A Touch of Zen
A Touch of Zen is the fourth King Hu film that I have watched. This is widely considered to be his magnum opus and is among the most prestigious and quintessential wuxia films! As far as wuxia films go, I love how much more grounded King Hu is compared to a lot of his contemporaries. There's a lot of restraint with how much magic he uses, and the films are more about the code of honor, while the sword fights he makes are always entertaining. I am so glad that I have him as one of my entries in the yearly challenge that I am doing!
Unfortunately, though, this falls short of being a masterpiece for two reasons. The first big one is the pacing and how the first hour of this epic meanders and focuses on characters that have almost no relevance for the entire second half of the film. It could easily be tightened up by 10–15 minutes. The second is the editing. There's a lot of distracting smash cuts, hairs in the gate, and one really egregious panning shot that almost made me sick. I understand that this was restored by Criterion, where I watched it, so I can give some benefit of the doubt, but some of those technical aspects should have been caught at the time.
With that out of the way, let me just gush about so many other things in this film! For one, this is absolutely gorgeous. The colors and graininess of the film look so amazing that it's almost hard to put into words. It really has so much dynamism and adds so much interest during every point of the runtime. There's not a boring frame in this movie. I particularly love the use of primary and secondary colors to make things pop out in all of the scenes.
The action is also sublime and quite easy to track. There's a fluidity to how the blades move, and the swords feel extremely deadly. Even the unarmed combat in this feels weighty and rich. I adore the cinematography of the fight scenes and how frenetic it is. Very few films can have so many cuts and make a fight scene make sense like this one does. Also, I just have to shout out the aura-farming monks. They are badasses and certainly my favorite part of the movie.
I HIGHLY recommend this film as one of your first wuxia films. It's a long epic, but I feel like most everyone will get something out of this. It was a really fun movie!
Unfortunately, though, this falls short of being a masterpiece for two reasons. The first big one is the pacing and how the first hour of this epic meanders and focuses on characters that have almost no relevance for the entire second half of the film. It could easily be tightened up by 10–15 minutes. The second is the editing. There's a lot of distracting smash cuts, hairs in the gate, and one really egregious panning shot that almost made me sick. I understand that this was restored by Criterion, where I watched it, so I can give some benefit of the doubt, but some of those technical aspects should have been caught at the time.
With that out of the way, let me just gush about so many other things in this film! For one, this is absolutely gorgeous. The colors and graininess of the film look so amazing that it's almost hard to put into words. It really has so much dynamism and adds so much interest during every point of the runtime. There's not a boring frame in this movie. I particularly love the use of primary and secondary colors to make things pop out in all of the scenes.
The action is also sublime and quite easy to track. There's a fluidity to how the blades move, and the swords feel extremely deadly. Even the unarmed combat in this feels weighty and rich. I adore the cinematography of the fight scenes and how frenetic it is. Very few films can have so many cuts and make a fight scene make sense like this one does. Also, I just have to shout out the aura-farming monks. They are badasses and certainly my favorite part of the movie.
I HIGHLY recommend this film as one of your first wuxia films. It's a long epic, but I feel like most everyone will get something out of this. It was a really fun movie!
Mini Review: A Touch of Zen is my fourth King Hu film, and it's easy to see why it's considered his magnum opus and one of the defining wuxia films. I love how grounded it feels, focusing on honor and swordplay rather than excessive magic. The pacing drags in the first hour and some editing choices are distracting, but the stunning visuals, vibrant colors, and excellent action more than make up for it. The monks steal every scene. A fantastic introduction to wuxia cinema.
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