Sightlines · a viewing thread

Wuxia and Its Heirs

Watch these as a bloodline — King Hu's weightless swordplay flowering into Zhang Yimou's painted epics and finally Tarantino's homage, all built on choreography as dance.

Mostly crowd-pleasers and film-school essentials: the two Kill Bills are the easy on-ramp and Dragon Inn and Drunken Master III the rewarding deep dives — stylized rather than punishing, and safe for a group.

• Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
• Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)
• Dragon Inn (1967)
• Hero (2002)
• House of Flying Daggers (2004)
• Drunken Master III (1994)
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) — The missing centerpiece of this whole bloodline — the weightless bamboo-forest swordplay of King Hu and the painted romanticism of Zhang Yimou meet in one Oscar-winning film that's been sitting on your list too long.
• Once Upon a Time in China (1991) — If Dragon Inn and Hero landed, this is the under-seen Tsui Hark/Jet Li heir to finally pull down — Wong Fei-hung's balletic wire-fu is choreography-as-dance in its purest Hong Kong form.
• Kung Fu Hustle (2004) — The overlooked one that rhymes with Tarantino's homage — Stephen Chow's cartoon-stylized love letter to old kung-fu masters, playful rather than punishing and made for a crowd.