Bride with the white hair
(aka Jiang-Hu: Between Love and Glory )

Ronny Yu (1993, Hong Kong)

Cast: Brigitte Lin, Leslie Cheung, Francis Ng, Kit Ying Lam, Elaine Lui

Plot:
The sensitive swordsman Cho Yi-Hang is tired of his life. He is the unwilling successor to the Wu-Tang clan throne and the unsure commander of the clan's forces in a war against foreign tribes and an evil cult. One day, he meets the beautiful Lien, a killer for the evil cult who is equally unsatisfied with her situation, but their love angers both the Wu-Tang clan and the evil cult, and a bloodbath ensues. When the leader of the evil cult (Siamese twins, as annoying as they are powerful) kills the loving part of Lien, she turns into the bride with white hair and escapes. Cho, still madly in love, he decides to go find a magical flower, which blossoms only once every 20 years, and which can bring back life, youth and beauty, and hopefully will win her heart back.

Appreciation: 10/10
What a pleasant surprise! If you could combine the styles of Burton, Argento and Ang Lee that's what you'd get. And that's what you actually get.
As you can imagine, the strong visuals are a delight, with a feeling of Crouching Tiger but with a much darker and gloomier atmosphere. Same goes for the fight scenes. Though sometimes it's too close to see anything, the fights are generally superb. I can't imagine what they could've done with the budget and technology of a movie like The Matrix.
The performances are much unlike the usual asian interpretation, meaning you don't have to suffer through the usual naïve and childish behaviours that are so rampant in asian movies. Brigitte Lin is just breath-taking, and has a unique and disturbing presence on screen. She'd make a darn good Catwoman.. Rrrrrrrr ;)
The story is nice while remaining simple, and the romance is light-years from the crap you see everyday on tv. It's actually touching.. (coming from someone who's known for not being all too romantic, this is telling a lot :).
It's a real shame that such a movie won't get the worldwide recognition of the likes of Crouching tiger hidden dragon.
Needless to say more, go see this one!

Other suggestions: A Chinese ghost story, Gojoe, Crouching tiger hidden dragon