A Chinese Ghost Story (Leslie Cheung)

Show & Culture

A landmark of Hong Kong cinema and a cult work in China, this film is both an improbable and perfectly controlled blend of supernatural horror, burlesque comedy, martial arts and poetic romance. Leslie Cheung plays a fragile, refined and deeply romantic scholar, defining a new archetype of vulnerable and empathetic masculinity in Asian cinema, even as one of the film’s other major attractions is a gigantic demonic tongue. Thanks to Cheung’s performance, the film transforms a frightening folk tale into a poignant and timeless exploration of a tragic and impossible love.