Ziyi Zhang grows

Rating: Null/10 (16 January 2001)

Having heard of the charming and winsome girl/young woman in The Long Road (Wo de fu qin mu qin) whose eyes and smile were main strengths, it's interesting to see how she has grown.
In Crouching Tiger Ziyi Zhang (Jen) becomes a good/bad character. Early in the film her eyes betray a suspicious and crafty inner character who has much to hide. At this point, as we recognize that it is Jen, despite a mask, acting as a flying war machine we see a strong and capable feminist character. Women should love her. Not to be trusted, however, she steals the sword and escapes marriage to the man her parents have chosen. Portraying a character who smiles less and pouts more, you have to look behind the face to see her warm personality. She fights and flies like a magician. Very pretty, she has a couple of very mild sex scenes to show that she has grown up. Only at the very end, does the director allow her to become a nice person and then there are hints that she becomes a helpless little girl. Of course, we all know that she will go on to the master's school to get her Ph.D. in kung fu, although it is clear that she needs little improvement. Throughout the film, Jen has had a split personality (the good/bad part) who has had to negotiate between very powerful and opposing forces and you aren't absolutely certain what she will become. The funniest line, because it is supposed to be serious, is at the end when Yun-Fat Chow gives her his last and only piece of advice, "No matter what you become, be true to yourself." That's all she's been. He, on the other hand, is a Tolstoy character searching for the truth.