Watch too many movies and chances are you can predict the outcome within the opening minutes. Wuxia can feel often feel like this and so the enjoyment comes in the journey and not always the destination, as satisfying that inevitable confrontation might be. “The Swordsman of all Swordsmen” thus comes as a surprise with a twist in the expectations that focuses on the honor and chivalry as much as the notions of revenge. It's a perfect opportunity to revisit it with Eureka Entertainment releasing a restored version onto Blu-ray.
on Terracotta by clicking on the image below
As a young boy, Tsai Ying-jie (Tien Peng) witnesses the slaughter of his family by Yun Chun-chung (Tsao Tsien) and his accomplices in search or the Spirit Chasing Sword. Growing up into a swordsman in his own right, he seeks to exact revenge from those responsible. An encounter with Flying...
on Terracotta by clicking on the image below
As a young boy, Tsai Ying-jie (Tien Peng) witnesses the slaughter of his family by Yun Chun-chung (Tsao Tsien) and his accomplices in search or the Spirit Chasing Sword. Growing up into a swordsman in his own right, he seeks to exact revenge from those responsible. An encounter with Flying...
- 3/18/2024
- by Ben Stykuc
- AsianMoviePulse
Mostly known for elevating the wuxia genre in unprecedented heights, with films like “A Touch of Zen” and “Dragon Inn”, King Hu has also implemented his impressive aesthetics to this 1979 film, which lingers between the thriller and the ghost story, as usual including Zen Buddhist philosophy. Eureka Entertainment presents this epic in all of its 191 minutes, in a fully restored edition, in stunning 4K.
Legend of the Mountain is screening at Five Flavours
The story is adapted from a Song Dynasty folk tale and revolves around Ho Yunqing, a young scholar who is tasked by an eminent monk to transcribe a Buddhist sutra said to have immense power over the spirits of the afterlife. To execute his work in peace, he travels to the abandoned premises of an ex-general deep in the mountains, where he encounters a number of strange people. These include Mr Tsui, the man who welcomes him in the area,...
Legend of the Mountain is screening at Five Flavours
The story is adapted from a Song Dynasty folk tale and revolves around Ho Yunqing, a young scholar who is tasked by an eminent monk to transcribe a Buddhist sutra said to have immense power over the spirits of the afterlife. To execute his work in peace, he travels to the abandoned premises of an ex-general deep in the mountains, where he encounters a number of strange people. These include Mr Tsui, the man who welcomes him in the area,...
- 11/20/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
After “Come Drink With Me” Hong Kong director King Hu probably could have stayed with Shaw Brothers Studio, but instead left the country for Taiwan where he would form his own company and in the years to come, make some of the best movies of his career. While the budget and conditions had certainly changed, Hu continued exploring the themes of his last feature in “Dragon Inn”, arguably his most popular movie aside from “A Touch of Zen”. As one of the most referred to entry in the wuxia genre, it not only provided cinephiles with great fight choreographies, great performances and a wonderful setting, with the architecture of the inn itself being the star of the show, “Dragon Inn” also proved how the genre would blend a highly entertaining formula with a very interesting and (after all these years) still quite appealing social commentary about the relationship of subject and ruler.
- 11/16/2023
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Hailed as one of the biggest epics of the wuxia genre, “A Touch of Zen” is a true masterpiece of the category that stands apart particularly due to its technical prowess and high symbolism. The script is based on a short story titled “The Magnanimous Girl” by Pu Songling that was published in 1679.
A Touch of Zen is screening at Five Flavours
Gu is a talented painter and scholar who still lives with his mother, who worries about him being unambitious, unmarried and his decline to apply for a civil servant position. Eventually, a young girl named Yang and her mother settle in an abandoned house nearby, which everybody considers haunted. Gu's mother however, does not seem at all bothered by the fact and she proceeds in an effort to arrange a marriage between Gu and Yang. The girl declines but she and Gu strike a peculiar friendship, after she...
A Touch of Zen is screening at Five Flavours
Gu is a talented painter and scholar who still lives with his mother, who worries about him being unambitious, unmarried and his decline to apply for a civil servant position. Eventually, a young girl named Yang and her mother settle in an abandoned house nearby, which everybody considers haunted. Gu's mother however, does not seem at all bothered by the fact and she proceeds in an effort to arrange a marriage between Gu and Yang. The girl declines but she and Gu strike a peculiar friendship, after she...
- 11/15/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI, and sign up for our weekly email newsletter by clicking here.NEWSNon-Fiction.The Writers Guild of America went on strike Tuesday; this is the first major Hollywood strike since 2007. Michael Schulman of the New Yorker speaks with several screenwriters about the conditions they are advocating to change, highlighting the ways in which streaming has transformed their livelihoods.Olivier Assayas is cooking up a new project with his current muse Vincent Macaigne, titled Hors du temps, per the actor’s Instagram. Macaigne wonderfully held the center of Assayas’s limited-series rewiring of Irma Vep (2022), and brought a similarly melancholy pathos to Non-Fiction (2018).The Cannes Film Festival has announced that John C. Reilly will preside over the Un Certain Regard jury—a worthy recognition of his Mvp status in Claire Denis’s Stars at Noon (2022). Alongside...
- 5/3/2023
- MUBI
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" has all the trappings of a great wuxia film. Loosely adapted from a series of novels by Wang Dulu, the movie features a legendary sword, doomed lovers, and martial arts duels. Martial arts legend Cheng Pei-pei stars alongside Michelle Yeoh. The film's famous bamboo forest battle even pays direct homage to the genre classic "A Touch of Zen." On its release, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" became the single highest grossing foreign-language film in the history of the United States. It was nominated for several Oscars and won four, including Best Foreign Language Film. Its success paved the way for...
The post Ang Lee Made Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon A Masterclass In Compromise appeared first on /Film.
The post Ang Lee Made Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon A Masterclass In Compromise appeared first on /Film.
