Golden Mulberry Award for Lifetime Achievement: Brigitte Lin Ching Hsia

In the early to mid 1990s, as a new wave of international admirers became hooked on the delights of Hong Kong movies, one actress in particular – Brigitte Lin Ching Hsia – embodied the extravagant, anything-goes appeal of the city’s films.
Lin’s classics sat firmly in the canon of must-sees, and a string of sensational cult favourites saw her reign supreme as the queen of Hong Kong fantasy cinema.
Though it’s Lin’s hugely diverse Hong Kong work that won over that new set of fans, her career started with a busy run of pictures in her native Taiwan. Born in Taipei on November 3, 1954, Lin appeared in her first movie after being approached by a talent scout on the street at 17. The film was Sung Tsun-shou and Yok Teng-heung’s melodrama Outside the Window (1973), in which Lin starred as a schoolgirl who falls in love with a teacher, and it became a summertime hit in Hong Kong. Outside the Window was based on the debut romance novel by Chiung Yao and, even with the film blocked from release in Taiwan because of a rights issue, its success led to many adaptations of the writer’s work, including more weepies starring Lin, like Chen Hung-lieh’s love-triangle movie Cloud of Romance (1977).
By the late 1970s, Lin’s Taiwan output was so intense that she worked on as many as six films at once. Often paired onscreen with actors Chin Han and Charlie Chin, she became – along with actress Joan Lin – one of a set of stars so popular they gained the collective name ‘Two Lins and Two Chins.’ Also in this period, the actress switched gears to star in Li Han-hsiang’s Dream of the Red Chamber (1977), a stately costume piece for Hong Kong’s Shaw Brothers studio in which Lin had her first cross-dressing role.
After heading to the US at the end of the 1970s for a breather, Lin started to branch out even more. A startling image overhaul took place with the bold lead role in Patrick Tam’s Hong Kong New Wave work Love Massacre (1981), shot in California. Back in Taiwan a string of flicks like Chu Yen-ping’s Golden Queen’s Commandos (1982) saw her dabble in low-end action. But the major turning point came in the first of Lin’s celebrated collaborations with producer- director Tsui Hark, for Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983). Cast as a countess in the high-budget, effects- heavy work, Lin was introduced to the rigours of Hong Kong fantasy filmmaking, complete with extensive use of wirework.
After further Hong Kong performances including a classy role as a cat burglar in Teddy Robin’s wartime comedy All the Wrong Spies (1983), Lin moved to the colony in 1984 to take up local productions full time. A part as a crime boss’s secretary under protection in Jackie Chan’s hit Police Story (1985) gave her a taste of first-rate contemporary action work, including difficult stunts, and Tony Au’s accomplished fantasy Dream Lovers (1986) saw her handle reincarnation drama in eras two millennia apart. But the biggest fan-favourite among Lin’s work in this period is Tsui Hark’s gleefully multi-genre Peking Opera Blues (1986). Hopping nimbly between action, comedy and drama, Lin captivated in an androgynous leading role – dashing in short hair and almost always in men’s clothing – as her character worked in league with rebels opposing her father, a general.
Now working at a slower pace, Lin also picked up projects by acclaimed filmmakers Ann Hui and Yim Ho. For Hui, Lin played a social worker getting involved with a scammer and recalling a past relationship in the drama Starry Is the Night (1988), while Yim’s Red Dust (1990) saw her handle a demanding role as a Chinese writer living through years of personal and national hardship. With Red Dust, Lin picked up Best Actress at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards.
In the summer of 1992, Lin experienced an explosive career turnaround with the Ching Siu-tung-directed and Tsui Hark-produced Swordsman II. Captivating as the ultra-powerful Asia the Invincible, Lin took on an iconic role as a villain who gained supernatural power through self-imposed castration and gender transformation, delivering sensational scenes amid the wuxia film’s hurtling pace. Moviegoers were thrilled, and more wild swordplay from producer Tsui followed in Raymond Lee’s desert-set Dragon Inn (1992), with Lin’s gymnastic bathroom battle with Maggie Cheung a major highlight, as well as a return for Asia the Invincible in Ching and Lee’s The East Is Red (1993).
A host of other filmmakers seized on the new wuxia trend with Lin in the lead too, playing up the actress’ scene-stealing presence including her fierce trademark stare. Most successful among them was Ronny Yu, whose masterful fantasy piece The Bride with White Hair (1993) saw Lin headline as an assassin who breaks free from an evil cult, then has her man turn on her. Other works included Ng Minkan’s Deadful Melody (1994), in which Lin blows up opponents with her magic lyre. Lin’s work in this period wasn’t all wuxia fantasy, however. Modern pictures included Wong Jing’s cult comedy Boys Are Easy (1993), with Lin cross-dressing once again as a tough cop.
In late 1992, filming began for director Wong Kar-wai’s wuxia epic Ashes of Time (1994), launching Lin’s phase of involvement in the director’s work. Ashes would see the actress further her fluid gender dynamics, this time with Lin arriving on screen in a seemingly split role of swordsman Murong Yang and his sister Murong Yin, and giving a performance that shifts from sensuousness to insanity. Making the film was an expensive and drawnout process, however, and production stopped for the cast to make a silly spoof of the source material in Jeff Lau’s The Eagle Shooting Heroes (1993). Produced by Wong, the comedy wielded the colourful spectacle of eight A-list stars hamming it up for the camera.
Yet another break in the Ashes project allowed Wong to make a modern Hong Kong quickie in Chungking Express (1994), and in the process extend Lin’s global audience even more. With the star playing a drug runner beneath a blond wig and sunglasses and winging it in impromptu location shoots, Wong’s dreamy delight became an art-house sensation, scoring widespread praise and getting an assist in the US with Quentin Tarantino’s ringing endorsement.
When Ashes of Time finally reached cinemas in 1994, Lin had already stepped away from cinema. Married to Hong Kong businessman Michael Ying earlier that year, Lin settled down out of the limelight and later gave birth to two daughters. To date her only returns to filmmaking have been for narration on Yonfan’s Bishonen (1998) and Peony Pavilion (2001). As it happened, Lin’s decision to step back from film occurred just as Hong Kong movies entered a long period of decline. For the many who today look back on the period from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s as the modern golden age of Hong Kong cinema, the singular – and often iconic – presence of Brigitte Lin is integral to its charm.
This year Lin’s cinema is reaching a new generation of moviegoers, as her films find new life in restored versions, and retrospectives throw the spotlight on her work. On the occasion of its special focus on Brigitte Lin, Udine Far East Film is proud to present her with its Golden Mulberry Award for Lifetime Achievement in recognition of her enduring contributions to Asian cinema.