Screening Room: ‘A Touch of Zen’

In 1971, former martial-arts director King Hu embarked on an epic reimagination of what the genre would look like. The three-hourA Touch of Zen was magical, weird, and breathtaking, often in the same scene. It was mostly ignored in its butcheredrelease, except for some brief acclaim after finally getting a proper showing at the 1975 Cannes Film Festival.

Since then, the film—which deeply influenced Ang Lee’sCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon—has been mostly confined to obscurity. Thankfully, Jan...