- 5/21/2022
- by Adam Wescott
- Slash Film
“They call me Drunken Cat”
King Hu’s Come Drink With Me (1966) will be available on Blu-ray March 22nd from Arrow Video. It can be pre-ordered Here
Years before Shaw Brothers’ kung fu films made them the biggest film studio in Hong Kong, local audiences flocked to their wuxia pian films: mythic tales of swordfighting (and often gravity-defying) heroes fighting for honor. In his final film for the studio, Come Drink With Me, director King Hu (A Touch of Zen) broke fresh new ground in martial arts storytelling, and catapulted fresh-faced lead actress Cheng Pei-pei to stardom in the process.
When the Governor’s son is taken hostage by bandits, a mysterious swordsman named Golden Swallow (Cheng) is hot on their trail to ensure the son’s release. What the bandits don’t realize, however, is that Golden Swallow is actually a woman, and that the hostage is her brother.
King Hu’s Come Drink With Me (1966) will be available on Blu-ray March 22nd from Arrow Video. It can be pre-ordered Here
Years before Shaw Brothers’ kung fu films made them the biggest film studio in Hong Kong, local audiences flocked to their wuxia pian films: mythic tales of swordfighting (and often gravity-defying) heroes fighting for honor. In his final film for the studio, Come Drink With Me, director King Hu (A Touch of Zen) broke fresh new ground in martial arts storytelling, and catapulted fresh-faced lead actress Cheng Pei-pei to stardom in the process.
When the Governor’s son is taken hostage by bandits, a mysterious swordsman named Golden Swallow (Cheng) is hot on their trail to ensure the son’s release. What the bandits don’t realize, however, is that Golden Swallow is actually a woman, and that the hostage is her brother.
- 2/10/2022
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
After “Come Drink With Me” Hong Kong director King Hu probably could have stayed with Shaw Brothers Studio, but instead left the country for Taiwan where he would form his own company and in the years to come, make some of the best movies of his career. While the budget and conditions had certainly changed, Hu continued exploring the themes of his last feature in “Dragon Inn”, arguably his most popular movie aside from “A Touch of Zen”. As one of the most referred to entry in the wuxia genre, it not only provided cinephiles with great fight choreographies, great performances and a wonderful setting, with the architecture of the inn itself being the star of the show, “Dragon Inn” also proved how the genre would blend a highly entertaining formula with a very interesting and (after all these years) still quite appealing social commentary about the relationship of subject and ruler.
- 9/20/2021
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Chicago, Il – – Asian Pop-Up Cinema: Season 13 will present 30 films at an in-person and drive-in festival, with select titles available for online streaming. The festival opens September 15 and runs through October 12, 2021, at AMC River East 21, The Davis Theater and ChiTown Drive-In.
The programming celebrates the best Asian-centric cinema, with new work made by filmmakers from China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the U.S. and Canada. This season will highlight women in film, stories with humanitarian themes and action thrillers, including four restored martial arts classics.
Season 13 opens with Jessica Kingdon’s Ascension, a documentary observing China’s growing class divide through labor, consumerism, and wealth. Structured in three parts, the film ascends through the levels of the capitalist structure and examines how the contemporary “Chinese Dream” remains an elusive fantasy for most.
Centerpiece film The Fable: The Killer Who Doesn’T Kill is Japanese director Kan Eguchi’s action/comedy follow-up to The Fable,...
The programming celebrates the best Asian-centric cinema, with new work made by filmmakers from China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the U.S. and Canada. This season will highlight women in film, stories with humanitarian themes and action thrillers, including four restored martial arts classics.
Season 13 opens with Jessica Kingdon’s Ascension, a documentary observing China’s growing class divide through labor, consumerism, and wealth. Structured in three parts, the film ascends through the levels of the capitalist structure and examines how the contemporary “Chinese Dream” remains an elusive fantasy for most.
Centerpiece film The Fable: The Killer Who Doesn’T Kill is Japanese director Kan Eguchi’s action/comedy follow-up to The Fable,...
- 8/23/2021
- by Adam Symchuk
- AsianMoviePulse
Hailed as one of the biggest epics of the wuxia genre, “A Touch of Zen” is a true masterpiece of the category that stands apart particularly due to its technical prowess and high symbolism. The script is based on a short story titled “The Magnanimous Girl” by Pu Songling that was published in 1679.
Gu is a talented painter and scholar who still lives with his mother, who worries about him being unambitious, unmarried and his decline to apply for a civil servant position. Eventually, a young girl named Yang and her mother settle in an abandoned house nearby, which everybody considers haunted. Gu’s mother however, does not seem at all bothered by the fact and she proceeds in an effort to arrange a marriage between Gu and Yang. The girl declines but she and Gu strike a peculiar friendship, after she explains that she and her mother are fugitives,...
Gu is a talented painter and scholar who still lives with his mother, who worries about him being unambitious, unmarried and his decline to apply for a civil servant position. Eventually, a young girl named Yang and her mother settle in an abandoned house nearby, which everybody considers haunted. Gu’s mother however, does not seem at all bothered by the fact and she proceeds in an effort to arrange a marriage between Gu and Yang. The girl declines but she and Gu strike a peculiar friendship, after she explains that she and her mother are fugitives,...
- 7/27/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
With the pandemic still impeding world travel, the Cannes Film Festival chose five key cities for its satellite events, with Mexico City, Beijing, Melbourne, Seoul and Tokyo screening a selection of titles world premiering at the French event.
From July 8 to 16, Mexico City’s Diana arthouse cinema, of giant exhibition circuit Cinepolis, has hosted a dozen Cannes titles that were not available online.
In a statement, Cannes director general Thierry Fremaux said: “This exceptional year gives us the chance, for the first time, to present the films of the Cannes Selection to Mexican buyers in a theater in Mexico City, while the festival takes place in Cannes. I have no doubt that these screenings will help the films find a distributor.”
“With the realization of this important event, Mexico is confirmed as a vital business platform in the audiovisual industry,” said Cannes en Cdmx producer Daniel de la Vega.
