Martial arts movies don’t come more iconic than this kung fu masterpiece from director Lau Kar-leung. With an acute focus on the disciplines of combat, it’s the ultimate training film, as Gordon Liu’s lithe apprentice eschews the path of vengeance for one of grace and spiritual self-determination.
With an iconic turn from Cheng Pei-Pei (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), this female-centric masterwork kickstarted the wuxia resurgence of the 1960s. Making astonishing use of confined spaces, director King Hu fashions a cinema of movement impelled by the balletic virtuosity of his leading lady.
Supreme studio craftsman Chor Yuen plants one foot in the arthouse, the other in the grindhouse, and delivers a transgressive masterpiece. Forget the salacious title: this breathtaking blend of sexploitation and wuxia melodrama is a ravishing critique of forced prostitution worthy of Mizoguchi.
The 8 Diagram Pole Fighter may have arrived at the midpoint of Lau Kar-leung’s career, but it plays like a late-period reckoning with a genre he helped create. Possessing some of the action maestro’s finest set pieces, and steeped in spiritual exhaustion, this is kung fu’s answer to The Searchers.
A pivotal classic that marked the rise of the 1970s kung fu craze, Jeong Chang-hwa’s international crossover hit ruled box-office charts upon its release in America. Starring martial arts legend Lo Lieh, this audacious tale of red-hot vengeance punctuates gravity-defying battles with startling gore.