"A Touch of Zen" is a 1971 Taiwanese wuxia film directed by King Hu. It’s a clear influence on later wuxia movies like House of Flying Daggers and a classic of its type.
I’m not a big fan of wuxia generally. It takes me back to badly dubbed 70s Hong Kong beat ‘em ups.
But “A Touch of Zen” has a deeper tale to tell and more varied characters.
Set during the Ming dynasty, the story follows Ku Shen Chai, an unambitious scholar who lives with his mother near a supposedly haunted fort.
He lives a simple life, is a bit odd looking and dreams of nothing more than opening his own school.
All this changes when Yang Hui-zhen, a fugitive female warrior on the run from corrupt government officials, turns up next door.
Ku gets involved with Yang (she gets pregnant, so that kind of involved) and helps defend her and her companions by setting traps for their pursuers at the fort.
“A Touch of Zen” has superbly choreographed fight scenes - much imitated by later wuxia movies. The fight in the bamboo forest is a scenes that seems to appear in lots of wuxia movies.
But it’s not all sword tricks and jumping impossibly high in the air. Yang is a strong female protagonist, eschewing the wife and mother tropes and is attracted to an unusual-looking man, who himself is not your typical hero: more brain than braun.
And as the title suggests, there is a touch of Zen Buddhism throughout this movie. It raises questions about existence, the fluidity of our identity and our place in the natural world, culminating with the Abbot passing to nirvana.
Whether you care for that or not, it acts as a contrast with the pursuit of worldly goods and power of the government officials.
It’s not your typical wuxia movie!
Hope you enjoy it. Support arthouse cinema and buy the DVD to watch.