Legend of the Mountain (1979)
Reviewed by: dandan on 2006-08-29
Summary: wine, sutras and drumming...
this is the fourth film i've watched, from legendary director, king hu. 'come drink with me' was pretty good, 'dragon inn' was better and 'a touch of zen' is a masterpiece; i'd probably place 'legend of the mountain' somewhere between 'dragon inn' and 'a touch of zen'. that's very good...

shih jun, a king hu regular, plays a scholar named ho, who's been charged with translating an ancient sutra. to undertake the translation, ho travels to a deserted fortress, where he can concentrate on his work. this doesn't exactly work out as ho soon becomes embroiled in the mysterious atmosphere of the fort and it's residents...

now, this film is all about the atmosphere and king hu creates it in spades; the soundtrack, sets, cinematography and scenery all add so much to the film. i'd love to have seen this at the cinema when it first came out, i imagine it would have had an even bigger impact.

great stuff...