A film tells its story not only through dialogue and actors' performances, but also through the director's control of movement and shot design. This is a detailed consideration of how cinematic staging carries the story, expresses emotion, and beguiles the audience through pictorial composition.

This definitive study of Hong Kong cinema examines the work of directors such as Tsui Hark, John Woo, Ringo Lam, Johnnie To, King Hu, and Wong Kar Wai. This book offers a deeply informed and highly engaging look at how Hong Kong cinema has become one of the success stories of film history, and how it has influenced international film culture and the development of film as a medium. As sentimental and outrageous as Hong Kong films can be...they are...

An overview of American studio filmmaking that examines its distinct mode of film practice, in both production and style, from 1917 through 1960.

Commentaries about the making of the film accompany the complete screenplay of the martial arts drama set in ancient China.