Home > Blu-ray & DVD > The classic ‘Touch of Zen’ gets Eureka release…

The classic ‘Touch of Zen’ gets Eureka release…

Eureka Entertainment release the King Hu’s ground-breaking ‘A Touch of Zen’ onto Blu-ray & DVD in the UK.


A Touch of Zen, one of the most influential martial arts epics of all time, hits the UK some 45 years after it wowed critics around the world, courtesy of Eureka Entertainment who are giving the film the treatment it deserves as part of their Masters of Cinema series.

The film, regarded by many to be the single most influential Wuxia/heroic swordplay movie of all time, was a nominee for the Palm d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1975 and took home a special award for technical excellence. Production began in 1968 and was released in two parts in Taiwan, but as a 187 minute cut for Hong Kong and is given a three disc limited edition release by Eureka in the UK.

The film tells of a well meaning but lazy painter named Gu (Shih Jun), who lives with his mother close to an abandoned and supposedly haunted mansion. But the mansion has become a hiding place for the woman warrior Yang (Hsu Feng) who is seeking refuge from the wicked Eunuch of the East Chamber. When the Eunuch sends his army to pursue them, Gu and Yang and their surviving family are forced to join forces and battle for survival from within the mansion.But things take some very dark turns….

Directed by legendary film-maker King Hu, the Taiwanese director responsible for other classics such as Come Drink with Me and the original Dragon Inn, the movie features several iconic sequences including an epic battle in a bamboo forest that has served as inspiration for so many classic swordplay movies since, with similar scenes occurring in everything from Butterfly & Sword through Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers.

The cast is lead by the lovely Hsu Feng who would become a producer after she finished acting (producing everything from Farewell my Concubine to the Kung Fu Kids movies and the original 3 Ninjas movie) and the great Roy Chiao who appeared opposite everyone from Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon, Jean-Claude Van Damme in Bloodsport and Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

It’s a hard film to review, all I can say is that if you’re a true fan of the genre this is a movie you have to watch. Its influence on so many subsequent Hong Kong and Taiwanese swordplay movies can not be measured. It inspired so many. Its cinematography, editing and special effects are top notch and as with King Hu’s other work, its got a very thoughtful approach to the genre which might at times seems a little slow… but if you can put aside your desire for endless ka-tang ka-tang of clashing swords and kung fu and be open to embrace a true cinematic experience that served as an influence for so many New Wave directors including Tsui Hark, Zhang Yimou & Ang Lee, then you’re in for a hell of a ride.

Eureka‘s presentation for the movie is superb, it’s a beautiful 4K restoration on both the Blu-Ray and the DVD, the subtitles have been re-translated, the third disc on the limited edition comes with the documentary King Hu 1937-1997 and a new video by critic David Cairns – as well as plenty of very cool supplemental material.

 

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