Every Frame a Painting Returns to Discuss Tsui Hark’s The Blade

Earlier this year, the Criterion Collection released a special edition of Tsui Hark’s The Blade, an experimental martial arts film that pushed back against the tropes and expectations of the wuxia genre. And to explain just how, exactly, Hark did that, Criterion partnered with Every Frame a Painting — i.e., the best YouTube film channel of all time — for this excellent video essay that serves as a primer for both the wuxia genre and Hark’s film.

Originally released in 1995, Tsui Hark’s The Blade — a remake of Chang Cheh’s One-Armed Swordsman from 1967 — was somewhat controversial for the ways in which it undermined and deconstructed the martial arts genre. It’s certainly a far cry from other wuxia films, filled with amoral characters and wild, frenetic camerawork and cinematography. As I wrote in my review, The Blade is probably not for wuxia newbies, but it does offer a fresh and insightful take on the genre.

On a related note, Every Frame a Painting’s Taylor Ramos and Tony Zhou also produced a similar video essay for George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead when it began streaming on the Criterion Channel.