Gorgeous and misunderstood

Rating: 10/10 (29 April 2001)

For those of you who can appreciate poetry, you will enjoy this movie. For those of you who love literature, you will love this movie. For those of you who go to movies not comparing any one film to another, you will find this movie excellent.
However, for those out there who are blind to subtlety, raised on a steady diet of mindless action films, you won't understand this film, nor will you appreciate it for what it is.
As many have said, Crouching Tiger's cinematography is masterful. I'm a photographer and sometimes aid friends on their film projects, and I can say flat-out that Peter Pau's work on this piece is superb. His eye for beauty and subtlety is amazing and I applaud him for his achievements.
The biggest shots at this movie seem to be about a lack of a plot, which are ridiculous and baseless claims. The storylines are simple and require a bit of thought on the part of the moviegoer - and in these days dominated by brainless, bloody action films, that seems to be a problem.
This is not an action flick, though some people seem intent on jamming into the form of a martial-arts action movie. It's not even remotely that. Yes, there are fight scenes, but those scenes are more a dance between the characters than to-the-death battles.
If you're confused by the film, read a little Eastern philosophy - you can't watch it, take the view of a Westerner and expect to understand everything.