Yuk po tuen: Tau ching bo gam

Keep in mind: this isn't some second rate snuff film. Sex and Zen has a story, has good acting, great costumes and setting. And also, sex.

The scholar in the film tries to fulfill his sexual appetites. Lucky guy, right? However, as the story progresses, I kind of felt sympathy for him. There is humor in this one which keeps the film lively. I winced during the operation scene with a funny cameo by Kent Cheng. The thief who helps the scholar adds some comedy as well.

Amy Yip really stands in this one. She is unbelievably sexy and her character is played nicely. The other beautiful ladies Isabella Chow and Carrie Ng also light up the screen. The sex scenes aren't too explicit, but there are some parts where you'd watch in disbelief. The whole scene in the end, S&M, "musical appreciation"...original concepts you'd probably only find in Hong Kong cinema.

Overall, the film doesn't take itself too seriously. It's erotic, funny, and there's a moral to be learned! Watch it for my hon Amy!!

While I have a great fondness for this awful gem, I just don't buy that bit. Two women? In that position? With a flute? There's just no way.

The first thing that sold me on this movie was the flying medieval thief guy. Everyone knows that any film is made intrinsically better by the inclusion of an amusing flying thief. ;) The amusing preparation of the young scholar's wife for her first sexual experience was the second. Especially, the look on Our Hero's face as he attempts to deal with it!

This movie is very silly and surprisingly strenuous in sections; two memorable scenes include a rampant, gymnastic almost-rape among bolts of hanging silk, and an incredible cardiac workout underwater.

If you like silly martial arts movies and sex, you will probably enjoy Sex and Zen. It is softcore, so you don't really see anything more than breasts or the odd bum. The subtitles are unfortunately a little hard to read, but the entertaining action speaks for itself.

I wonder what the original title "Yu pu tuan zhi: Tou qing bao jian" means, but the English title "Sex and Zen" sums the movie up nicely, if you translate Zen as "you know, Asian stuff: drinking tea, silly daggers, eating rice, kicking the stuffing out of your opponent". Sex and Zen is an interesting and genuine Asian twist on your average softcore / erotic skin flick, a tasty offering of steamy sex scenes which are loosely tied together by an story. For my taste, the storytelling was a bit too loose and erratic as I'm a big fan a of plot, narration and development. I found myself wondering somewhere in between the rape scene in the fabrics warehouse and the calligraphy-by-shoving-a-brush-up-your-unspeakables segment how it all fits together. Overall it's well worth a viewing, but because of the surreal and incongruent storytelling it didn't really grab me.

There's no Zen here, which someone slapped on the English title, just the sex. A needy imperial scholar goes around trying to have lots of it. We see areolas rubbing together. Two women in all fours share a flute. Calligraphy brushes, whips and chains, some bondage. It has proper decor and costumes, a sense of plot. It's still Emmanuella stuff.

The same thing grates as in all the other skin flicks. Is sex just two bodies slathering together? In a teenager's mind maybe or if sexy means seeing a boob. Or is it a matter of context you inhabit, in which you change someone? More proper to call it sexual or erotic, it has started long before you enter the room and glows long after. Women know about this more than we do. Mind blowing sex is always with someone you know or can harness yourself in a context in which you do; the rest is monkeying around to extinguish a boner.

So what's sexy about a thing like this? What's deviant or risky? Cardboard characters who we don't know in the slightest go around rubbing themselves on each other. One pretends to be ravished, another pretends to be aroused at being whipped. It's like fake bondage for a Penthouse spread.

I rented this sex comedy a couple of years ago and I was definitely not ready for the fantastic nature of its sex scenes. If you can imagine if the same techniques used for martial arts films applied to an erotic film, you might get a feeling of what this film is like. Sex and Zen is loosely based upon the 400-year old "The Carnal Prayer Mat" and is one of the best known of the Hong Kong Category III erotic films. The plot involves a scholar, played by Lawrence Ng, who believes that enlightenment can be achieved through a hedonistic lifestyle. For some reason, a wealthy man thinks that it is a good idea to arrange a marriage between the scholar and his sheltered, prudish daughter, played by Amy Yip. Yip was famous both for the size of her breasts and her refusal to perform fully nude; a body double is used in particular shots. After the scholar has introduced his new wife to the pleasures of sex, he is soon tempted by other men's wives. Unfortunately, his efforts to woo these women are hampered by both his poor staying power and his undersized genitals. In order to be a more effective seducer, the scholar agrees to undergo a rather extreme surgical procedure to enhance his abilities. Following the operation, the scholar undergoes a sexual odyssey while leaving his wife neglected at home.

This is a sex comedy and the humor can best be described as adolescent, although I must admit that I chuckled a few times. However, the film's raison d'etre is its lovemaking scenes. The sexual encounters in this film start out as "merely" vigorous and then escalate to the physically impossible and then to the gleefully excessive. What "The Blues Brothers" did for car crashes, this film does for sex scenes. There are several distinctions between this kind of filmmaking and Western erotic films. First of all, the women in Sex and Zen are stunningly, naturally attractive and don't have any silicone implants to detract from their beauty. Moreover, the film has significant production value. Whereas murky photography is used in sex scenes in most American films, here vivid colors are used in the art direction, costuming, and cinematography. As a result, the film has a surreal, fantastic sort of atmosphere. Sex and Zen also deviates from vanilla sexuality and includes elements of sadomasochism, lesbianism, and bondage, although all of this is carried out in a playful, nonrealistic manner. Also, like most erotic films, this is geared mostly towards heterosexual males but there is a bit of male nudity and simulated male genitalia for any women or gay males who might be interested.

Finally, a couple of caveats. An "R" rated version of this film can be found at many Blockbuster stores. Although this was enough to impress me on the first viewing, the editing was clumsy and the unrated film has much juicier comedic and erotic bits (such as misplaced genitals, an unorthodox way for two women to use a flute, an interesting bit of toe-sucking, etc.) The unrated VHS and DVD versions give you the full effect of the film. Also, there is a scene in which a man rapes his wife that is performed in the same surreal erotic manner as the rest of the film. Although this initially seems unenlightened, given the overall comic fantasy tone of the film, it's hard to be too offended. Overall, this is a well made piece of erotica recommended for those looking for something different.