Green Snake
(Ching se)

The ancient creatures, Green Snake (Maggie Cheung) and White Snake (Joey Wong) change themselves into two young women endowed with a scathing charm. Persecuted by Taoist monks (who zealously hunt down what they believe to be evil forces), they discover the complexity of human sentiments, be it desire or anger, laugher or tears. An aesthetically psychedelic and flamboyant film (whose up-front artifice increases the characters’ emotional depth), Green Snake develops the themes running through Tsui Hark’s filmography to their limits: the eternal and inextricable links between history, the archaic and modern, religion and politics. MM