The Real Best Picture of 2000

Rating: 10/10 (4 July 2003)

To the skeptics: this is not just another cheesy martial arts movie where testosterone rules above all else. In fact the most impassioned characters in the film are the women, Shu Lien(Michelle Yeoh) and Jen(Zhang Ziyi). The sword fight between the them is one of the film's great set pieces. Although the fight scenes are stunning, "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" also contains beautiful music, breathtaking photography and moments of gentle, melancholic romanticism. I think particularly of the scenes between Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh; it isn't often that unspoken love is so perfectly depicted(watch the moment where he presses her hand to his cheek- that may just be the best part in the whole film). And this movie lost the Oscar to "Gladiator"-- The injustice of it burns.