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The Bride with White Hair More at IMDbPro »Bai fa mo nu zhuan (original title)
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| Index | 33 reviews in total |
11 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
A Tragic Love Story, 13 March 2004
Author:
Bowling312
One word to describe this film is AMAZING. Liang Yusheng wrote The Bride with White Hair novel and Ronny Yu (Bride of Chucky, Freddy Vs Jason) accurately directed this classic Chinese novel. This movie is a perfect, heart felt, tragic love story. What is so great about this movie is the brilliant acting, incredible cinematography, great music and the most un-like Hollywood ending you'll ever see. Leslie Cheung and Brigitte Lin played their character very well and their acting was great. Oscar Winner Peter Pau(Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) did the cinematography for this movie and it was Excellent. When you finished watching this movie, it can make you feel linger or a strong feel that last for a few hours. In my opinion, Ronny Yu will never be able to top this film. This film can make you want to see the sequel(The Bride with White Hair 2). Just to mention about the sequel, it is not as good as the first one. The only thing in the sequel that is worth seeing is the last ten minutes of the movie.
7 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
An all time favorite., 24 May 2004
Author:
veganflimgeek (David@vegsandiego.com) from San Diego, CA
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
The Bride with White hair
This is one of my favorite movies of all time. Sure it is less than
perfect,but in the end the bottom line is a entertaining piece of martial
arts fantasy. What is most impressive with this film is what is done with a
low budget. After listening to the commentary track on the DVD after having
seen the movie many times over the years I surprised to learn it was shot
almost entire indoors. All but 1 shot.
Ronny Yu and DP Peter Pau(he was behind the lens on Crouching tiger) did an
amazing job of created a surreal looking universe that seemed other worldly.
The action is not the best mostly because of the odd slow motion effects on
the fight scenes and lack of any real martial artists in the cast. The
special effects and wire work are not that great either.
So what! This film has a real gothic feel to it and the thing that makes it
soar is the powerful emotions that play off of the two lead actors. Both
Bridgette Lin and Leslie Chung go the distance to make you believe in the
love of the characters.
This is I believe the second film made based on this novel. I believe the
general opinion is why bother with the other which is called `wolf girl'.
Great movie for fantasy fans!
Spoilers starting now*******
The love scene in the waterfall is beautiful and revivals the power of any
love in scene in any Hollywood films. The scene is the perfect way to convey
sex in a fantasy such as this one. The ending is heart breaking and who call
the bride for freaking out just a little. The twins are so rad and super
creepy villains.
10 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Incredibly beautiful and unique fantasy adventure from Hong Kong film maker Ronny Yu, 22 June 2002
Author:
Bogey Man from Finland
Ronny Yu's (Legacy of Rage, The Phantom Lover) Bride With White Hair (1993)
is incredible collaboration in the field of cinema. Editor David Wu,
cinematographer Peter Pau and director Yu have created a piece of magic that
will amaze fans of Orient cinema many years to come. Brigitte Lin plays a
girl who has lived among wolves and thus is called wolf girl. She becomes an
assassin for horrible cult leader brother/sister-twin mutant, and does her
job with her great martial arts skill. Leslie Cheung plays a swordsman who
was once, as a child, saved by this mysterious girl, who disappeared so soon
he couldn't even thank her. Years after they meet again, and the power of
love will change their lives forever..
This film is an adaptation of the same Chinese novel, on what Wolf Devil
Woman was based on, too. The film is set and located in somewhere in the
past, and I don't think the year and place was mentioned exactly during the
film. The visual magic of the film is outstanding as this includes perhaps
the best cinematography I've seen in Orient films. Cinematographer Peter Pau
has worked as a cinematographer on many other great films, too, which
include Savior of the Soul, Naked Killer, Bury Me High, Swordsman and John
Woo's The Killer. Editor David Wu has been editor in great films like Crying
Freeman, John Woo's Hard Boiled and Bullet in the Head, Swordsman and all
three A Better Tomorrow films, by John Woo (first two) and Tsui Hark (part
three). Their talent is very fantastic, as the film is a visual delight in
every level.
