Green Snake

media release: Hong Kong | 1993 | 35mm | 99 min. | Mandarin with English subtitles

Director: Tsui Hark

Cast: Joey Wong, Maggie Cheung, Wenzhuo Zhao

A visually dazzling allegory of what it means to be human, Green Snake reimagines the classic Chinese folktale of two snake spirits (Wong and Cheung) who take human form and challenge the rigid principles of a Buddhist monk. Director Tsui Hark blends irony, sensuality, comedy, and mythic spectacle in a movie that has been called “Brilliant” (Film Comment) and “Radically fantastical!” (San Francisco Chronicle). 35mm print courtesy Wisconsin Center for Film & Theater Research.

Admission free for all screenings, seating limited. No admission 15 minutes after scheduled start times. Please visit our website for a complete listing of programs and descriptions.

New Restorations and Special Presentations

In addition to several titles showing in our Owen Kline and John Ford series, other 35mm presentations this calendar include Todd Haynes’ Safe, screening in honor of its 30th anniversary; Masaki Kobayashi’s thrilling and beloved samurai drama, Harakiri; and two Hong Kong classics from director Tsui Hark: The Blade and Green Snake – showing in special prints from the Wisconsin Center for Film & Theater Research. Special presentations on DCP include the first Madison theatrical screening of Roman Polanski’s An Officer and a Spy (J’accuse); two star-studded thrillers from the late 1970s, Capricorn One and Rollercoaster; and new restorations of Adrian Lyne’s terrifying Jacob’s Ladder, Mike Nichols’ The Day of the Dolphin, Luchino Visconti’s Conversation Piece, and Terry Gilliam’s sumptuous The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.