Cinema
The Swordsman in Double Flag Town
雙旗鎮刀客
He Ping · 1991
Synopsis
Haige, a taciturn teenager, crosses the desert to a lawless town on the edge of the Gobi to marry Haomei, who was promised to him by their fathers before they were born. On the way, he meets a desert vigilante who robs the rich to help the poor and offers him his help. He finds Haomei and her crippled father, who runs a small eatery; at first he is received with contempt. When a bandit attacks the young woman, Haige kills him, without knowing that he is the brother of a leader feared throughout the region.
Context
The film was shot for the Shaanxi studios; He Ping wrote it with Yang Zhengguang, and, according to Jiemian, the two travelled the Hexi corridor to find the locations. It blends the swordplay film and the Italian western, and opens a trilogy by its author set in the west of China. Jiemian notes its sparse dialogue and its art direction, and credits it with an influence on films by Tsui Hark and Stephen Chow.
Who it is for
A sword film of around an hour and a half, with sparse dialogue; no French release is established.
Prizes and reception
It received the Golden Rooster for art direction in 1991, then in 1992 the grand prize at the Yubari fantastic film festival in Japan.
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