Parker E
A Touch of Zen slowly draws us in to spring its trap, slowly weaving its web around us.
A Touch of Zen is a slow burn for the ages. The film focuses on creating an atmosphere before unleashing the amazing action. What King got right in Dragon Inn, he only amplifies everything to perfection in A Touch of Zen. The action is expertly choreographed and it's easy to see how Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was inspired by this. A Touch of Zen is a wuxia film for the ages and is pure bliss.
However, the story can falter at times and can be hard to follow at first. Mostly due to the slow and careful creation of the world and scenes. It also took a few reviews to understand all the overlaying themes, while expertly laid, were hard to uncover.
In the end, the traps are expertly set and executed in A Touch of Zen.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
09/05/23
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Dick C
Though being a Catholic, it's worth for my credits for this Buddhism movie...
A late Hong Kong actor, Roy Chiao 喬宏 portrays with great performance...
King Hu Jinquan is a memorial filmmaker...
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/23/23
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Murty C
An excellent movie which combines Chinese Ming dynasty power struggles, adventure, and Zen mysticism with stunning martial arts sequences. (One can easily how this movie inspired "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and, possibly, the Bruce Lee movies.) Another interesting aspect of the movie is that Gu, the protagonist, is an anti-hero painter - not a martial artist. And, yet, Gu fulfills his mother's dearest wish to beget an heir in a way beyond her wildest dreams. At over three hours, the movie is longer than the usual Hollywood fare. But I didn't find that a problem perhaps because I had recorded it on my DVR and watched it in two sittings. Don't miss this gem!
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/19/22
Full Review
William L
"Waft some leaves in front of the camera and have windchimes ringing in the background, it'll provide an amazing atmosphere" - King Hu, probably.
It's clear where later films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon take influence from; imagine those incredible fight scenes in the bamboo forests composed with technology from three decades prior (a lot of quick cuts and no wires to hang from), but with the same sense of scale and ambition retained. The recognition of the environment's importance is captured in the cinematography, the rustle of the wind in the leaves documented with exquisite care. All of the landscapes incorporate motion, featuring rushing water, billowing smoke, or the like; nothing in the world is completely static, even the deserts are made alive by interpretation. The use of lighting is ambitious as well, where many early films of similar origin were focused on promoting bright colors in the manner of a themed discount restaurant with extravagant costumes catching the eye and swords that shine like chrome, A Touch of Zen opts for an often muted palette and several scenes shrouded in the darkness of night. A protracted fight scene in the shadows is interrupted by a flash of candlelight that seems nearly divine by comparison, giving Hu the opportunity to get some bloodsplatter scattered across a brilliant white sheet. In many shots, the depth of field is tightly manipulaed to great effect. Three hours and it's all got that same level of careful composition.
The one personal gripe that I can recall is the method of character development, particularly in Shih Chun's Gu, who is introduced as a somewhat lax, henpecked scholar and painter who finds himself essentially the pawn of larger forces at play, until the full scale of the conspiracy is revealed and the film shifts from murky mystery to wuxia extravagance with a dash of a more murderous Home Alone. Once helplessly sheltered or treated as ignorant, Gu suddenly assumes the role of a confident military strategist and is immediately given an important role in a band of rebels that includes two former generals and a noblewoman's-daughter-turned-warrior, Yang; it imparts a distinct sexual theme to the film as a result of his intimacy with Yang (gaining this entirely new identity as a result of tryst; consider his new role particularly in the context of the conflict with a tradionalist eunuch), but I can't escape the nagging sense that it feels strange and sudden instead, with the unlikelihood robbing the thematic significance. Definitely in the minority on that one, though, and there is still an exceptional depth to the film that most wuxia doesn't reach.
Why don't you see the lasso used more often in martial arts films? Some of these monks can whoop ass in the name of the Buddha with a rope alone. (4/5)
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
08/19/21
Full Review
Audience Member
This is truly an 'epic'. The cinematography here is so vibrant it often looks contemporary/modern. Arguably, this is a classic of not just the wuxia genre but overall a classic of all Asian cinema.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/20/23
Full Review
Audience Member
It starts small as the day in the life of a painter opening up his shop, and as the story unfolds becomes epic, and ultimately transcendental, or as much as a film can depict such things. Yeah, it's long but it switches focus (on characters) and locales so that it never drags. There are many exquisite things to see here: The shots of feet gaining speed through grass, Gu's satisfaction in the aftermath of a successful ambush, the sword fight in the bamboo forest. I've seen three King Hu films now, and this is the high point so far.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/18/23
Full Review
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