Comments on "Accents" and "Flying"

Rating: Null/10 (31 August 2001)

Is Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh speaking mandarin with accent a big flaw of the film? Not really at least in my opinion. It will be great if they can speak standard mandarin, but the acting and emotional quality they bring into this movie have already been invaluable. There is no perfect option for Director Ang Lee so he has to give and take. In addition, I don't recall that Ang Lee allows his films to be dubbed just because actor/actress do not speak standard language. The reason is understood: to preserve sound quality and emotions for the characters. Overall I think CTHD has provided the goals at a level only the best Chinese films can achieve. If you want to see the difference, please compare it with some Chinese films from your local video store.
The flying (actually should be called leaping) scenes have attracted many negative comments from western audience. I think it is unfortunately due to cultural differences. But whether you like it or not, the leaping stuff has been in Chinese culture for a long time. People grow up with this fantasy. People know it is not real but they like it and accept its existence in the fantasy wuxia world. Ang Lee wants to realize it and tries to make it look 'real' on the screen. Although not perfect, he has done the job much better than all the previous Chinese wuxia or kungfu films. His courage and efforts in making this film should be and has been recognized.

Based on the creativity and overall performance, I give this film 10 out of 10.