Touch of Zen, A

Aroview: A dazzling blend of medieval potboiler, religious fable and martial arts spectacular, set in an ancient China wracked by civil war.

Centred on the efforts of an artist to help the fiesty heroine and her allies avoid death at the hands of political factions, this stretches out to an epic length that is slow-moving, but ultimately rewarding. Often cited as an influence on Ang Lee's CROUCHING TIGER, this also seems to have affected Jodorowsky's quasi-mystical films with its Buddhist preoccupations and embedded allegories. Though containing a (modest) number of satisfying set-pieces, don't expect much Hong Kong-style action; instead revel in a visually-exquisite mindbender.

NZ International Film Festival 2016

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