blown away

Rating: 10/10 (8 July 2000)

This has got to be a perfect amalgation of art & kung fu film. Something pioneered by King Hu in the 60s and 70s but reaching a new pinacle under the masterful hands of Ang Lee.
Truly, I have not seen martial art fight scenes so fluid and so graceful; shot for shot, scene by scene - perfect symmetry & picture composition. Yet infused with a fevered intensity that I actually felt my pulse racing with the very first fight scene as Michelle Yeoh chased the masked intruder across the moonlit roofs of Peking.
The narrative style is another accompishment - from the delivery of a gift, the story expanded into a map of intricate plotlines, complicated characters with hidden agendas and filled with angst against society, traditions and fate. Remarkable.
15 of us saw the show together; at its conclusion, one was weeping, another was speechless, one just kept saying "fantastic" and the rest could not stop discussing character motivation, fight cheoreography and the cinematography.

Don't miss it.