Review: A wedding feast in ancient China. It is raining outside, but under this roof, people are warmed by wine and the touch of human skin. They feed each other grapes as a group of Indian dancing women gyrate to the music. Suddenly, Maggie Cheung falls from the roof above, naked and dripping with rainwater she looks around her, before joining in with the dance routine. Maggie approaches one of the dancers, and from behind her, brushes her body against the woman, then wraps her leg around, grinding the ball of her foot into the dancer’s groin.

What you have just read is a description of the most talked about scene in ‘Green Snake’. It is typical of the sultry sensuality that runs through the film, and also happens to be the scene that everybody remembers. However, despite scenes such as that one, it would be a misleading injustice to this wonderful film to suggest that it is a soft porn romp. Yes, there is a lot of sex in this story, but it sits within a ‘proper’ film, and is suggested rather than dwelled upon, and director Tsui Hark has the common sense not to weigh the movie down with endless grinding of hips and perking of nipples like some lesser HK directors would. I’m looking at you, Wong Jing!

Essentially, ‘Green Snake’ combines the god-like abilities of ‘Zu:Warriors of the Magic Mountain’ and the forbidden love of ‘Chinese Ghost Story’. The story comes from Chinese mythology, and the result is as heart-warming as it is bitter. There is definitely a dark heart beneath this tragic fantasy’s enchanting skin, and as this tragic fantasy drama unfolds, the mood of the piece toward the end may surprise audiences. In fact, the conclusion remains the main criticism from the film’s detractors, despite being an adaptation of an age-old Chinese legend.

The film looks gorgeous. Every shot seems to have been carefully composed, using bold colours and atmospheric lighting to portray the world which Hark has created here. The village in the film sits on and around a river, and as the camera sweeps low over lotus floating on the water, mist drifts through the scene, and the camera raises revealing pagodas lit with blue lights. Tsui Hark has always been a very visual director, and he certainly earns his reputation here.

Maggie Cheung and Joey Wong sizzle in ‘Green Snake’. They use their sexuality to the maximum, as the story demands, especially Cheung, whose character is arguably the most complex. She dances from sexy and playful to vindictive and jealous with ease, making this movie a must for Maggie fans. She is so convincing as a snake that it’s hard to remember that she is actually a mammal, and not really a reptile at all. Somebody should check that she suckles her young – any volunteers?

While hard to class as an action film, there are still some elaborate battles, mainly of the fireballs and magic variety. It is a shame that the weak special effects often fail to match the epic concepts Hark has tried to portray, but he certainly succeeded in turning the leading ladies into snake spirits. In their human forms, the girls still show some tendencies to slither, and the effect is cleverly conceived. In one shot Maggie Cheung winds across the ground with her top half in human form and her bottom half in snake form. As with all the best illusions, it’s probably a very simple trick, but impossible to figure out.