Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan Blood Brothers

Tonight's program showcases the dizzying range of the martial arts genre in the 1970s, encompassing lurid murder mysteries set to Pink Floyd music (Chu Yuan's Intimate Confessions) and Shakespearean war dramas staged on a grandiose scale (Zhang Che's Blood Brothers). The deliriously stylized Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan sets its lurid murder mystery in a brothel where tough women duke it out and erotic scenes are accompanied by Pink Floyd music. (Chu Yuan, 1972; 90 mins.)

A trio of the Shaw Brothers' biggest stars play friends whose bonds are tested as they acquire love and power in Blood Brothers. It's an almost Shakespearean drama filled with narrative and cinematic flourishes that would influence Hong Kong filmmakers for decades (especially the film's assistant director, John Woo). (Zhang Che, 1973; 118 mins.)