A teaser trailer for Tsui Hark's new film, MISSING, an underwater horror/romance is up over at Sina.com and, well, it's about what I expected it to be: underwhelming. It's a bad idea to judge a movie based on a trailer but this one comes over like a cross between THE RING and LINGER and it looks like it's targeted at a key demographic rather than coming from Tsui Hark's heart, and while I'm used to being disappointed by now, I can't help but feel a little like scratching at the stump where once my Tsui Hark love grew, before it got gangrene and had to be amputated.

What ever happened to this guy?

When people used to ask me what my favorite film was, it was easy: PEKING OPERA BLUES. Favorite director: Tsui Hark. Then, something happened. Between THE BLADE in 1995 (his last truly great movie) and TIME AND TIDE in 2000 he seemed to get more interested in computer effects and digital manipulation of the screen than he did in character or story. Maybe it was prolonged exposure to Jean Claude Van Damme when he directed him in two movies, maybe he was just sick of trying so hard, but by the time LEGEND OF ZU rolled around in 2001, the party was pretty much over. No one's sure what happened to this movie, and talking to people on the crew reveals that some of the best scenes were shot but never used, however the final product lies across the screen as stiff and dead as an embalmed corpse. Since then: nothing.

As you head into the weekend, treat yourself to a bunch of Tsui Hark on video:

(trailer for THE BLADE , still unavailable on a good DVD in the US)

(PEKING OPERA BLUES trailer, a movie still incomplete on every DVD version)

(TIME AND TIDE trailer, a movie which is starting to look pretty good in retrospect)

(Tsui Hark on the Incredibly Strange Film Show, Jonathan Ross's documentary series on odd films from the late 80's and early 90's. It's essential viewing if you like Tsui and you can find it here: Part 1, Part 2)

(MISSING teaser trailer)