All the exteriors were shot at night, so the unique lightning were able to
be created. The camera flows, twists, is at peace and moves like I had
rarely seen before. The mist, dust, water, smoke and other similar elements
are captured on the screen like if they all were alive, all they meant
something and thus are there for purpose. I think a film maker like David
Lynch would appreciate this film very much. The camera never acts
irritatingly as it creates the whole weird and often twisted atmosphere of
the film. People who consider this kind of cinema irritating simply can't
understand the possibilities and multi leveled magic of cinema, and thus
they consider this kind of visual films bad or stupid. Bride With White Hair
shows exactly what are the possibilities of a talented film director and
crew. This is totally unique (but also equalled, but probably only in other
Orient films!) film making, and demands to be seen on big screen. If that is
not possible MAKE SURE you get the widescreen DVD/VHS/LD as it is the film's
only and original aspect ratio. The remastered DVD released in Hong Kong is
in gorgeous widescreen and the film is uncut, so it is one (and cheap)
possible purchase of this film.
The editing and pace of the fight scenes (usually sword fights) is also
fantastic, and totally unforgettable. The two most important elements of
Bride With White Hair are cinematography and editing. The sword fights are
not as plenty as one might think and there is plenty of dialogue and
"peaceful" scenes, but there are still numerous sword fights and they are so
over-the-top gorgeous, that I didn't feel there were too few of them. The
fight scenes are often pretty bloody and violent, but in mythical way and
surreal way. The "blood geysirs" are not realistic and they only add to the
magic over all look of the film, and they fit here as fantastically as they
fit to the very eerie and atmospheric Japanese Baby Cart samurai films. I
think Bride With White Hair was going to get a Category III rating due to
its violence, but director Yu toned down couple of violent scenes for
theatrical release, but the scenes are nevertheless intact on that mentioned
Hong Kong DVD release.
The drama scenes between Leslie Cheung and Brigitte Lin are very touching
and real, and never unnatural or stupid. The main theme of the film is love
and even more, trust between two human beings in love. The end in which we
see what happened because of the lack of trust, is very sad and inconsolable
for the protagonists. The themes in Bride With White Hair are universal and
as topical and important and they were back then when the film was made. I
think that Bride With White Hair is occasionally little too slow, and they
should have shortened couple of scenes, but this is very minor flaw in a
film that has so much merits and unique achievements.
Bride With White Hair's atmosphere is perhaps greater than most of other
films' and I think that equal experience could be found only from other Hong
Kong or Orient films, as Orient Cinema is so unique compared to most Western
films. These Orient film makers have their style and ideas that have never
been present in any Hollywood movie, for example, but Hollywood has (had?)
its own merits, too, so I'm not understating Hollywood films blindly.
Director Ronny Yu is perhaps best known for mass audiences for his Bride of
Chucky (the fourth installment in the Child's Play series), but that film is
very bad in my opinion, and it is made to please large pop corn audience
without any willing to use brains, so don't judge Ronny Yu for Bride of
Chucky, if that is the only film you've seen from him. I think it is every
director's destiny to make sometimes less personal films because of monetary
reasons.
Bride With White Hair is pure Hong Kong classic and almost unbeatable in
every level. It can be described as horror, fantasy, romance, action,
martial arts and adventure and it is perfect combination of all these. 9/10
masterpiece and doesn't get full ten from me only because of occasional slow
moments that could have been tightened. But still, this film is definitely
proudly under the phrase "Masterpiece" due to its many cinematic merits and
elements I've tried to describe above.
6 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
Passion, Magic and Death, 26 December 2006
Author:
Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Zhuo Yi-Hang (Leslie Cheung) is raised by his master Tzu Yang (Fong
Pao) to be his successor in the leadership of their clan. Yi-Hang meets
Lien (Brigitte Lin), a warrior adopted by wolves and accepted by a
tribe leaded by the evil magic twins Ji Wushuang (Francis Ng / Elaine
Lui), in a lake, and they fall in love for each other. Yi-Hang promises
to trust her forever. However, Ji Wushuang also loves Lien and she is
sent away from their tribe. When the clan of Yi-Hang is attacked, he
does not believe on Lien, thinking that she killed his master and
cursing their love.
