A Touch of Zen

A Touch of Zen
Film poster
Traditional 俠女
Simplified 侠女
Mandarin Xiá Nǚ
Literally Hero woman
Directed by King Hu
Produced by Hsia Wu Ling-fung
Written by King Hu
Starring Hsu Feng
Shih Chun
Pai Ying
Roy Chiao
Music by Wu Ta-chiang
Lo Ming-tao
Cinematography Hua Hui-ying
Edited by King Hu
Wing Chin-chen
Production
company
Union Film
International Film Production
Distributed by Union Film
Release date
  • November 18, 1971 (1971-11-18)
Running time
 180 minutes
Language Mandarin

A Touch of Zen is a 1971 wuxia film co-edited, written, and directed by King Hu. The film won Technical Grand Prize award at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival.

Although filming began in 1968, A Touch of Zen was not completed until 1971. The original Taiwanese release was in two parts in 1970 and 1971 (filming was still ongoing when the first part was released) with the bamboo forest sequence that concludes Part 1 reprised at the beginning of Part 2; this version has a combined run time of 200 minutes. In November 1971 both parts of the film were combined into one for the Hong Kong market with a run time of 187 minutes. Its running time of over three hours makes it an unusually epic entry in the wuxia genre.[1]

Plot

A remote mountain village in Ming China, the 14th century AD.[a]

The story is largely seen through the eyes of Gu, who is a well-meaning but unambitious scholar and painter, with a tendency towards being clumsy and ineffectual. A stranger arrives in town wanting his portrait painted by Gu, but his real objective is to bring a female fugitive back to the city for execution on behalf of the East Chamber guards. The fugitive, Yang, is befriended by Gu and together they plot against the corrupt Eunuch Wei who wants to eradicate all trace of her family after her father attempts to warn the Emperor of the eunuch's corruption. His daughter fled, and Abbot Hui intervened to protect them.

The stranger, Yang and her friends are all superior warriors. The stranger has a special flexible sword that bends and that he can wear within his belt, making him seem unarmed.

One of the unique aspects of the film is that Gu is a non-combatant all the way through the film and only becomes involved when he sleeps with Yang. Upon doing so, he is no longer the naïve bumbling innocent, but instead becomes confident and assertive, and when Yang's plight is revealed, he insists on being part of it – and even comes up with a fiendish "Ghost Trap" for the East Chamber guards. This is a plan to use a supposedly haunted site to play tricks on the guards to make them believe they are prey to the undead. He first spreads rumours of ghosts, with his mother playing a part. The film then briefly uses split-screen with six separate views to show the spread of these rumours.

In the aftermath, Gu walks through the carnage laughing at the ingenuity of his plan until the true cost of human life dawns upon him. He sees Abbot Hui and his followers arrive to help bury the dead.

After the battle, Gu is unable to find Yang, who he is told has left him and does not want him to follow her. He tracks her down at the monastery of the saintly and powerful Abbot Hui Yuan, where she has given birth to a child by Gu and become a nun. She tells Gu that their destiny together has ended and gives Gu their child. Later, when Gu and the child are tracked down by Hsu Hsien-Chen, the evil commander of Eunuch Wei's army, Yang and Abbot Hui come to Gu's rescue. In the ensuing battle, Hsu is killed and Yang and Abbot Hui are badly injured (the latter bleeding golden blood). The film famously ends with the injured Yang staggering towards a silhouetted figure, presumably Abbot Hui, seen meditating with the setting sun forming a halo around his head, an image suggesting the Buddha and enlightenment.

Cast

  • Hsu Feng as Yang Hui-zhen (楊惠貞)
  • Shih Chun (石雋; Shí Juàn) as Gu Sheng-tsai (顧省齋; Gù Shěngzhāi)
  • Bai Ying (白鷹) as General Shi Wen-qiao (石問樵)
  • Xue Han (薛漢) as General Lu Ding-an (魯定庵)
  • Roy Chiao as Abbot Hui-yuan (慧圆)
  • Tien Peng (田鵬) as Ouyang Nian (歐陽年)
  • Cao Jian (曹健) as Xu Zheng-qing (徐正清), local magistrate
  • Miao Tien as Nie Qiu (臬逑), one of Mun Ta's advisors
  • Zhang Bing-yu as Sheng-tsai's mother
  • Wang Rui as Men Da a.k.a. Mun Ta (門達; Mén Dá)
  • Han Ying-jie as Chief Commander Xu Xian-chun
  • Wan Zhong-shan (萬重山) as Lu Qiang (魯強)
  • Liu Chu as one of the Magistrate's men
  • Gao Ming as one of the Magistrate's men
  • Lu Zhi as Mun Ta's guard
  • Jia Lushi as Yang Lian
  • Cheung Wen-men as Tao Lung
  • Jackie Chan (uncredited stuntman)[2]
  • Long Fei as a guard
  • Sammo Hung as guard/soldier

