The title character is the custodian of "a rare art indeed," an open-air magic act in which painted paper masks appear and disappear on the magician's face as quick as a blink. The secret, according to Chinese custom, can only be passed to a male heir, and with his biological clock winding down, the old man adopts an orphan for a pupil. Problem is, the boy turns out to be a girl, a dime a dozen on the black market. Maudlin period piece with some rudimentary feminist interest and some incredible (more in the sense of unbelievable than in that of astounding) sleights of hand. All in all, easily resistible but not exactly repelling. With Zhu Xu, Zhou Ren-Ying, Zhao Zhigang; directed by Wu Tian Ming. (1997) — Duncan Shepherd
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