This beautiful and tragic love story, a kind of Chinese version of
"Romeo and Juliet", has wonderful cinematography and costumes. The
choreography of the fights is also amazing. The non-linear screenplay
is a little confused, but when the viewer sees for the second time, it
becomes clearer. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Entre o Amor e a Glória" ("Between the Love and the
Glory")
7 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
A Chinese period film. Tragic, Romantic, Great., 27 June 1999
Author:
anonymous
This movie is a masterpiece in some sense. The cinematography is very
well done. It's not the best Asian movie ever, but one of the best (I
thought). The genre isn't common in movies(not as far as I know). I saw
the
"full" genre to be action ,romance ,period ,fantasy ,drama. But that's
what
good about it. It's different and in some sense "rare". They should really
make more high quality movies like this. I thought it was always
entertaining the whole way through, non-stop. Interesting to watch. It was
a
tragic romantic movie. Good action scenes and superb acting. I loved the
way
the characters interacted with each-other. The thing about this movie is
that it's not a movie you just watch and forget about and say "That was a
good movie". It's something you really should think about. It has a great
meaning.
It's quite sad at the very end. But it does a wonderful job in making
you wonder what will happen next in the sequel(The bride with white hair
2).
If you're looking for something different than all these Western movies,
than
watch this one for sure. And If you're going to watch it, watch the
subtitled version. It's much, much better than the dubbed as with most
foreign movies.
5 out of 7 people found the following review useful:
The Bride With White Hair (Ronny Yu, 1993) **1/2, 20 February 2006
Author:
MARIO GAUCI (marrod@melita.com) from Naxxar, Malta
Colorful Asian fantasy with the emphasis on romance and fanciful action; enjoyable enough in itself but not particularly compelling. The plot and look of the film reminded me of the "Chinese Ghost Story" Trilogy (1987-91), which I watched – and loved – only a few years back, while the gravity-defying stunts looked forward to Ang Lee's (obviously more accomplished) CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (2000). As is the norm for this sort of film, the characters are all stock types (the nasty Siamese-twin villains being a particular liability) – which means that, for all the pseudo-philosophy which gets spouted (usually by elders) from time to time, the tale follows a rigid, rather simplistic and all-too-familiar path which doesn't allow for much depth or surprise…though "The Bride With White HaIr" herself (when she belatedly appears) is a memorable creation – and I wouldn't mind catching up eventually with this film's sequel (from the same year and director).
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:
Better than expected, 1 November 2007
Author:
TrevorAclea from London, England
The Bride With White Hair is a curious beast. Much of the first half of
the film feels like you've seen it a hundred times before (a troubled
sifu/student relationship, divided loyalties, warring clans and the
rise of what would become a united China) and the style often looks
like a relatively low-budget film trying to look more expensive than it
is rather than the genuinely expensive film it was, with director Ronny
Yu shooting much of the film in near darkness with deep blacks, heavy
blue filters and smokey backlighting, stylistic devices that aren't to
everyone's visual taste. The action scenes are often played out via
jerky step-printing (where the film is shot at around 12 frames per
second or less but each frame is printed twice or more to create a
sense of motion at normal speed that's either heightened or degraded
depending on your point of view). While the film was shot on massive
sets (genuine exteriors are few and far between), they're neither lit
or shot to stress their scale or often to be particularly visually
interesting, with much of the early action of the film very
deliberately styled after a shadow-puppet play, all profiles and
silhouettes. And yet gradually it casts its spell over you and begins
to grip as the story becomes more ambitious and intriguing.
On the surface it's a Romeo and Juliet story between Leslie Cheung's
heir apparent to a clan dedicated to good but filled with doubt no-one
else shares about the severity with which it is enforced and Brigitte
Lin's "wolf-girl" (meaning she was raised by wolves rather than turns
into one) who has been trained as a supernatural killing machine by an
evil pagan cult and who sports a particularly lethal whip that Indiana
Jones would kill for - sharper than a meat cleaver and very handy for
slicing-and-dicing any number of opponents. Their inevitably doomed
romance occupies a moral middle ground that, naturally, neither side
will tolerate, with their respective rejected mentors eager to reclaim
their undivided loyalty. In many ways the film is a rejection of all
the intransigent moral codes of the fantasy swordplay genre, where even
the "good" clan and their allies are so blinded by their own
self-importance that they have no qualms about killing innocent
peasants just to be on the safe side in case they're lying ("Better to
kill a hundred innocents than let one guilty escape"). And just to add
to the complexity, the film offers a truly unique villain – a pair of
male/female Siamese twins, the sister often goading her brother over
his inability to understand the woman he loves. The finale is certainly
unusually ambitious, and can be seen either as a fantasy battle or as a
physical realisation of the hero's nervous breakdown: either way, it
offers a welcome level of emotional weight to what could easily have
been clichéd fare. It's a film that has a lot working against it, but
it lingers in the memory long after it's over. A shame Tartan's UK DVD
is such poor quality (and, aside from some good film notes, extras-free
as well: a pity since the troubled shoot – which apparently saw a few
Triad bombing attacks on the studios to add to their woes – could bear
further examination).
