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The Wayward Cloud 2005
Chen Shiang-chyi's performance here is my favorite in an individual Tsai film. (I stress individual because I'm open to the idea that Lee Kang-sheng's collective performances comprise a rarer accomplishment, and those are individually excellent as well.) She has such a thorough sense of her character's posture and movement––the crawling, the way she sometimes seems to put every possible limb towards a given action––and conveys so much of her character's personality that way. The film has no dialogue for the…
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The Young Master 1980
Can basically be broken down into three barely related sequences. After a great opening lion dance setpiece, goes about establishing the requisite martial arts school drama, but it creates a much more intriguing set of conflicts than many of Chan's prior films, so it works despite being light on action. Naturally this stuff is all but forgotten in the hilarious, long middle section as Chan ends up mistaken for a criminal by a local police chief and tries to get…
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Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains 1982
I do like how the downward spiral is caused by a legion of teenage girls learning about the relationship between art and commerce.
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Project A: Part II 1987
Two extraordinary 20-minute stretches. The farce that plays out in Maggie Cheung's house is the finest comic sequence of Chan's career from what I've seen so far, topping the middle stretch of The Young Master. It's immediately followed by a short but great fight with Chan and the movie's villain handcuffed to each other while being chased by a pack of sword-wielding pirates. (The film's only meaningful connection to its predecessor.) Then the last 20 minutes are just great action,…
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