“The...
From July 8 to 16, Mexico City’s Diana arthouse cinema, of giant exhibition circuit Cinepolis, has hosted a dozen Cannes titles that were not available online.
In a statement, Cannes director general Thierry Fremaux said: “This exceptional year gives us the chance, for the first time, to present the films of the Cannes Selection to Mexican buyers in a theater in Mexico City, while the festival takes place in Cannes. I have no doubt that these screenings will help the films find a distributor.”
“With the realization of this important event, Mexico is confirmed as a vital business platform in the audiovisual industry,” said Cannes en Cdmx producer Daniel de la Vega.
“The...
- 7/14/2021
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Past winners of the first feature prize include Jim Jarmusch, Mira Nair, Naomi Kawase, Steve McQueen, Houda Benyamina and Lukas Dhont.
The Cannes Film Festival has named French actress Mélanie Thierry as jury president for the 2021 Caméra d’Or award reserved for all first features premiering across Official Selection and the parallel sections of Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week.
”Nothing is as fragile or as miraculous as a first movie. This testifies to the courage and the faith of all the directors who, after such a long period of seclusion, succeeded in providing us with a window on the outside world,...
The Cannes Film Festival has named French actress Mélanie Thierry as jury president for the 2021 Caméra d’Or award reserved for all first features premiering across Official Selection and the parallel sections of Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week.
”Nothing is as fragile or as miraculous as a first movie. This testifies to the courage and the faith of all the directors who, after such a long period of seclusion, succeeded in providing us with a window on the outside world,...
- 6/30/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Following up his love-it-or-hate-it Climax, director Gaspar Noé secretly shot a new film this past spring and it’s among the additions to the Cannes Film Festival lineup, which also includes new work by Ari Folman, a Bill Murray concert film, Noémie Merlant’s directorial debut, and more.
As for the Enter the Void director’s latest, he shot Vortex over twenty days between mid-March and April 2021, with a cast including Dario Argento, Françoise Lebrun, and Alex Lutz, as well as a budget of 3.3 million euros, more than his last two features. Check out a roughly-translated synopsis below via his Le Temps de Trout Tout:
Gaspar Noé, son of the Argentinian painter Luis Felipe Noé, finished his film at the last minute because he shot it quickly and late. A quasi-documentary film about the last days of a loving old couple suffering from senility, played by Françoise Lebrun and Dario Argento.
As for the Enter the Void director’s latest, he shot Vortex over twenty days between mid-March and April 2021, with a cast including Dario Argento, Françoise Lebrun, and Alex Lutz, as well as a budget of 3.3 million euros, more than his last two features. Check out a roughly-translated synopsis below via his Le Temps de Trout Tout:
Gaspar Noé, son of the Argentinian painter Luis Felipe Noé, finished his film at the last minute because he shot it quickly and late. A quasi-documentary film about the last days of a loving old couple suffering from senility, played by Françoise Lebrun and Dario Argento.
- 6/10/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
As expected, the Cannes Film Festival has made several additions to its lineup for the 74th edition which runs July 6-17. Among the major new titles are the latest from Gaspar Noé and Ari Folman, as well as a concert film starring Bill Murray who will be present in Cannes.
Noé’s Vortex, starring Dario Argento, Françoise Lebrun and Alex Lutz will run in the new Cannes Première section. It’s billed as a quasi-documentary about the last years of a loving couple suffering from senility.
Waltz With Bashir filmmaker Folman is back with Where Is Anne Frank?, a contemporary, animated story that begins more than 70 years after the publication of The Diary Of Anne Frank, and brings to life her imaginary friend, Kitty. The film will run in the Out of Competition strand.
Added to Un Certain Regard is Yohan Manca’s Mes Frères Et Moi, a debut feature...
Noé’s Vortex, starring Dario Argento, Françoise Lebrun and Alex Lutz will run in the new Cannes Première section. It’s billed as a quasi-documentary about the last years of a loving couple suffering from senility.
Waltz With Bashir filmmaker Folman is back with Where Is Anne Frank?, a contemporary, animated story that begins more than 70 years after the publication of The Diary Of Anne Frank, and brings to life her imaginary friend, Kitty. The film will run in the Out of Competition strand.
Added to Un Certain Regard is Yohan Manca’s Mes Frères Et Moi, a debut feature...
- 6/10/2021
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Noé’s ’Vortex’ will play in the new Cannes Premiere section, while Folman’s animation ’Where Is Anne Frank?’ will play Out Of Competition.
The Cannes Film Festival (July 6-21) has completed its Official Selection with new films from Gaspar Noé and Ari Folman.
Noé’s Vortex will play in the new Cannes Premiere section, while animation Where Is Anne Frank? from Waltz With Bashir director Folman will play Out Of Competition.
Yohan Manca’s feature debut La Traviata, My Brothers And I joins the revamped Un Certain Regard strand.
Two French titles have been added to Midnight Screenings -...
The Cannes Film Festival (July 6-21) has completed its Official Selection with new films from Gaspar Noé and Ari Folman.
Noé’s Vortex will play in the new Cannes Premiere section, while animation Where Is Anne Frank? from Waltz With Bashir director Folman will play Out Of Competition.
Yohan Manca’s feature debut La Traviata, My Brothers And I joins the revamped Un Certain Regard strand.
Two French titles have been added to Midnight Screenings -...
- 6/10/2021
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
Mostly known for elevating the wuxia genre in unprecedented heights, with films like “A Touch of Zen” and “Dragon Inn”, King Hu has also implemented his impressive aesthetics to this 1979 film, which lingers between the thriller and the ghost story, as usual including Zen Buddhist philosophy.
Legend of the Mountain is streaming on Mubi
The story is adapted from a Song Dynasty folk tale and revolves around Ho Yunqing, a young scholar who is tasked by an eminent monk to transcribe a Buddhist sutra said to have immense power over the spirits of the afterlife. To execute his work in peace, he travels to the abandoned premises of an ex-general deep in the mountains, where he encounters a number of strange people. These include Mr Tsui, the man who welcomes him in the area, the mysterious and beautiful Melody and her mother and caretaker of the monastery, Ms Chang, and...
