Like many other films of the Mainland China new wave, this very unusual film is set in a bleak, remote part of China among the very poor. While it can be considered a martial art film, the amount of actual fighting is very brief. This film is more about the setting, the simple lives of the characters and the moral ambiguities of the story.
The teen-aged boy, Hai Ge, travels to the impoverished town of Double Flags to find the bride his father, once a skilled swordsman, told him about on his death bed. Arriving in the town, the boy is called Little Pigtail by the townspeople. Hai Ge doesn't look very impressive. He finds the girl who is the daughter of the owner of the town's only restaurant. Horse is the main dish at this restaurant. The owner was once a great swordsman as well but an injury put an end to his career. Since he and Hai Ge's father were once the best of friends, the restaurant owner puts Hai Ge to work in the restaurant but the marriage is out of the question since Hai Ge doesn't seem to have any sword skills. Meanwhile the feared "Lethal Swordsman" and his gang arrive in town. Conflict is around the corner.
The movie is very deliberately paced like many other Mainland New Wave films. Much attention is placed on the details of the everyday lives of the characters. And a trait shared with Spaghetti Westerns, a lack of direct dialog. The sword duels are all lengthy set up with the actual action over in a lightning flash. This is not a typical kung fu film with lengthy fight scenes. As others have noted, it reminds of Leone westerns. The desert town is very strange looking and seems to be an actual walled city that's so old that the massive walls have eroded to resemble rock formations.
The film made me think about it the next day and try to understand the character's motivations better. That makes it better film for me and I recommend it.
A couple of warnings: The print available is not the best transfer and some indoor scenes are very murky. If you are an animal lover beware. There's several scenes of horse butchery with real horse cadavers, and several farm animals are actually killed on screen.