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.

I guess I sort of watched this

Sight & Sound Challenge 232/250

The title’s a bit facetious. There’s more than just a “touch” of Zen in this film. It’s the whole final act. It’s practically Brechtian how tacked-on it feels. You think this film is over, and then it goes on for another 45 min to teach you Buddhist philosophy. And it’s not trying to hide it either. It’s very “in your face” about this.

While the imagery and editing are wonderful, the inclusion of that final act is deadly. Not that I’m opposed to religious messaging in art, but the way it is handled makes you resent it. You feel like you are being lectured. Unfortunate.

A masterclass in building tension, narrative cohesion, and chucking arrows from just off screen.

monks! monks! monks! monks!

never attack but always defend your beliefs and those around you ✊🏽

such a stunning film in so many ways

Finally finished. And? I tried. But. I found it rather dull.

i am TRANSCENDING

94