Inn Fighting

Got my copy of king Hu’s THE FATE OF LEE KHAN, featuring a video essay by Anne Billson and myself. Fortuitously, Anne knew the film well and was cat-sitting for us when the job came in. We got back from Bologna, I recorded our cat-sitter’s words, and wrote my own comments to fit in around them.

Have now done, or co-done, essays on DRAGON INN, A TOUCH OF ZEN, TFOLK, LEGEND OF THE MOUNTAIN, and have just finished RAINING IN THE MOUNTAIN. Which leaves THE VALIANT ONES, which I hope will be next.

Well, not next — I have another two lined up, but I’ll tell you about those another day.

You’ll like TFOLK — lots of sneaking around in an inn, and then lots of fighting — classic Hu.

Question — who is King Hu receiving his 1975 Cannes Grand Prix for A TOUCH OF ZEN from? Hu is the one on the right. The statuesque lady with the ratted hair has an Ann-Margaret quality and also a Pamela Tiffin quality and does not seem to be a member of the jury, because she ain’t Jeanne Moreau, Lea Massari or Yuliya Solntseva.

Whoever it is, it seems an amusing combo.