A TOUCH OF ZEN (1971)
Directed by: King Hu
Starring: Hsu Feng, Shih Chun, Pai Ying, Tien Peng, Tsao Chien, Roy Chiao, Sammo Hung

Astonishing is the only word for it. Running three ecstatic hours, A Touch of Zen is the kind of movie you surrender to, and you’ll walk out of the theater with your soul in better shape than when you came in. Butchered on release, it died at the box office and killed King Hu’s career until the three-hour cut played at the Cannes Film Festival three years later and received the Technical Grand Prize and almost took home the Palme d’Or. Ever since, it’s been considered one of the greatest Chinese movies ever made.

Starting as a ghost story, it slowly spins its web as a scholar (Shih Chun) living next door to a haunted house, falls for the woman warrior he first mistakes for a ghost (Hsu Feng). By the time he finds out she’s on the run from the government, he’s caught in her grip and willing to go wherever she goes, and so is the audience, as this movie delivers bamboo forest fights, martial arts transcendence, and Zen Buddhism. Zen made Hsu Feng’s ferocious swordswoman a major star, and established that King Hu had more on his mind than mere swordplay. Spending 25 days shooting scenes that occupy a mere 10 minutes of screentime, Zen made it clear that for King Hu, making movies was a way of life.