Yokai and Other Monsters: From Asian Folklore to Cinema | Out of Competition
Hong Kong, 1993 / restored 2024, 99’, Cantonese
Directed by: Tsui Hark
Screenplay: Tsui Hark, Lilian Lee (original novel)
Cinematography (color): Ko Chiu-lam
Editing: Tsik Ah
Art Direction: Bill Lui
Music: James Wong, Mark Lui
Action: Yuen Bun, Tong Kai
Producers: Tsui Hark, Ng See-yuen
Cast: Maggie Cheung (Siu Ching/Green Snake), Joey Wong (Bak Sei-jeun/White Snake), Chiu Man-cheuk (Fa Hoi), Wu Hsing-kuo (Hsui Xien)
Date of First Release in Territory: November 4th, 1993
Ancient Chinese folk tale Legend of the White Snake has seen numerous adaptations, the most internationally well known probably being the animated White Snake (2019), a family-friendly China-US co-production, if not live-action fantasy The Sorcerer and the White Snake (2011), starring martial arts superstar Jet Li. Among discerning cineastes, however, the crown arguably belongs to Tsui Hark’s fantasy-drama Green Snake.
Green Snake is based on Hong Kong author Lilian Lee’s same-titled novel, a postmodern reinvention that remixes the White Snake legend to explore deeper, more contentious themes. At its simplest, the classic folk tale tells the story of Bai Suzhen a.k.a. White Snake, a supernatural snake spirit who attains human form and finds love with human scholar Xu Xian. Thwarting their pure love is Buddhist monk Fahai, who uses his religious devotion as justification for his zealous cruelty. Plot details have varied over the years, but the forbidden love between Bai Suzhen and Xu Xian has usually been the focal point.
In Green Snake, however, heterosexual romance takes a backseat to feminist self-discovery and simmering sibling rivalry, as Bai Suzhen (here called Bak Sei-jeun and played by the ethereal Joey Wong) shares top billing with her younger sister, the Green Snake a.k.a. Xiaoqing (here called Siu Ching and played by the incomparable Maggie Cheung). A supporting character in the folk tale, Siu Ching is elevated to co-lead in Tsui’s film, and is shown as an impetuous, childlike spirit in contrast to her powerful, wiser sister. Witnessing her sister find love with scholar Hsui Xien (Wu Hsing-kuo), Siu Ching begins to ask age-old questions: What is love? What is humanity? And will I ever attain them for myself?
The two sisters are cast as antiheroes – well-intentioned yet destructive monsters who use their overwhelming power to turn the tables on deserving men. The story is unabashedly feminist, depicting the relationship between the sisters as more complex and important than anything that occurs between women and men. Hsui Xien is portrayed the most poorly; he’s a frivolous man who, despite discovering that his beloved is a snake, continues to desire her and her sister. At the same time, he weakly submits to Buddhist monk Fa-Hoi (played with glowering presence by Chiu Man-cheuk). Fa-Hoi is also reinvented for Green Snake; instead of a one-dimensional villain, he’s a flawed man striving to be an austere monk. However, his rampaging lust and ego prove to be his undoing.
Siu Ching’s existential longings ultimately reveal a dark cynicism that still strikes a chord decades later. Green Snake’s thematic journey is quite astonishing, partly because it successfully explores deeper themes but also because it’s packaged in a hodgepodge fantasy-drama with special effects that looked bad even back in 1993. The primitive effects have aged poorly, and the de rigueur hyperactive Hong Kong-style editing does little to distract from how fake everything looks. Yet the artifice is perhaps the point of Tsui’s bold, baroque vision. Tsui assaults the senses from every conceivable angle, while Wong Kar-wai collaborator William Chang’s image design is gorgeously over the top with lush costumes and expressionistic overuse of color.
Hong Kong cinema of the late twentieth century is celebrated for its hyperrealism and Tsui Hark is one of the art form’s masters. In his hands, Green Snake unfolds as a lurid, barrage of overwrought emotion, balletic action, breathless exposition, and bursting sensuality; this is gorgeous chaos that works despite all the reasons it probably shouldn’t. Legend of the White Snake will receive many more adaptations in the future but probably never again like this.
GUEST:
TSUI Hark, director
Tsui Hark
Tsui Hark (b. 1950) made his film directorial debut with the 1979 mystery-wuxia The Butterfly Murders (1979) and soon became a leading figure of Hong Kong’s New Wave of filmmakers. As a producer, Tsui is responsible for iconic Hong Kong films, like John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow (1986) and Ching Siu-tung’s A Chinese Ghost Story (1987), while his work as a director covers every conceivable type or genre. Tsui owns two Best Director Hong Kong Film Awards and is today one of Asia’s most bankable filmmakers.
SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
1979 – The Butterfly Murders
1983 – Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain
1986 – Peking Opera Blues
1990 – The Swordsman
1991 – Once Upon a Time in China
1995 – The Blade
2000 – Time and Tide
2010 – Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame
2011 – Flying Swords of Dragon Gate
2014 – The Taking of Tiger Mountain
2025 – Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants