I absolutely loved the movies Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, and House of Flying Daggers. I love that whole “Once upon a time in China” medieval setting, with the gravity-defying action and the tragic endings. I know these three movies just happened to be famous enough to get a wide release in the USA, so I’d like to ask for recommendations of wuxia movies, or even non-Chinese movies if they’re in a similar genre.
Here is a quick list of IMO the best (and most accessible) to start with…
Tai Chi Master (aka Twin Dragons)
The Swordsman series (1, 2, and 3 (aka The East is Red))
Legend of Fong Sai Yuk 1 & 2 (aka The Legend)
Bride with White Hair (might be a bit too weird for some)
The Blade (the Tsui Hark version, not the Wesley Snipes movie)
Drunken Master 2 (aka Legend of the Drunken Master)
Heroic Trio is fun, in a campy, goofy way. It’s a superhero-inspired martial arts movie with the awesome Michelle Yeoh, Maggie Cheung, and the late Anita Mui.
I’ll second both Drunken Masters and The Legend (and I think The Legend 2 has one of the greatest fight sequences of all time at the end), and also add Iron Monkey with Donnie Yen. It has some hilarious comedy and brilliant fight choreography as well.
Kung Fu Hustle was pretty cool. Good humored, but the fight scenes were still amazing.
Do the Drunken Master movies count? AFAIK there’s minimal to no wirework and they’re comedies.
Once Upon a Time in China
Dragon Inn
The Duel is oodles of fun - it’s like six movies in one, and they’re all really good! Plus, it’s got some exceedingly fine young men in it.
The Storm Riders is along the same lines, but much more confusing as you’re supposed to have read all the comics first, I think.
I second many of the movies mentioned here, especially **The Bride with White Hair ** and Iron Monkey. The **Fong Sai Yuk ** movies and The Tai-Chi Master are good also.
The **Drunken Master ** movies, while very good, are pretty much straight kung-fu comedies, not really wuxia.
For a fun *wuxia * farce, I suggest Flying Dagger. Extremely funny and with a great cast. See my review here (I hope that works–look under “latest reviews”)
**Butterfly and Sword ** is fairly incoherent plot-wise, but I enjoyed the spectacle.
A good Korean movie in the *wuxia * style is Bichunmoo.
I saw this at a film festival a few years back and I HIGHLY recommend it, but it’s not on DVD, is it? Amazon seems to indicate that it’s on VHS, but currently out of print.
I’ve seen Heroic Trio, and it’s not what I’m looking for. I’m looking for the medieval China setting, not neccesarily wire-fu. Here are some titles from the wikipedia article on wuxia – are any of these examples of what I’m looking for? Eliminating the ones I’ve already seen:
* Torching the Red Lotus Temple (《火燒紅蓮寺》1928)
* Ru Lai Shen Zhang (《如來神掌》1964)
* Dragon Gate Inn (《龍門客棧》1966)
* The One-armed Swordsman ((獨臂刀1967)
* The Magic Blade (《天涯明月刀》1976)
* Zu - Warriors from the Magic Mountain (《蜀山:新蜀山劍俠》1983)
* Ashes of Time ((東邪西毒 1994)
* Kung Fu Hustle (2004)Deadful Melody, with Brigitte Lin, ought to be on your list. She has a magic lyre that she uses to avenge the deaths of her family, killed by a rival clan ‘in the world of martial arts.’
Netflix link is here, which includes a preview.