Legend of the Mountain is streaming on Mubi
The story is adapted from a Song Dynasty folk tale and revolves around Ho Yunqing, a young scholar who is tasked by an eminent monk to transcribe a Buddhist sutra said to have immense power over the spirits of the afterlife. To execute his work in peace, he travels to the abandoned premises of an ex-general deep in the mountains, where he encounters a number of strange people. These include Mr Tsui, the man who welcomes him in the area, the mysterious and beautiful Melody and her mother and caretaker of the monastery, Ms Chang, and...
- 12/2/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Another in a string of restorations that in recent years have benefitted fans of wuxia legend King Hu, Raining in the Mountain is one of two pictures the late Hong Kong- and Taiwan-based auteur (most famous for Come Drink with Me and the Cannes favorite A Touch of Zen) made in South Korea. Considerably shorter and more direct than the other Korean project (Legend of the Mountain, which got its first U.S. run in 2018), this 1979 film focuses on mortal ambition and corruption instead of witchcraft, and again, is not for viewers who expect a high ratio of action to dialogue....
- 10/29/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Another in a string of restorations that in recent years have benefitted fans of wuxia legend King Hu, Raining in the Mountain is one of two pictures the late Hong Kong- and Taiwan-based auteur (most famous for Come Drink with Me and the Cannes favorite A Touch of Zen) made in South Korea. Considerably shorter and more direct than the other Korean project (Legend of the Mountain, which got its first U.S. run in 2018), this 1979 film focuses on mortal ambition and corruption instead of witchcraft, and again, is not for viewers who expect a high ratio of action to dialogue....
- 10/29/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSDisney has announced that Barry Jenkins will helm the live-action The Lion King sequel, which reportedly includes "Mufasa's origin story."Speaking of sequels, Chinese authorities have approved the production of a project written by Wong Kar-wai, curiously titled Chungking Express 2020. The synopsis states that at least a portion of the film will take place in 2036, where "young Xiao Qian and May are unwilling to be held back by genetic partnerings, and insist on finding their own ‘destiny’.”Festival season persists: The Cannes Film Festival will be hosting a three-day "Special Cannes" event in October that will feature the screening of four Official Selections, in-competition short films, and the Cinéfondation’s school films. This year's San Sebastian Film Festival concluded with the sweep of Georgian filmmaker Dea Kulumbegashvili’s debut feature Beginning, which received four of seven jury prizes.
- 9/30/2020
- MUBI
Mubi's series Wuxia Dreams: A King Hu Double Bill is showing in the United Kingdom.Above: Dragon InnA nondescript inn, on the arid, soundless edge of the Chinese empire. An abandoned mansion, tucked away in the seemingly quotidian humdrum of village life. The treatment of these two residences in King Hu’s Dragon Inn and A Touch of Zen demonstrates a key creative stroke in the filmmaker’s larger-than-life, heady cinema: turning locations from mere settings for character drama into rich, compelling characters themselves. As figures of the Ming dynasty’s high society spill into the inn and mansion and entangle local residents in broader national conflicts, Hu brings these spaces to life, making deep investments in their narrative significance and meaning. The inn and mansion become locations of political and physical combat, vessels of moral warfare, and sites of genre play, displaying some of the highlights of Hu’s filmmaking arsenal.
- 9/28/2020
- MUBI
A city ruled over by a cruel tyrant. A daring spy looking for the secret plans that could lead to his downfall. Swordfights aplenty and a succession of dramatic action set pieces driven by a rising star whose subsequent exploits would win her fans around the world. Not bad for a film made almost by accident.
As the story goes, Tu Chung-Hsun was working as assistant director on the great King Hu's A Touch Of Zen when, at a loss during a lengthy break from shooting, he decided to recruit cast and crew members to make a picture of his own. With little time for script development, he settled on a historical adventure with a ready-made setting and populated it with Taiwanese versions of the stock spy characters popular in European cinema at the time. The result is something that in many respects resembles a Cold War thriller, but set.
As the story goes, Tu Chung-Hsun was working as assistant director on the great King Hu's A Touch Of Zen when, at a loss during a lengthy break from shooting, he decided to recruit cast and crew members to make a picture of his own. With little time for script development, he settled on a historical adventure with a ready-made setting and populated it with Taiwanese versions of the stock spy characters popular in European cinema at the time. The result is something that in many respects resembles a Cold War thriller, but set.
- 9/17/2020
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
King Hu’s “A Touch of Zen” was a notorious production. It took 3 years to complete, with Hu taking various breaks in between shoots for reasons such as waiting months for a set to get an aged look naturally or for some flowers to bloom for a particular scene. Purportedly during one such break, his assistant director Tu Chung-Hsun took it upon himself to make a picture of his own using the same actors that were working on “A Touch of Zen” and had also worked in “Dragon Inn” before that for Hu, which resulted in “ A City Called Dragon”.
“A City Called Dragon” is screening at Taiwan Film Festival Edinburgh
The story is set in the Southern Song Dynasty, when China is occupied by the Manchu. The patriots are all holed up in Mount Taihang, using it as a stronghold for their resistance. Shang Yen-Chih is on her way...
“A City Called Dragon” is screening at Taiwan Film Festival Edinburgh
The story is set in the Southern Song Dynasty, when China is occupied by the Manchu. The patriots are all holed up in Mount Taihang, using it as a stronghold for their resistance. Shang Yen-Chih is on her way...
- 9/7/2020
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
One of the highlights of the last year in the United Kingdom has been the release of several King Hu movies on blu ray allowing one of the true craftsman of Asian cinema to be re-appreciated. Given the prodigious output of his contemporaries, it seems astonishing that his whole canon only amounts to 14 Features, yet some of these are undeniably masterpieces.
