casts nature as mysterious, tangled but carefully deliberate, and casts reformers combating totalitarianism as potential ghosts, the past returning to claim its place, the dead returning to vanquish their living betrayers. Hu famously continues to restore to film from Chinese literature the female knight, another piece of the past that now points forward. and the male hero finds his strength only after he sleeps with her and meets the Abbot; the power here is sexual, literally balls to bones, naturally emanating from within. the villain, corrupt and unseen, is a eunuch; his power is baseless, empty, founded on lies. sex vs death. the film folds themes in so gradually that you truly float down the river without ever seeming to get wet.

Someday, some enterprising company is going to restore and rerelease these King Hu movies and then they're going to get a whole lot of my money.

100

As dreamy as the rivers in which we seek nourishment and as haunting as the figures which impede the voids which we yearn to observe in the darkness. One of those movies that check every box on the list and even invent a few new categories just for the hell of it.

It's probably a good five minutes before we see any human beings in A Touch of Zen - before that it's the title sequence, then some close-ups of insects in spider's webs, and various shots of water, trees, light, nature at rest. It's like a soft prayer before the story begins, and it's your first clue that this is no typical kung-fu action movie, containing almost none of the genre's usual concessions to audience attention spans. Even when the action does start up, it's pretty removed from the expected Shaw Bros. athleticism, instead punctuated by long stretches of patient waiting in between the jump-cut-aided fight choreography, just outside physical reality as we (think we) know it.

I love how this starts as something of an horror mystery develops towards earthly matters and later achieves heaven.

This is one of the greats. Deserves the international recognition of Citizen Kane, Seven Samurai, The Godfather, etc.

Eigentlich ziemlich großartig. Die Bilder sind teilweise von einer unglaublichen Schönheit, echte Leckerbissen. Wenn nur die Restauration/Version, die ich gesehen habe, sowohl vom Bild als auch vom Ton her etwas besser gewesen wäre, hätte man diesen Augenschmaus noch mehr genießen können. Die Story kommt erst im zweiten Drittel wirklich in Fahrt, aber der Film ist trotz seiner Länge zu keiner Minute langweilig.

Als Freund von 'A Chinese Ghost Story', 'Peking Opera Blues' oder 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' hatte 'A Touch of Zen' sehr viel gutes. Der naive Gu wird in die Welt von der mysteriösen Yang hineingeworfen, die aussergewöhnliche Wuxia Kampfkünste hat. Der Film könnte aber auch nach dem Kampf im Fort enden. Ab da beginnt eine komplett neue Storyline, die wie ein zweiter Film wirkt. (Aha, laut wikipedia Eintrag gab es auch mal zwei Teile, die zu einer Langfassung zusammengeführt wurde.) Ein echter, etwas besser strukturierter zweiter Teil, hätte dem Werk gut getan. Zum Ende verschwindet die Verbindung zwischen Gu und Yang immer mehr. Ein paar tiegreifende Szenen zwischen den beiden hätte den Film noch gut getan.

I kept having trouble getting through the first 45 minutes, yet after that it is a ride.

Berlin - At home - TV

I am but a paltry human worshipping at my religion that is King Hu. The Criterion Channel describes it best, “‘Visionary’ barely begins to describe this masterpiece.” This is my 5th Hu film and my 4th 5-star rating, and I think this might be my favorite of them all. But, honestly, I can see any of them being my favorite at any given day. Genuinely transcended filmmaking.

An absolutely stunning wuxia film with endless surprises.