Raining In The Mountain

Courtesy of Hong Kong Film Archive Leisure and Cultural Services Department
© Hong Kong Film Services





Additional screening:
King Hu in His Own Words: Raining in the Mountain (2013, 5 mins, dir. George Chun Han Wang)



Aging Abbot of the Three Treasures (Sanbao) Monastery plans to appoint a successor. He invites three outsiders to advise him on this critical choice: Esquire Wen, a wealthy patron of the monastery, General Wang, commander-in-chief of the local military, and Wu Wai, a respected Buddhism master. Within the monastery, several disciples who aspire to be appointed as the new Abbot, begin to collude individually with Esquire Wen and General Wang. But these two invited advisers have come with seditious intent, scheming to obtain the priceless scroll housed in the monastery: the scriptural text of Mahāyāna śraddhotpada śāstra, handcopied by Tripitaka in the Tang dynasty. Meanwhile, convicted criminal Chiu Ming has arrived at the monastery to atone as a monk instead of serving a jail sentence. He is assigned to safeguard the scroll at the house of scriptures, and encounters thieving rivals White Fox who poses as Esquire Wen’s concubine, and is aided by her accomplice Gold Lock; and General Wang’s fearsome Lieutenant Chang, who originally framed Chiu Ming for the crime he did not commit.

King Hu spent more than an entire year crafting Raining in the Mountain and Legend of the Mountain (Shanzhong Chuanqi, 1979), two films shot back-to-back on location in South Korea. More than just a remarkably photographed caper heist staged in the most unlikely setting of a serene Buddhist monastery, Raining in the Mountain sets itself apart from the typically action-heavy wuxia genre by a greater emphasis on the intriguing battles of wits and minds. Intentionally muted in its violence, the film’s limited fight scenes were masterfully choreographed inspired by the stylistic moves of traditional Peking Opera. In Raining in the Mountain, King Hu delivers an engaging spiritual journey and reflects profoundly on Buddhist philosophy about morals, renunciation, karmic retribution and enlightenment.