Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Peking Opera Blues (1986)
Director: Tsui Hark
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
You need a fairly thorough-going grasp of the political and factional fall out from China's 1911 revolution to make sense of the plot (in which two undercover revolutionaries set out to foil warlord Yuan Shikai's plan to expand his territory), not to mention a working knowledge of traditional Peking Opera. Happily, the plot doesn't matter. The film is a speed-crazed riff on what happens when a spy melodrama meets a backstage comedy: Feydeau with blood at 150 beats per minute. Everyone in it is sparky (especially Brigitte Lin, in male drag for the first time), and most of the gags are pretty funny. But Tsui's kinetic dazzle is the main thing.Author: TR
Cast & crew
Director: Tsui Hark
Producer: Tsui Hark
Cast: Brigitte Lin, Cherie Chung, Sally Yeh, Mark Cheng, Wu Ma full cast
Genre(s): Period/Swashbucklers
Duration: 105 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Has David Cronenberg turned tame?
Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?
Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day
Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing
The 10 worst date movies
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made
Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films
Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas
10 unlikely badboy biopics
Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects






What do you think?
Post your review now