Raining in the Mountain

A mountain monastery in the Ming period. The old abbot is stepping down and has called three people from outside to help choose his successor. Their intentions are different: the monastery library holds a very valuable manuscript and everyone is after it. A wealthy man and a general each get their own people inside, and thieves, spies and monks begin moving around the same courtyard. King Hu directs. Hsu Feng, Sun Yueh and Shih Chun are in the cast. It was shot in real temples in South Korea, and the architecture of the monastery is directly part of the narrative; the corridors, stairs and courtyards are used as the map of the pursuit scenes. King Hu's known method is here: the fights are short, the cutting is fast, and the movement is tied to the geography. The camera does not show a whole fight; a leap and a cut together produce the speed. The subject is politics rather than swordplay. The monastery functions like a government office and the fight over the manuscript is a fight over power; the calculations inside a religious institution are what the film is about. The same team made Legend of the Mountain in the same period, and the two are spoken of together. Who it is for: viewers who like King Hu and classical wuxia. Who it is not for: there are many characters, the first half is slow, and the intrigue is hard to follow.