Zen of Sword
Director: Yu Mang-sang
Year: 1992
Duration:
93 minutes
Rating: 6/10
I saw a few sources
that claim that this is a re-make of A Touch of Zen. Errr . . . no. Not even
close other than the word Zen in both titles. This wuxia film was made in
the same year as Dragon Inn, Painted Skin, Handsome Siblings, Moon Warrior,
Swordsman II and probably a bunch of other wuxia films and it kind of got
lost in the crowd and didn't generate much at the box office. But looking
back at it 26 years later and far removed from those other films, it is
rather crazy kinetic fun at times.
The action choreography is from Phillip
Kwok whose credentials as one of the Five Venoms and Mad Dog in Hard Boiled
are pretty stellar. That along with the three actresses are the main reasons
to watch the film. The wire-fu is flawless with some imaginative kooky parts
- the revolving Buddha monks in particular. Like so many of the wuxia films
at the time, keeping track of the various cults, characters and martial
arts powers is like watching atomic particles in an atomic accelerator.
And in truth for this film it doesn't really matter if you don't quite get
it. It has a good first 20 minutes and a final good twenty minutes with a
soggy middle that almost sinks the film like a broken pipe. But the close-ups
of Michelle Reis, Cynthia Khan and Kara Hui keep you awake or should anyway.
Whatever budget they had is all spent
on the action scenes and nifty costumes with next to nothing on the design
or sets - with all of it taking place in a forest where no one can seemingly
get out like an episode of the Twilight Zone. Michelle is a Princess of
a Kingdom that has been destroyed and she is attempting to get back to her
soldiers with the help of her two generals - Cynthia Khan and Waise Lee.
Neither Cynthia nor Waise did a lot of period films and it is always an
adjustment seeing them in one. Khan was one of the better Girls with Guns
stars - even to the point where her stage name was derivative of Cynthia
Rothrock and Michelle Khan (later Yeoh). Waise usually plays a weasel in
contemporary films like A Better Tomorrow and he turns out to be a bit of
a weasel here too.
After them are the current holders of
the throne because they want the Jade Pipe that Michelle has because it
will allow them to rule the world. Leading that group is The Royal Wizard
of Yin played by Lau Shun. And then to make things more complicated are
the remnants of the rulers before Michelle's father drove them out of power.
They want back in - in particular the Aunt (Kara Hui) in her fancy oversized
headgear who is training her nephew to master the Nine Sword Stance. That
is the one after the Eight Sword Stance. But to master it you have to become
heartless and sacrifice a virgin for her blood. Finding virgins must have
been easier back then. In the middle of all this confusion though love breaks
out and the film goes into a very slow slog. Later a scene of Waise and Cynthia
on the ground smooching sent shivers of yuck through my system. Cynthia doesn't
kiss mouths, she smacks them. The film to its credit doesn't go where you
expect it to though it has a weird tack on scene at the end that I wasn't
sure if it was a dream or the afterlife. Still nice to renew my acquaintance
with an old fashioned wuxia that made little sense.