REVIEW: ‘Touch of Zen’ is every bit an epic
A Touch of Zen, currently playing the Film Forum in New York, is an epic Taiwanese film of wuxia, featuring ancient martial arts. Modern-day viewers of this 1971 gem will note many films that were obviously influenced by A Touch of Zen. From Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill series to Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, many of these films are beneficiaries of writer-director King Hu’s epic efforts.
The three-hour movie, which Film Forum presents uncut and in a new 4K restoration, follows the adventures of Shih Jun (Ku Shen Chai), a painter in a local town who still lives with his mother and is probably too kind for his own good. His simple life is disrupted when Hsu Feng (Yang Hui-ching) moves into an abandoned neighbor’s house. The two characters begin a relationship, mostly because of the insistence of Shih Jun’s mother, but all is not what it seems in their budding romance. The authorities are looking for Hsu Feng because of a murderous plot that is told in flashbacks. Now it’s up to Shih Jun and Hsu Feng to fight these men, who will seemingly stop at nothing in their pursuits.
There are many fight sequences, all of them beautifully choreographed like cinematic ballets. Much like Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hu stages the action as larger-than-life motions that have the combatants flying through the air, sometimes jumping as if on trampolines and other times whisking through bamboo forests. The action sequences are wondrously staged and perhaps stand as Touch of Zen’s strongest attribute.
The acting is solid, especially from Ku Shen Chai and Yang Hui-ching. They are the only characters in this epic to receive some backstory and an arc, and in their few dramatic scenes, the actors are able to convincingly heighten the pathos and intensity.
The supporting characters sometimes steal the spotlight from the leads, and the film’s final third, although featuring some exquisite direction, creative art direction and memorable shots, pulls too much away from its leads. For example, the ultimate battle sequence is between two opponents who are important to the plot but don’t necessarily fit the overall arc of the story.
The visuals, more than the narrative, are what dominate A Touch of Zen, and Hu is a master at this type of storytelling. The infamous bamboo-forest scene is every bit as thrilling as its reputation suggests, and the final showdown in a desert is complicated and intense. The ultimate images of the two fighters in this barren landscape, vanquished and seeking validation, is a haunting finale to an epic story that never ceases to amaze.
Hu’s film has gone through some edits and controversies over the years, so it’s nice to have Film Forum present the uncut version. It grows long, but the numerous action scenes hold the audience’s attention from the introduction of this simple, working painter to the desert battle that will surely be emblazoned in the minds of viewers. What a spectacle.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
- A Touch of Zen
- 1971
- Directed by King Hu
- Written by Hu and Sung-ling Pu
- Starring Shih Jun and Hsu Feng
- Running time: 180 minutes
- Rating:
