Chi Ying

Since her grandfather died, Chi Li has lived alone in the house of an aunt who is abroad. She has no contact with her parents. It is a lonely life, but Chi Li is doing fine. She has a job at a cinema and no need for a relationship. She protects herself this way because who would want her as a girlfriend? Chi Li has epilepsy. In north-eastern China where she lives, this means she simply isn't marriage material. When a boy nevertheless shows interest, some warmth seems to penetrate her armoured existence. However, a romantic trip to a dance performance painfully reminds her of her past as a dancer. Only You Alone is a powerful portrait of a courageous young woman, made all the more so by the great acting of Chi Yun, who co-wrote the script with director Zhou Zhou.

The movie is structured much like a murder mystery, albeit one that gives the viewer a fight scene every couple of minutes. There’s a murderer who goes by the moniker Devil Swordsman gallivanting around the countryside in an outfit that looks like a ninja cloak by way of a KKK robe who’s killing all of the major kung fu masters and clan leaders with a single swipe to the face. One of his first victims is the head of the White Dragon tribe, whose son, Shan, is played by Dorian Tan Tao-Liang. Shan naturally assumes the role of detective in order to avenge his father, since that’s what people do in these movies.