Spoiler Alert
The original “A Chinese Ghost Story” trilogy (1987–1991) is a cult classic that stands the test of time. And at Fantasia Film Fest, the programming team decided to play A Chinese Ghost Story 3 on the big screen instead of the other two, which are narratively better than this chapter. The reason may well be because the third film was originally designed to be standalone. But for a long-time fan like me, these movies are connected because of what Daoism tries to achieve–cultivation. It’s like connecting to The Force in Star Wars.
But because reincarnation is a major theme that connects all three movies, there’s an implication that Fong (Tony Leung Chiu-waii) may well be an incarnation of Ning Choi-san. That’s how I read the introduction, which explains why this film jumped 100 years into this world’s future. When Yin Chik-ha, a Taoist priest, and Ning Choi-san, the scholar, are fighting the tree-demon again in order to banish it for a century, the setup feels obvious.