‘A laughter echoing across the vast sea, the surging tides on both shores’ encapsulates the essence of both the novel The Smiling, Proud Wanderer by Jin Yong and its film adaptation, The Swordsman (1990).

Linghu Chong (Sam Hui) and Yue Lingshan (Cecilia Yip), disciples of the Huashan Sect, are tasked by their master to aid the Lin family, who have stolen the Sunflower Manual. However, they find themselves pursued by skilled agents of the Eastern Depot and must adapt to the challenges they face. Unaware of the treacherous nature of the martial world and the human heart, they discover that their master, Yue Buqun (Lau Siu-ming), is willing to go to any lengths to acquire the Sunflower Manual. Linghu Chong battles the villains using the unmatched swordplay technique, the Nine Swords of Dugu, and keeps making hilarious mistakes. How will Linghu choose, between the Sunflower Manual and disciplehood, to be a righteous man? Maybe the answer is already in The Smiling, Proud Wanderer.

While the film is adapted from Jin Yong's martial arts masterpiece, directors King Hu and Tsui Hark made significant changes to the film, infusing it with their personal interpretations that both satirize politics and showcase their unique cinematic language. Despite the controversies during filming, the directors succeeded in creating a new martial arts film classic with a style that sets it apart. The Swordsman, along with Tsui Hark’s Swordsman II (1992) and The East Is Red (1993), are collectively known as The Swordsman Trilogy. All three works break the framework of original novels, subverting the conventional martial art film style by adding cutting-edge ideas and techniques. Tsui Hark's imagination and usage of stunts bring a new look to martial arts movies that merges different cultural icons.

The screening on 1 December will be followed by a talk in English with film historian and author of Tsui Hark: The Theory of Chaos, Arnaud Lanuque, moderated by M+ Curator-at-large of Hong Kong Film and Media Li Cheuk-to.

Tsui Hark (b. 1951, Vietnam) spent his early years in Vietnam before moving to Hong Kong, where he completed his high school education. He then moved to the United States where he graduated from the film programme at the University of Texas at Austin. After a short spell of work in the US, he returned to Hong Kong and became a director at TVB. Later, during a brief stint at Commercial Television, he directed The Gold Dagger Romance (1978). The Butterfly Murders (1979), Tsui’s feature film directorial debut, was hailed as one of the early examples of the Hong Kong New Wave. Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind (1980) faced censorship from the colonial government for its uncompromising vision. Tsui would break ground with Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983) by introducing Hollywood special effects to the wuxia genre. For much of the 1980s, Tsui was one of the creative masterminds behind the hitmakers Cinema City.

In 1984, he and Nansun Shi founded Film Workshop, which launched with the critically acclaimed Shanghai Blues. Tsui and his company found much success in several popular long-running film series, including A Chinese Ghost Story (1987), The Swordsman (1990), and Once Upon a Time in China (1991). In a career spanning over four decades, Tsui has not stopped finding new ways to reinvent himself as a director, writer, and producer. His take on the wuxia genre has continued to evolve in The Blade (1995) and the Detective Dee series. His Chinese war epic, The Taking of Tiger Mountain (2014), impressed audiences in China and abroad for his creative storytelling and eye for spectacle.