Like “Dragon Inn”, this is more of a traditional wuxia movie as opposed to more fantastical works like “A Touch of Zen” but that is not to belittle it in any way.
The plot on the surface is quite simple. A bunch of rebels seek to capture the map that official Lee Khan is carrying, detailing the location of the rebel army. Awaiting him at the Spring inn lies a handful of rebels and a bunch of ex convict waitresses.
Action cinema is not strictly renowned...
Like “Dragon Inn”, this is more of a traditional wuxia movie as opposed to more fantastical works like “A Touch of Zen” but that is not to belittle it in any way.
The plot on the surface is quite simple. A bunch of rebels seek to capture the map that official Lee Khan is carrying, detailing the location of the rebel army. Awaiting him at the Spring inn lies a handful of rebels and a bunch of ex convict waitresses.
Action cinema is not strictly renowned...
- 11/20/2019
- by Ben Stykuc
- AsianMoviePulse
The final film is King Hu’s “Inn Trilogy”, and the follow-up to his highly-acclaimed A Touch of Zen, The Fate of Lee Khan once again shows the master filmmaker’s impeccable talent in creating drama out of a single setting. An espionage thriller with a unique wuxia twist and shades of Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, the film chronicles a tense showdown between warriors on opposing sides of a civil war in a rural inn.
When Lee Khan a dangerous and cunning Mongol official, and his equally deadly sister Lee Wan-erh (Hsu Feng; A Touch of Zen), arrive at the Spring Inn to obtain a battle map that reveals the location of the Chinese rebel army, a group of resistance fighters, including an all-female group of ex-convicts plan to recapture the map, whatever the cost.
As much a pre-cursor to the ‘hangout’ movie as it is an action packed wuxia adventure,...
When Lee Khan a dangerous and cunning Mongol official, and his equally deadly sister Lee Wan-erh (Hsu Feng; A Touch of Zen), arrive at the Spring Inn to obtain a battle map that reveals the location of the Chinese rebel army, a group of resistance fighters, including an all-female group of ex-convicts plan to recapture the map, whatever the cost.
As much a pre-cursor to the ‘hangout’ movie as it is an action packed wuxia adventure,...
- 8/9/2019
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
As I have stated many times before in the past, wuxia is a preterit genre in my book, particularly because Hk cinema and particularly Shaw Brothers have exhausted it in every way possible. Occasionally, efforts to reinvigorate it appear, with films like Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, Zhang’s own “Hero” and “House of Flying Daggers” and Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s “The Assassin”. And although these films have succeeded in this regard (not in the same degree), I feel that no one has managed to shoot a wuxia that encompasses all the traditional elements of the category but also manages to be quite contemporary. Until I watched “Shadow”.
“Shadow” is screening at Fantasia International Film Festival
Years ago, the kingdom of Pei lost the important city of Jingzhou to the kingdom of Yang after the popular Commander Ziyu lost a duel to the infamously unbeatable Yang Cang. At the time the movie begins,...
“Shadow” is screening at Fantasia International Film Festival
Years ago, the kingdom of Pei lost the important city of Jingzhou to the kingdom of Yang after the popular Commander Ziyu lost a duel to the infamously unbeatable Yang Cang. At the time the movie begins,...
- 7/15/2019
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
A 35mm print of King Hu’s Come Drink With Me (1966) screens at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood) Thursday May 23rd, The screening begin at 7:30. Facebook invite can be found Here
The first feature film from master of the wuxia King Hu and his only collaboration with Shaw Brothers, Come Drink with Me introduces us to the character of Golden Swallow, a general’s daughter who finds herself rescuing her brother from bandits. As portrayed by burgeoning Shaw star Cheng Pei-Pei, Golden Swallow is a feminist action heroine for the ages.
Screening from a 35mm print courtesy of the American Genre Film Archive.
Admission is:
$7 for the general public
$6 for seniors, Webster alumni and students from other schools
$5 for Webster University staff and faculty
Free for Webster students with proper I.D.
The post Come Drink With Me – Chinese Action From 1966 Screening in 35mm at Webster University...
The first feature film from master of the wuxia King Hu and his only collaboration with Shaw Brothers, Come Drink with Me introduces us to the character of Golden Swallow, a general’s daughter who finds herself rescuing her brother from bandits. As portrayed by burgeoning Shaw star Cheng Pei-Pei, Golden Swallow is a feminist action heroine for the ages.
Screening from a 35mm print courtesy of the American Genre Film Archive.
Admission is:
$7 for the general public
$6 for seniors, Webster alumni and students from other schools
$5 for Webster University staff and faculty
Free for Webster students with proper I.D.
The post Come Drink With Me – Chinese Action From 1966 Screening in 35mm at Webster University...
- 5/20/2019
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
This last week in April has seen, with Avengers: Endgame and the Battle of Winterfell episode of Game of Thrones, the culmination on the largest scale possible in our fractured culture of a long-simmering trend in American action filmmaking away from color in favor of a grim, murky, monochrome darkness. The TV show was immediately criticized for being nigh unwatchable on a normal television, its images being so dark and cluttered with digital artifacts, while the Marvel movie chose to stage its splash page final battle, the climax of a decade of franchise-building, not as a triumph of four-color majesty but as a dull smear of muddy gray. I’m not sure where exactly the trend started, it might have been when Tim Burton’s shadowy Batman movies outpaced Warren Beatty’s lively Dick Tracy, or it might have been when the pseudo-realism of Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan...
- 5/11/2019
- MUBI
After decades lost in the darkest corners of video distribution, on samizdat VHS tapes haphazardly dubbed and cropped, or edited by companies like Miramax and even less reputable organizations, the 21st century has been pretty good for the classics of Chinese-language cinema. At least, for those films in the kung fu genre, kickstarted by Celestial Pictures remastering and restoring the original audio of much of the 60s and 70s Shaw Brothers library in the early 2000s. This has led in turn to a growing recognition in the West of the work of directors like Lau Kar-leung and Chang Cheh, thanks to quality releases through imprints like the Weinsteins' sadly defunct Dragon Dynasty label. Recently the U.K. company Eureka Video has picked up where they left off, releasing restored version of 80s and 90s classics like the Police Story (1985), Project A (1983) and Once Upon a Time in China (1991–7) movies,...
