A TOUCH OF ZEN | XIA NÜ

TAIWAN, HONG KONG | 1971 | COLOR | DCP | 180’ | MANDARIN

In 14th century medieval China a mysterious stranger pays a young artist a visit, asking him to paint his portrait. In reality he is a State agent looking for a female fugitive, whom the young man is in love with. A deadly hunt begins. King Hu’s film cannot be described; it is delightfully experienced in all its analogue glory. Maybe the swiftest long duration feature film ever made, without ever giving in to visual noise. Instead Hu engrafts cinema, absorbs almost every technique, threads his way with his camera brilliantly among monks and warriors, edits the most organized frenzy wuxia ever saw and gives us a breakthrough film dedicated to the genre, its scholars and its aficionados. I.D.

DIRECTOR: King Hu
SCREENWRITER: King Hu
DoP: Hui-Ying Hua
MUSIC: Ta Chiang Wu
EDITORS: King Hu, Chin-Chen Wang
PRINCIPAL CAST: Hsu Feng, Shih Chun, Pai Ying, Roy Chiao