Author Spotlight

David Bordwell

David Bordwell is the author of Planet Hong Kong: Popular Cinema and the Art of Entertainment (second edition available at his site). Other essays and blog entries on King Hu’s films can also be found on that site.

3 Results
A Touch of Zen: Prowling, Scheming, Flying

In his staggeringly ambitious masterwork A Touch of Zen, Chinese filmmaker King Hu imbues dynamic scenes of combat with balletic grace and audacious stylistic experimentation.

By David Bordwell

Tokyo Story: Compassionate Detachment
When Tokyo Story was released in late 1953, Western audiences were just being exposed to Japanese cinema. Akira Kurosawa had made his breakthrough with Rashomon three years earlier, and Kenji Mizoguchi was moving to the forefront of the international…

By David Bordwell

Early Summer
Today, ambitious directors experiment with the ensemble plot. More and more they shift away from a single protagonist and toward a group of characters connected by kinship, friendship, or some striking event. The structure isn’t unknown in studio-e…

By David Bordwell