3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
What do we get if Romeo and Juliet were born in the Ming Dynasty?, 28 February 2004
Author:
Andrea Vidusso (vid@postino.it) from Milano, Italy
The "Bride with White Hair" is often defined as a wuxiapian version of
"Romeo and Juliet": indeed it's amusing, as we follow this tale of two
warriors united by love but separated by their belonging to opposite
clans,
to ponder on the many joints with Shakespeare's tragedy.
For half of the movie (i.e. 45 minutes), it qualifies as being one of the
most astounding fantasy movies I ever saw: firstly, it captures the
spectator by showing beautiful images and settings (and I'm sure Cho
Yi-hang
[Leslie Cheung] is not the only one who dropped, out of bewilderment, his
jaw!). Secondly, it creates an aura of mystery around the female lead Lien
Ni-chang [Lin Ching Hsia], an assassin who is not less beautiful than she
is
deadly with the whip.
Indeed, Cho Yi-hang one day accidentally stumbles upon her and, although
her
face is shrouded by a veil and only her eyes appear to him, inevitably
falls
for her. Out of trivia, in another movie Lin Ching Hsia reveals just the
rest of her face (i.e. masking herself behind a raincoat and sunglasses)
and
yet spellbinds people - precisely, Takeshi Kaneshiro. Is there any way
that
people can escape Lin Ching Hsia's charm?
So far for the good points for "Bride": fascinating setting, a clever hero
(with an endearing portrait of his childhood included) and an alluring
assassin, all surrounded by a thick veil of mystery and folklore.
On the negative side, the second half of the movie. Just as Cho Yi-hang's
feelings get corresponded by Lien Ni-chang and we expect that love will
provide a new injection of vitality and creativity over the ruthless and
cold world they dwell in, the movie sinks into predictability and
shallowness: our heroes just don't have the same mutual trust that Romeo
and
Juliet had and, since their decisions are guided, more than love, by their
impulsive nature, I missed being fully emotionally involved into their
ending struggle. However, the transformation that overcomes sorrowful Lien
Ni-chang is super-cool! 7/10
3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Mesmerizing, 19 May 2002
Author:
InzyWimzy from Queens, NY
Wow. I can remember watching this film with my mouth hung in
amazement.
It's amazing how the story really drew me into the film. Greatly
choreographed swordplay and action, typical standard of Hong Kong cinema.
Interesting death scenes include impalement & slicing up of people. The
romantic part of this film really adds to the atmosphere (the tendersweet
waterfall scene) and Brigitte's performance as Lien Ni Chang really helped
her character shine. I've never felt myself cringe as much I did during the
"leaving the cult" ceremony.
Whether it's for the action or romance, the Bride with White Hair is really
entertaining & highly recommended for viewing pleasure.
4 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Visually stunning... must see HK Kung Fu, 17 March 2005
Author:
Indyrod from United States
This is an insanely entertaining movie, which plays more like an opera. It's a wild fantasy about the normal warring clans in ancient China. It has it all, a great love story, Kung Fu fights out the ass with all the flying acrobatics you could want. And best of all Brigitte Lin Ching Hsia as the high flying wolf girl with magical skills. This is a tour de force of everything us Americans liked about "Crouching Tiger". The ending is fabulous, with a Kung Fu fight right out of the comic books. Even director Vu said the final battle he wanted to resemble a pin ball machine. It does, and it's crazy, and he made a movie that I couldn't recommend any higher. I'm looking forward to watching the first sequel very much.
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