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A Touch of Zen



"Visionary" barely begins to describe this masterpiece of Chinese cinema and martial arts moviemaking. A Touch of Zen by King Hu depicts the journey of Yang (Hsu Feng), a fugitive noblewoman who seeks refuge in a remote, and allegedly haunted, village. The sanctuary she finds with a shy scholar and two aides in disguise is shattered when a nefarious swordsman uncovers her identity, pitting the four against legions of blade-wielding opponents. At once a wuxia film, the tale of a spiritual quest, and a study in human nature, A Touch of Zen is an unparalleled work in Hu's formidable career and an epic of the highest order, characterized by breathtaking action choreography, stunning widescreen landscapes, and innovative editing.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Documentary from 2012 about director King Hu
• New interviews with actors Hsu Feng and Shih Chun
• New interview with filmmaker Ang Lee
• New interview with film scholar Tony Rayns
• Trailer
• New English subtitle translation
• PLUS: An essay by film scholar David Bordwell and notes by Hu from a 1975 Cannes Film Festival press kit

Bizarre that Dragon Inn wasn't paired with this for a sister release

Especially since they have clearly indicated they are prepping the release. Maybe they're saving it for some amazing extra?

My local theater has booked the forthcoming Janus tour of Dragon Inn but not Touch of Zen - is there a chance it's being held back so it can tour around longer whilst the other one doesn't really get a theatrical run?

(This wouldn't really make much sense given I think Touch of Zen is by far the higher profile title but hey stranger things have happened)

Touch of Zen is playing Film Forum in NYC next week.

So any hints at what is being ported over from the MoC release?

MOC Features wrote:LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE: King Hu 1932-1997, a 47-minute documentary on the director featuring interviews with colleagues, collaborators and historians
LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE: Golden Blood, a new video essay by critic and filmmaker David Cairns
Select scene commentary by critic and Asian cinema expert Tony Rayns
Trailer
36-PAGE BOOKLET featuring:
- King Hu's director statement from the Cannes Film Festival
- A 1975 interview with King Hu by Tony Rayns
- The original short story the film is based on
- The eight characteristics of "the swordswoman" in King Hu's films
- Archival images

Criterion Features wrote:• Documentary from 2012 about director King Hu
• New interviews with actors Hsu Feng and Shih Chun
• New interview with filmmaker Ang Lee
• New interview with film scholar Tony Rayns
• Trailer
• PLUS: An essay by film scholar David Bordwell and notes by Hu from a 1975 Cannes Film Festival press kit

I'm guessing the 2012 doc on the Criterion is the same as the 47 min doc on the MoC Limited Edition? Otherwise, I think the only other overlap would be King Hu's Cannes notes, and possibly the Tony Rayns interview/selected scene commentary.

Ribs wrote:My local theater has booked the forthcoming Janus tour of Dragon Inn but not Touch of Zen...

Is there a Janus calendar available for that? Or for Brighter Summer Day, for example?

Shrew wrote:I'm guessing the 2012 doc on the Criterion is the same as the 47 min doc on the MoC Limited Edition?

Yes, it looks like it is. The 47 min French doc' used by MoC is from 2012.

A Touch of Tooze


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Not keen on the yellow tint.

It's less present then on the MOC (though both look good).

Ang Lee is a great director and strikes me as a wise, thoughtful and kind man. but his interviews are like watching, or rather, listening to paint dry...

Can anyone who has watched it and speaks Mandarin and/or Cantonese say which language it's in? Criterion lists it as Mandarin, and I'd normally trust that but Amazon and others have it listed as Cantonese. Still, I'd normally go with Criterion's listing, but the Bordwell piece on Criterion's website implies it's in Cantonese.

It's a Mandarin language film. Taiwanese cinema is primarially Mandarin. Mind you, in 1971, hardly any Hong Kong movies were released in Cantonese, and none were in 1972.

Is it mostly the HK new wave where Cantonese returns to Hong Kong movies? It seems like a lot of the Shaw Bros films of the 70s were released in Mandarin.

Orlac wrote:It's a Mandarin language film. Taiwanese cinema is primarially Mandarin. Mind you, in 1971, hardly any Hong Kong movies were released in Cantonese, and none were in 1972.

Thank you. This is excellent news, and I appreciate the guidelines on making sure I'm getting films in Mandarin otherwise.

feihong wrote:Is it mostly the HK new wave where Cantonese returns to Hong Kong movies? It seems like a lot of the Shaw Bros films of the 70s were released in Mandarin.

Depends. Shaws revived Cantonese cinema for House of 72 Tenants, which was the big hit of 1973. However, it was mostly used for comedies and contemporary crime films. Golden Harvest didn't make a Cantonese kung fu film until 1977's Iron Fisted Monk, and it took Shaws until 1979 to make them with Dirty Ho and Mad Monkey Kung Fu (although some sources suggest that GH and Shaws rival Wong Fei-hung movies of 1974, The Skyhawk and Rivals of Kung Fu, were Cantonese) . By the 80s, GH's output was mainly dual-language, with the focus on Cantonese, but Shaws continued to supply Mandarin only films, including Chang Cheh's films.

The final half hour of this film is absolutely sublime. The way the monks are photographed, intercut with images of untouched nature as they glide across the tops of plants to evoke a sense of serenity or "zen," is beautiful. I'm not quite sure what to make of how (or when) Gu's arc ends, but with how the final act unfolds it may not even be necessary. Quite an experience.

Bluray.com 3 1/2 stars for PQ.

Dr. Svet wrote:My score is 3.25/5.00.

I wasn't aware they'd gone to a second decimal place. I guess that only underscores the technical precision of these reviews.

Glenn Erickson AKA DVD Savant is not usually quoted or linked here for reviews, but I thought this was curious :-k enough to post...

The Criterion Collection’s Blu-ray of A Touch of Zen looks great. It was mastered from a 4k restoration done in Italy and funded by the film’s star Hsu Feng, in honor of the great King Hu. The picture is rich and colorful, with only a few scenes (or shots, really) betraying some source issues. We do notice things that weren’t removed, such as a scene that had dirt on the lens. Also, one must simply accept that King Hu’s anamorphic lenses have severe distortion issues. In pan shots across rooms and distant scenery, the image w a R p s like a barrel. I suppose the distortion could be neutralized digitally, but after a few scenes I thought the effect gave the picture character, as if it were meant to be projected on a curved screen.

I guess some have lower standards than others.

Different reviewers, different appreciations. It's quite common, actually, even with people you wouldn't expect.

The distortion was fairly common in HK films of that period, at least the ones I've seen. There's an even weirder effect in films like The Young Master, where scenes in the villain's lair are diagonally slanted.

One none HK film that suffered from the effect Erickson described was Hammer's Rasputin the Mad Monk.

There are other Hong Kong films that, thanks to a persistent use of very short anamorphic lenses, look very nearly like a Hype Williams video at times—Sorrows of the Gentry is good example.