Raining in the Mountain

A wry moral tale with dashes of action.

This is spectacular, exhilarating entertainment.

Ultimately, for all its sedate visual beauty and Henry Chan's mobile camerawork, Raining in the Mountain privileges content over form, and locates "true value" in a text's meaning rather than in its materiality.

The quiet, extended scenes in King Hu's Raining in the Mountain are full of beauty as well as tension and anticipation.

It's so good it's practically a spiritual experience.

A repetitive nature dings the film, but vivid characters and robust action set-pieces help overcome any lulls.

A 1979 jewel that's been newly-restored in ways that preserve the look, sound and feel of the age of the times, a moment in time caught amid the emergence of Hong Kong cinema.

The pleasure in watching this film are in its pace, action, stunning locations, and even its stereotypic characters.

"Raining in the Mountain" is one of the best films in King Hu's filmography, as it thrives both visually and contextually, while its duration (120 minutes approximately) also makes it one of his most approachable.