- 4/4/2019
- MUBI
Craig Lines Oct 7, 2018
In the 2000s, a run of martial arts hits that started with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon changed cinema for good.
Wuxia, in one form or another, has been around for nearly two millennia. The word itself – coined in the early 20th century – simplistically translates to “Martial Heroes” and Wuxia stories tell epic adventures, full of martial arts, romantic tragedy, high fantasy and eastern philosophy. Through books, poems and comics, Wuxia perpetuated through the centuries so it’s unsurprising that it made the leap into film as soon as it had an opportunity. Some of the earliest examples of Chinese cinema are Wuxia films and, to give you an idea of how epic I mean when I say epic, the (sadly now-lost) Burning of the Red Lotus Temple (1928) clocked in at roughly 27 hours long…
As a cinematic force, Wuxia exploded in the 1960s, thanks largely to a trio...
In the 2000s, a run of martial arts hits that started with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon changed cinema for good.
Wuxia, in one form or another, has been around for nearly two millennia. The word itself – coined in the early 20th century – simplistically translates to “Martial Heroes” and Wuxia stories tell epic adventures, full of martial arts, romantic tragedy, high fantasy and eastern philosophy. Through books, poems and comics, Wuxia perpetuated through the centuries so it’s unsurprising that it made the leap into film as soon as it had an opportunity. Some of the earliest examples of Chinese cinema are Wuxia films and, to give you an idea of how epic I mean when I say epic, the (sadly now-lost) Burning of the Red Lotus Temple (1928) clocked in at roughly 27 hours long…
As a cinematic force, Wuxia exploded in the 1960s, thanks largely to a trio...
- 10/4/2018
- Den of Geek
On Thursday, 6 September 2018, Kino Lumière in Bratislava screens the first of the eleven films included in the Programme Cycle “Taiwanese Season“ that brings Taiwanese films spanning from the 1960s till today. The screenings will include introductions and are scheduled for Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6.15 Pm, with the last film programmed for 18 October.
“Taiwanese cinema offers many works by recognized film-makers as well as artistically influential films, many of which are not known to Slovak audience,” says Kristína Aschenbrennerová of the Slovak Film Institute, Curator of Taiwanese Season. “Our intention is to present Taiwanese films as a part of Taiwanese cultural identity, as well as an integral part of the popular entertainment. That is also why the line-up of Taiwanese Season spreads over different decades and genres and lists art house films, social realist ʻblack filmsʻ and wuxia films alongside romantic films or socially critical films from the 1960s until today.
“Taiwanese cinema offers many works by recognized film-makers as well as artistically influential films, many of which are not known to Slovak audience,” says Kristína Aschenbrennerová of the Slovak Film Institute, Curator of Taiwanese Season. “Our intention is to present Taiwanese films as a part of Taiwanese cultural identity, as well as an integral part of the popular entertainment. That is also why the line-up of Taiwanese Season spreads over different decades and genres and lists art house films, social realist ʻblack filmsʻ and wuxia films alongside romantic films or socially critical films from the 1960s until today.
- 9/4/2018
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Fritz Lang's House By The River starring Louis Hayward and Jane Wyatt to screen in the tribute to Pierre Rissient
The Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced that they will honour Pierre Rissient, programmer of the Mac-Mahon Theatre in Paris, publicist in partnership with Bertrand Tavernier, Cannes Film Festival mover and shaker, and so much more. Seven films will screen in tribute in the Retrospective section of the 56th New York Film Festival.
Clint Eastwood's Play Misty For Me; Raoul Walsh's The Man I Love with Ida Lupino, Bruce Bennett and Robert Alda; Joseph Losey's Time Without Pity starring Michael Redgrave; Mehboob Khan's Mother India with Nargis; King Hu's A Touch Of Zen; Lino Brocka's Manila In The Claws Of Light with Bembel Roco and Hilda Koronel, and Fritz Lang's House By The River.
The Retrospective section is co-programmed by New York...
The Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced that they will honour Pierre Rissient, programmer of the Mac-Mahon Theatre in Paris, publicist in partnership with Bertrand Tavernier, Cannes Film Festival mover and shaker, and so much more. Seven films will screen in tribute in the Retrospective section of the 56th New York Film Festival.
Clint Eastwood's Play Misty For Me; Raoul Walsh's The Man I Love with Ida Lupino, Bruce Bennett and Robert Alda; Joseph Losey's Time Without Pity starring Michael Redgrave; Mehboob Khan's Mother India with Nargis; King Hu's A Touch Of Zen; Lino Brocka's Manila In The Claws Of Light with Bembel Roco and Hilda Koronel, and Fritz Lang's House By The River.
The Retrospective section is co-programmed by New York...
- 8/24/2018
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Vengeance Is His: Chang Cheh’s Martial Lore runs May 23 - 29, 2018 at the Quad Cinema in New York.As if the riches of the New York repertory scene weren’t embarrassing enough already, on Wednesday, May 23 the city’s second massive retrospective of a director with the surname Chang in less than a week opens, with the Quad Cinema’s 14-film exploration of the career of martial arts director Chang Cheh.1 An extraordinarily prolific director, credited with 76 films during his 1967-1982 heyday at the Shaw Brothers studio, Chang was the defining director of the era, establishing many of the dominant modes of the wuxia and kung fu genres, as well as launching the careers of dozens of stars, choreographers and directors. The Quad series is but a small sample, yet nonetheless a fine cross-section of his work, touching on all the various phases of his career: his early wuxias, his...