Production

A Touch of Zen was shot in Taiwan and was funded by the Taiwanese production company called Union Film Company.[3][4] In his book on the film, Stephen Teo suggested that the film suggested the films roots in Hong Kong cinema, noting the bulk of both Taiwanese and Hong Kong actors and crew members.[3]

Reception

The film was awarded the Technical Grand Prize and nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival.[5] It became the first Chinese-language film to win an award at the Cannes Film Festival and the first wuxia film to win at an international film festival.[3]

Home media

A Touch of Zen was released on DVD for the North American market on December 10, 2002 by Tai Seng Entertainment, with only King Hu's biography and filmography as extras.[6] The film was also released on PAL DVD for the British market on July 28, 2003 by Optimum Releasing (now StudioCanal UK), as well as for the German market on April 10, 2008 by KSM GmbH as part of their "King Hu Collection".[7][8] The film was released on PAL DVD in France on September 1, 2004 as simply Touch of Zen by Films sans Frontières (Films Without Borders), which has both French and English subtitles.[9][10]

After the film's 4K restoration in 2015, the film's first Blu-ray release was by Eureka Entertainment for the Masters of Cinema series, released on January 25, 2016 for the British market, which also includes a DVD edition of the film. Both editions include a select scene commentary by critic Tony Rayns, the film's theatrical trailer, and newly translated English subtitles, as well as a 36-page booklet which features director King Hu's statement from the 1975 Cannes Film Festival, a 1975 interview with the director by Rayns, the short story the film was based on, eight characteristics of "the swordswoman" in King Hu's films, and archival images. A limited-edition version of the Blu-ray and DVD adds a 2012 documentary about King Hu and a new essay by filmmaker David Cairns.[11]

On July 19, 2016, American home video company The Criterion Collection released the film on Blu-ray and DVD using the same 4K restoration also used by the Masters of Cinema release. Both the Blu-ray and DVD include the 2012 documentary about King Hu, new interviews with the actors Hsu Feng and Shih Chun, filmmaker Ang Lee, and film scholar Tony Rayns, the theatrical 4K re-release trailer, and newly translated English subtitles, as well as a leaflet containing a new essay by film critic and theorist David Bordwell and King Hu's notes from the 1975 Cannes Film Festival. The new Blu-ray and DVD cover and interior poster (combined with the leaflet) was illustrated by Greg Ruth and designed by Eric Skillman.[12][13]

Notes

a. ^ Program notes establish the setting as the 14th century. This is despite the presence of maize drying outside the Gu homestead, which did not reach China until the 16th century.[14][15]

  1. ↑ Teo, Stephen (2007). King Hu's A Touch of Zen. Hong Kong University Press. p. 8. ISBN 978-962-209-815-2.
  2. ↑ Teo, Stephen (1 November 2006). "King Hu's A Touch of Zen". Hong Kong University Press – via Google Books.
  3. 1 2 3 Teo 2006, p. 2.
  4. ↑ "A Touch of Zen" (PDF). Cannes Film Festival. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  5. ↑ "Festival de Cannes: A Touch of Zen". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-05-04.
  6. ↑ Wallis, J. Doyle (24 December 2002). "A Touch of Zen : DVD Talk Review of the DVD Video". DVD Talk. DVDTalk.com. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  7. ↑ "A Touch Of Zen (Xia Nu) 1971 [DVD] [1969]". Amazon.co.uk. Amazon.com, Inc. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  8. ↑ "Ein Hauch von Zen (Director's Cut)". Amazon.de (in German). Amazon.com, Inc. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  9. ↑ "TOUCH OF ZEN, film réalisé par King Hu". Films sans frontières (in French). Films sans frontières. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  10. ↑ "Touch of Zen [Version intégrale]". Amazon.fr (in French). Amazon.com, Inc. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  11. ↑ "A Touch of Zen". Masters of Cinema | Eureka. Bensons World. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  12. ↑ "A Touch of Zen (1971)". The Criterion Collection. The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 21 July 2016.
  13. ↑ Greg Ruth [@GregRuth] (16 April 2016). "My movie poster for @Criterion's release of A TOUCH OF ZEN is here! @janusfilms thx to the brilliant @EricSkillman!" (Tweet). Retrieved 21 July 2016 – via Twitter.
  14. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9902E0DB173EEF34BC4852DFB667838D669EDE
  15. ↑ "A Touch of Zen". 17 February 2016.

Sources

  • Teo, Stephen (2006). King Hu's A Touch of Zen. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 9622098150.

Further reading

  • Lorge, Peter. "Sexing Warrior Women." Located in: Ramey, Lynn T. and Tison Pugh (editors). Race, Class, and Gender in "Medieval" Cinema. Macmillan, February 20, 2007. pages 157-163. ISBN 978-1-4039-7427-3.
  • Stephen Teo: King Hu's A Touch of Zen. Hong Kong University Press 2007, ISBN 978-9622098152
  • Tony Williams: A Touch of Zen. Senses Of Cinema - Cinémathèque Annotations on Film, September 2013
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