How many words for beautiful can you use?

Rating: 9/10 (4 March 2001)

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (2000) **** Directed by Ang Lee. Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, Chang Chen, Cheng Pei-pei.
I don't have reason to hide that I was worried about what I would think of CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. I was never a fan of martial-arts movies. The story, the characters and the situations are laughable and, even recognizing that Bruce Lee was a great personality, I just don't care about his movies. It never occurred to me that I could watch a Jackie Chan flick some day, but I thought the fight sequences in THE MATRIX and CHARLIE'S ANGELS were very cool. I wasn't a big fan of Ang Lee's pictures either. THE WEDDING BANQUET and EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN were fine, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY was lovely, but THE ICE STORM was quite disappointing for me and I didn't watch RIDE WITH THE DEVIL because it didn't interest me to see a Civil War art-house starring Tobey Maguire and Jewel. However, CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON received some of the best reviews of the year worldwide, won 2 Golden Globes in January and is nominated to 10 Oscar, including best picture, best director and best film in a foreign language. That changed my view and I started to wait anxiously for it. I saw it yesterday and... Wow! Wow! Wow!
The story told in CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON brings nothing new, but what makes the difference is the way it is told. Ang Lee returns to his roots and pays homage to the old Chinese "Wuxia" movies, with the story of two women who try to find their place in the 19th century China. Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) is a brave woman and an excellent fighter, who never confessed her love to fellow friend Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat). He has just come back from his long training and now he wants to rest for some reason. He asks Shu Lien to give his sword, "Green Destiny", to an old man as a gift. For that, she makes a long journey to his house, where she meets Jen Yu (Zhang Ziyi), a young woman, daughter of an aristocrat, who is just about to marry a man she doesn't love. At night, a masked thief steals the sword and that act is what will make all the characters evaluate their strength and their inside feelings.If Ang Lee doesn't win the best director award, I'll be very very angry. First of all, he has made one of the most visually gorgeous and rich films of the last years and maybe of all times. He literally takes us to another world, where you have to leave logic at the door. During two hours, you become so involved in what's happening on the screen that you forget what time of the day it is. If I were him, I would never stop working with the same cinematographer, writer, composer, set decorator, costume designer, editor and cast. The cinematography is triumphant: the colors are rich but never exaggerated, the light and the dark are always on the right place. The music is just wonderful. I loved it! The sets are terrific and so are the costumes, and the editing helps to make the fight sequences even better than they are (we'll get to them in a minute). This is the kind of film made to fit perfectly the big screen. It's really beautiful, wonderful, marvelous, gorgeous! Probably the most well made film of the year. All that with a 15 million dollar budget!!!!!
It's not every film, especially a martial-arts one, that has such a complex character development. We can identify with all their dramas and choices, especially Jen Yu, a young woman who wants to run away from conventions and stay with her beloved Lo, but first of all she has to choose what side she should stay: with Li Mu Bai and Shu Lien, who will take her to a training, or with Jade Fox, a mean woman who has killed Li Mu Bai's master and is target of other people's revenge, but has been Jen's master, even if she doesn't know the real meaning of the manual, a thing that Jen is able to understand. In fact, she is her own master and also an amazingly determined person. The relationship between Shu Lien and Li Mu Bai is also very well portrayed and even the supporting characters, as a detective who seeks for revenge against Jade Fox, have their place. This story has wonderful messages about courage, determination, destiny, love and strength. `Crouching tiger, hidden dragon' is a Chinese proverb about hiding your forces, what all the characters do. The screenplay explores many situations and there's even place for some slight humor. By the way, there isn't an isolated genre the film is part of: adventure, romance, fantasy, drama, action, there's all.
CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON didn't receive any Oscar nominations for acting, but it is top notch. The Mandarin language sounds like poetry when said by Michelle Yeoh, Chow Yun-Fat and Zhang Ziyi. Believe me, it's never hard to follow- it's delightful. Michelle gives us a quiet, powerful performance as Shu Lien. Chow Yun-Fat proves once again that he is excellent, as Li Mu Bai. But Zhang Ziyi is the best- she is very pretty and acts with security and strength, just like a veteran.
Now we finally get to the already famous fight sequences that break the law of gravity. I confess that I found it to be very strange the first time I heard about, but in the film it is breath-taking. If there's someone in your session who laughs when the characters fight kung-fu in the air, just ignore this person because he/she doesn't know what is cinema. The same way there are films that portray life just like it is, as Robert Altman's masterpiece NASHVILLE, there are fantasy films where logic is left at the door. It's more than impressive, it's jaw-dropping when you see what they could do using only wires. The two women running on the roof, Jen and Li Mu Bai walking on the water and especially the same two fighting on the bamboo forest- the most beautiful and memorable scene of 2000. I absolutely adored them!
CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON will stay as Ang Lee's masterpiece. I think I couldn't describe how wonderful it is, but if you have seen it you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, don't think twice: leave the logic at the door and see it on the big screen. Don't worry if it doesn't win many Oscar. GLADIATOR will win best picture, but CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON is much better. It will recover many people's faith in the art of cinema. And prepare yourself for one of the most poetic endings you will have seen.