- 5/23/2018
- MUBI
If you wanted a crash course in Chinese language cinema of the past 40 years, you could do a lot worse than the series playing at the Metrograph from May 18 - 27 built around the career of Sylvia Chang. An actress, writer and director of tremendous accomplishment (as well as popular singer and playwright), Chang has been a major figure since the mid-1970s, playing important roles in both the Hong Kong New Wave and New Taiwanese Cinema, working with key directors King Hu, Ann Hui, Tsui Hark, Edward Yang, Stanley Kwan, Johnnie To, Mabel Cheung, and Ang Lee. She’s played waifish ingenues and hard-nosed career women, exasperated mothers, bohemian artists, bourgeois matrons and ass-kicking cops. As a director, she’s brought special focus to women’s changing roles in domestic and family melodramas, creating sophisticated works that straddle the line between mainstream and art house. The Metrograph is playing 15 of her films,...
- 5/16/2018
- MUBI
“Ash Is Purest White,” Chinese auteur Jia Zhangke’s most serious foray into the gangster genre since “A Touch of Sin,” is a winding tale of love, disillusionment and survival that again represents his vision of his country’s spiritual trajectory. More expository and down-to-earth than usual, Jia delves deep into the protagonists’ most vulnerable feelings as they pay dearly for both sin and honor. At 141 minutes, the work has its intellectually ponderous moments but is ultimately saved by Jia’s muse and wife, Zhao Tao, who surpasses herself in a role of mesmerizing complexity.
Cinephile anticipation for anything helmed by the onetime Godfather of Chinese independent cinema will give this Chinese-French co-production a forceful push into Euro-art-house territories. Domestic response may depend on whether the work nabs any awards at Cannes, as in the case of the Berlin Golden Bear winner “Black Coal, Thin Ice,” which starred “Ash” leading man Liao Fan.
Cinephile anticipation for anything helmed by the onetime Godfather of Chinese independent cinema will give this Chinese-French co-production a forceful push into Euro-art-house territories. Domestic response may depend on whether the work nabs any awards at Cannes, as in the case of the Berlin Golden Bear winner “Black Coal, Thin Ice,” which starred “Ash” leading man Liao Fan.
- 5/12/2018
- by Maggie Lee
- Variety Film + TV
Influential figure who championed Clint Eastwood, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Edward Yang, Jane Campion and Im Kwon-taek passes away on eve of 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festival.
Pierre Rissient, the influential, behind-the-scenes mover, shaker and fixer in the French cinema world and the Cannes Film Festival, has died. He was 81.
French director Bertrand Tavernier, who worked alongside Rissient as a press attaché in the 1960s before turning to directing and was a lifelong friend, broke the news via the Twitter account of the Lumière Institute in Lyon, of which he is president.
“Pierre Rissient died last night,” Tavernier wrote. “His...
Pierre Rissient, the influential, behind-the-scenes mover, shaker and fixer in the French cinema world and the Cannes Film Festival, has died. He was 81.
French director Bertrand Tavernier, who worked alongside Rissient as a press attaché in the 1960s before turning to directing and was a lifelong friend, broke the news via the Twitter account of the Lumière Institute in Lyon, of which he is president.
“Pierre Rissient died last night,” Tavernier wrote. “His...
- 5/6/2018
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Mostly known for elevating the wuxia genre in unprecedented heights, with films like “A Touch of Zen” and “Dragon Inn”, King Hu has also implemented his impressive aesthetics to this 1979 film, which lingers between the thriller and the ghost story, as usual including Zen Buddhist philosophy. Eureka Entertainment presents this epic in all of its 191 minutes, in a fully restored edition, in stunning 4K.
The story is adapted from a Song Dynasty folk tale and revolves around Ho Yunqing, a young scholar who is tasked by an eminent monk to transcribe a Buddhist sutra said to have immense power over the spirits of the afterlife. To execute his work in peace, he travels to the abandoned premises of an ex-general deep in the mountains, where he encounters a number of strange people. These include Mr Tsui, the man who welcomes him in the area, the mysterious and...
The story is adapted from a Song Dynasty folk tale and revolves around Ho Yunqing, a young scholar who is tasked by an eminent monk to transcribe a Buddhist sutra said to have immense power over the spirits of the afterlife. To execute his work in peace, he travels to the abandoned premises of an ex-general deep in the mountains, where he encounters a number of strange people. These include Mr Tsui, the man who welcomes him in the area, the mysterious and...
- 3/20/2018
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Since any New York City cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Film Society of Lincoln Center
The great, perpetually underseen Raúl Ruiz is given the second part of his career-spanning series.
Film Forum
The immense Ingmar Bergman retrospective is now underway. You know what to do.
Metrograph
Films by Yvonne Rainer, Chantal Akerman, Agnès Varda, and more are playing as part of “Tell Me.”
Two King Hu films,...
Film Society of Lincoln Center
The great, perpetually underseen Raúl Ruiz is given the second part of his career-spanning series.
Film Forum
The immense Ingmar Bergman retrospective is now underway. You know what to do.
Metrograph
Films by Yvonne Rainer, Chantal Akerman, Agnès Varda, and more are playing as part of “Tell Me.”
Two King Hu films,...
- 2/8/2018
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
It begins with a Wagnerian incantation: elemental imagery calling forth the natural world. Brassy, discordant horns rising with the sun, the mountain, the clouds and the river, a lake, an ocean, always water, rushing, falling, churning. A lone figure appears, dwarfed by the crashing sea, a pinprick of consciousness in a beautifully indifferent nature. The man is a scholar, an itinerant copyist, a voice from nowhere explains, on a mission to copy an ancient sutra, magical words with the power to control the spirits of the dead. He’s played by Shih Chun, the heroic swordsman of Dragon Gate Inn (1967), and his role here is much like his one in A Touch of Zen (1971): a clever man who finds himself well out of his spiritual depth. That scholar though had a home, dilapidated though it was, and a mother, henpecking as she was, and, eventually, a child. This man has no roots,...
