Thursday, June 24th – Join us for two classics of Asian cinema!

NOTE EARLIER TIME
Doors and cash bar open at 5:30PM
Film start at 6:30PM

The Bride With White Hair – Bai fa mo nu zhuan (1993)(92 minutes, subtitled)
Ronny Yu’s The Bride With White Hair has become a classic of the supernatural genre. Based on a two-volumed 1954 novel written by Leung Yu-Sang. Two of the finest and most famous stars of Hong Kong cinema — Brigitte Lin (Chunking Express) and Tony Leung (Farewell My Concubine) — star in this magical, martial-arts filled tale about rival families. Lin and Leung play Romeo and Juliet-like lovers whose passion gives them the courage to pursue their romance. Unfortunately, they both are also the top warriors of their respective clans…. who may be forced to fight each other to the death. Even the emperor is forced to bow to the strength of their love and attachment, in the end. (Allmovies.com)

A Chinese Ghost Story – Sien nui yau wan (1987) (92 minutes, subtitled)
Ning Tsai-Shen, a humble tax collector, arrives in a small town to carry out his work. Unsurprisingly, no-one is willing to give him shelter for the night, so he ends up spending the night in the haunted Lan Ro temple. There, he meets Taoist Swordsman Yen Che-Hsia, who warns him to stay out of trouble, and the beautiful Nieh Hsiao-Tsing, with whom he falls in love. Unfortunately, Hsiao-Tsing is a ghost, bound for all eternity by a hideous tree spirit who sucks out the life essence of unwary folk…keep away from that tongue!!

This was a film that took various ingredients that HK cinema had used for years (flying swordsman, wildly choreographed martial arts and the supernatural) and blended them to create a film that was unique in its look, feel and execution. Forget the poor and unnecessary sequels it spawned, this is the original and best. (Allmovies, IMDB.com)

There will be a short intermission between films.

The Variety Preview Room, 582 Market St. @ Montgomery, 1st floor of The Hobart Bldg., San Francisco