Tsui Siu-ming Capsule Reviews

Mirage (1987) — March 22, 2021

The cinema is sending a few dozen stuntmen, a couple hundred extras, a few old trucks, a bunch of horses, and way too many explosives to the desert to fuck around and find out what happens.

“Why not let the pictures show the difference between ideals and reality.”

Don’t go chasing waterfalls.

Bury Me High (1991) — March 22, 2021

Just as depressing an action movie as Mirage, with the three leads (Chin Ka-lok, Moon Lee, and director Tsui Siu-ming) fighting the tyrannical Yuen Wah in a fictional Southeast Asian country, but really just playing out the destinies ordained by their parents thanks to the placement of certain graves at certain key locations. History literally haunting the geopolitical and personal present.

It’s all underscored by a highly expressive use of smoke and shadows and those distinctive HK reds and blues. As well as Tsui used the desert locations in Mirage, he uses the cliches of Hong Kong lighting here.

Not as much action as Mirage, but what there is is terrific, as you’d expect with this cast and crew. Chin especially gets a lot of great stunts and fights, but Tsui under-utilizes Lee. She really only gets a couple fights and one completely insane stunt. Tsui does almost set himself on fire, again, though.