with all due respect to the hk movie association who put this movie a # 9 on the 100 best chinese film of the last 100 year and i believe this movie be rather dated . a with lady snowblood ( 1973 ) which i put in my two cent recently and they might be at the vanguard of their respective genre at the time and but now and 30 odd year later and they haven not age well at all . this happen and i think and especially with genre movie where technology play an important part . drama such a rebecca ( hitchcock ) or now and voyager ( bette davis ) and which be still some of my all time faves and fare much well because technology would not really make them good while they already have great direction and story and pacing and acting and etc . i also want to dispute a reviewer from uk who mention that this movie be much more chinese than crouch tiger which be too westernized . i can not disagree with him more . have actually read the wuxia novel that many of these movie be base on and i have to say crouch tiger beautifully capture the lyricism and essence of the wuxia world without any western influence . but i digress . the pacing of this movie be really too slow . fully an hour be devote to people and chiefly of the male protagonist and walk around and around in that same little village . an hour of nothing much happening to propel the story . a a matter of fact and a large portion of the 3 hour movie time be eat up by show people walk from point a to point b which be totally pointless . the bamboo forest scene will remind many of a similar scene in house of fly dagger and be probably it inspiration . ala and it be do much well in the new movie and due to good choreography and wire work and and kinetic energy that zen sadly lack . same argument for all the other set piece . the end be anticlimactic since there be no tension when one party be the living buddha ( or something like that ) . the use of negative film to denote some sort of divine intervention be jar and a little laughable . during the opening credit and it indicate that this movie be base on a book which be write in the manchu dynasty and probably in the late 18th or early 19th century . i do not know of a direct translation of the book but it be available in english with the title and chinese ghost and love story by pu songling ( i coin him the chinese edgar allen poe ) . it be one of the premiere book in chinese literature . not all his story be about ghost but all have a fantastical element and most have a moral to it . but the book be all short story and none be long enough to be a novella while so stretch a short story to 3 hour entails lot and lot of pad while hence and all the walking . i haven not actually look for the story that the movie be base on but i can say for sure that in old chinese society and in pu story a well and no woman who be from a respect family ( a the female character be ) would bed down with a practical stranger and ever and unless she be a demon or a ghost and which do happen quite frequently in his story and be almost always not a good thing . it probably have happen in real life when there be a strong attraction and but she be basically feeling pity for his mother and so decide to give her virginity to him . yeah and i do not think so . the dvd quality from tai seng be abysmal which probably also contribute to my discontent . the transfer be horrid while pixilated ( like in a vcd ) in some scene and look like it forever rain in dark scene and some black spot permanently imprint on the screen throughout the entire movie . the big fight scene that happen at the deserted house at night be so dark that be practically unwatchable . moreover and the audio be muddy and barely audible even with volume turn to the loud . the chinese title be translate a heroine but the official english title be a good description of the movie give the spiritual element in the movie .