,...
Paralelamente, características como egoísmo, materialismo, mesquinhez, mediocridade e impaciência manifestam-se apenas entre os humanos, no mundo físico.
Mesmo que as irmãs não sejam da…
Very cool visuals, aesthetically striking and unique.
The use of color and lighting was used to the film’s advantage suggesting and inspiring emotion, imagination, and energy in a subtle but resonating way.
Lastly, the films use of sound design and soundtrack is unforgettable. It almost feels like a musical with no words with each scene. Very great and diverse selection of both sound and songs from a production aspect.
freaky snake woman seduction techniques at play ! Insane soundtrack that plays the entire length of the film somehow without turning it into a musical
This movie was way more than I bargained for, but I caught up.
Sensory overload but in a good way. Reading the subtitles was a challenge in this visually stunning, high-paced myth.
The colors were amazing. Some outdated vfx, but I didn’t really mind. Those were about the least-distracting/visually remarkable thing in this movie. A catalogue of techniques coming together in this one.
I had no idea Green Snake would be as weird as it was. Maggie Cheung really stands out in a performance that almost feels operatic. The effects were cool and I love how all the mystical elements are treated as if they happen all the time.
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