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Posted in: Movies, News | Tagged: Brigitte Lin, Cherie Chung, david mandel, Geoff Darrow, hong kong action movies, Joshua Dysart, Peking Opera Blues, quentin tarantino, Sally Yeh, tsui hark, veep
Peking Opera Blues: Tsui Hark's Classic Hong Kong Actioner Screened
Peking Opera Blues, the classic 1986 action movie by Hong Kong director Tsui Hark, has been restored and screened at the Nuart Theater in LA
Article Summary
- Rare screening of restored 1986's Peking Opera Blues at LA's Nuart Theater.
- Feature boasts strong LGBTQ subtext and three major female leads.
- Quentin Tarantino praised it as "one of the greatest films ever made".
- Director Tsui Hark shares special note, hinting at future screenings.
Peking Opera Blues, Hong Kong action director Tsui Hark's seminal 1986 action movie comedy, has been restored and received a rare surprise screening in Los Angeles on Saturday, April 20th. This marks a rare resurfacing of the classic Hong Kong movie set in 1913 China that meshed history, politics, Peking Opera, bedroom farce, and elaborate action sequences with subtext that made it a cult favourite in the LGBTQ community for years. The screening was arranged as a free fan event by Felix Lu of Felix Comic Art that was opened to the public after the booked seats were filled.
Peking Opera Blues: The Return of a Classic
Peking Opera Blues is set in 1913 Beijing, after the collapse of the last imperial dynasty. China was barely ruled by a weak government, and warlords were carving up the country. It is that rare action movie that featured three female leads: Brigitte Lin played a warlord's daughter who cross-dressed as a man in military uniform, pop star Sally Yeh played the daughter of a Peking Opera impressario desperate to perform when no women were permitted on stage, and Cherie Chung played a courtesan looking for a sugar daddy who's after a box of missing jewels that would bag her a fortune. All three women converge and form a friendship when they get dragged into a plot involving stolen secrets and revolutionaries hunted by the secret police. All three leading ladies would become Hong Kong's biggest stars in a few years.
Brigitte Lin's androgynous look here would lead to Tsui Hark casting her as the trans warrior Invincible East in the second and third Swordsman films in the 1990s, which would make her one of the biggest stars in Asia. Tsui Hark has since become one of Hong Kong and China's top producers and action directors.
Peking Opera Blues is considered a classic of Hong Kong Cinema, and the print screened is newly restored. The screening was attended by film and television figures like Veep showrunner David Mandel and comic creators including Joshua Dysart. Quentin Tarantino has called it "one of the greatest films ever made."
Tsui Hark sent a personal handwritten note that was read at the screening.
"The inspiration of PEKING OPERA BLUES came from a scene from SHANGHAI BLUES in 1984. In a spoof of Peking Opera, I made a comedy about Peking Opera, and so PEKING OPERA BLUES was born. SHANGHAI BLUES is the debut film of Film Workshop, and PEKING OPERA BLUES follows it.
After two years, there is still an expression of the feeling of life. Thirty-eight years later, I hereby wish that PEKING OPERA BLUES will resonate with everyone in this moment. Thank you!
Tsui Hark in Beijing"
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