- 1/19/2018
- MUBI
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.Recommended Viewinga stunning trailer for the 4k restoration and re-release of Legend of the Mountain (1979), an under-seen, contemplative action masterpiece by Come Drink with Me and A Touch of Zen director King Hu.Hong Sang-soo's On the Beach at Night Alone gets a wry and incisive new trailer for its imminent U.S. release. We wrote on the film in February, and later interviewed the director about it.For De Filmkrant, Notebook contributors Cristina Álvarez López and Adrian Martin investigate in a new video essay the virtuous modulation to be found in Howard Hawks' and Barbara Stanwyck's talents in Ball of Fire.Commissioned by Renzo, Le CiNéMa Club has premiered three inspired short films from Mati Diop, Eduardo Williams, and Baptist Penetticobra all loosely interpreting the theme "Inhabit the earth".Recommended READINGIn...
- 11/8/2017
- MUBI
North America, UK, and Ireland audiences will soon have the opportunity to view the quintessential wuxia film, King Hu’s “Legend of the Mountain” as it was meant to be seen. Kino Lorber and Eureka Entertainment has acquired the film rights through the Taiwan Film Institute and have brought new life into the acclaimed director’s work by reintroducing the digital image in 4K.
The three-hour director’s cut of “Legend of the Mountain” debuted at the Venice Film Festival and will be released as part of The Masters of Cinema Series in 2018. This is the third film of Hu’s that will be released after digital restoration, following “Dragon Inn” and “A Touch of Zen.”
Read More:Exclusive: Trailers For Janus Films Re-release Of King Hu’s Wuxia Classics ‘A Touch Of Zen’ And ‘Dragon Inn’
“We are delighted to have acquired the rights for the UK and Us for...
The three-hour director’s cut of “Legend of the Mountain” debuted at the Venice Film Festival and will be released as part of The Masters of Cinema Series in 2018. This is the third film of Hu’s that will be released after digital restoration, following “Dragon Inn” and “A Touch of Zen.”
Read More:Exclusive: Trailers For Janus Films Re-release Of King Hu’s Wuxia Classics ‘A Touch Of Zen’ And ‘Dragon Inn’
“We are delighted to have acquired the rights for the UK and Us for...
- 11/3/2017
- by Raelyn Giansanti
- Indiewire
Few cinematic genres are more polarizing to audiences than that of kung-fu cinema. For those who the genre rubs the right way, these are some of the most exciting and captivating works of pure cinema (bodies interacting with one another through space and time) around, while its detractors frown sternly in the face of its arch choreography and B-movie storylines. However, thanks to The Metrograph and its ongoing Old School Kung Fu Fest (now in its seventh iteration under the leadership of the team at Subway Cinema), these films are finding not only a new home among critics but also new found context within film writ large.
This seventh installment is entitled Wonder Women Of The Martial Arts, or that’s at least the festival’s central theme, as this slate features only films that are led by female performers. Seven films are included here, led most notably by King Hu...
This seventh installment is entitled Wonder Women Of The Martial Arts, or that’s at least the festival’s central theme, as this slate features only films that are led by female performers. Seven films are included here, led most notably by King Hu...
- 8/15/2017
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
A Taiwanese wuxia masterpiece from director King Hu: three hours of suspense, visual beauty and amazing action scenes. A beautiful mystery woman captivates an artist-scholar. He who happily becomes her strategist in a battle to hold off an army... partly with ghost illusions. A Touch of Zen Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 825 1971 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 180 min. / Xia nü / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date July 19, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Hsu Feng, Shih Chun, Bai Ying, Xue Han, Zhang Bing-yu, Cao Jian, Jia Lu-shi. Cinematography Hua Hul-ying Film Editor King Hu Original Music Wu Da-jiang Based on a story from Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio by Pu Song-ling Presented by Sha-Yung-fong Written and Directed by King Hu
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
What I know about Asian cinema can be carried inside a thimble, and the very few pictures I've reviewed, such as the intriguing The Cave of Silken Web are...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
What I know about Asian cinema can be carried inside a thimble, and the very few pictures I've reviewed, such as the intriguing The Cave of Silken Web are...
- 8/2/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Dailies is a round-up of essential film writing, news bits, videos, and other highlights from across the Internet. If you’d like to submit a piece for consideration, get in touch with us in the comments below or on Twitter at @TheFilmStage.
Watch a video reframing Terrence Malick‘s Knight of Cups as a city symphony:
Electrician Bob Tanswell remembers working with Stanley Kubrick on The Shining at The Guardian:
I’d heard of Stanley Kubrick but didn’t realise how special he was. He’d do 150 takes of a simple scene. He knew everybody’s job. If he asked you a question and you didn’t know the answer, you really got it – not me so much, because I was just a spark. After having a go at someone he’d be walking away and give you a wink, like: “See that? That’s got him going.” He was...
Watch a video reframing Terrence Malick‘s Knight of Cups as a city symphony:
Electrician Bob Tanswell remembers working with Stanley Kubrick on The Shining at The Guardian:
I’d heard of Stanley Kubrick but didn’t realise how special he was. He’d do 150 takes of a simple scene. He knew everybody’s job. If he asked you a question and you didn’t know the answer, you really got it – not me so much, because I was just a spark. After having a go at someone he’d be walking away and give you a wink, like: “See that? That’s got him going.” He was...
- 4/27/2016
- by TFS Staff
- The Film Stage
Widely and rightly regarded as not only one of the finest martial arts films ever made, but one of the greatest works in of all Chinese cinema, King Hu’s A Touch of Zen (Xia nü, 1971) is most often lauded for its extraordinary fight sequences. Why the film is so exceptional, however, is that as great as these fight scenes are (and they are spectacular), they may not even be the best part of the movie. With 180 minutes to work with in its complete uncut version, which will screen in a new 4K restoration at Film Forum April 22 through May 5, Hu launches A Touch of Zen above most of its genre, above even his own impressive output, amplifying the essentials of the martial arts film while infusing it with other cinematic ingredients. The first shot of A Touch of Zen is of a spider moving in on its cobweb-entangled prey.
- 4/21/2016
- by Jeremy Carr
- MUBI
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.