Beautiful, poetic, philosophical.....what more could you want?

Rating: 10/10 (30 September 2010)

Ang Lee is no ordinary director. He brings out his characters with great emotion and depth that makes you care about the story, plot line and knows how to use subtlety to his advantage.
Crouching Tiger is perhaps one of the most beautiful and interesting movies I've ever seen in my life and is definitely in my list of favourite films of all time.
The storyline of the film deals with four main central characters who each represent a different sort of perspective on society and situation in life. Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh)is a strong warrior but has had to sacrifice personal love in the face of tradition and honour. Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun Fat) is a famous warrior who longs to lead a life of peace but has one more score to settle to avenge his master's death. As the two secretly love each other but remains taboo, they long for a more peaceful life away from the bloodshed.
Enter Jen Yu (a stunning Ziyi Zhang) who has a fascination with the martial arts world. A rich bureaucrat who is about to enter an arranged marriage, she longs for a more fascinating lifestyle where she can be free to do as she pleases. However, her view on the world is vastly different from Lien and Mu Bai's. Her extreme fighting capabilities have turned her into a sort of rebellious girl who longs to lead the life she truly wants, especially with a desert bandit she is in love with named Lo (Chang Chen).
CTHD deals with not only the world of martial arts but also the emotions of the characters which is a very huge plus in this genre. Sure, you have some conventional plot lines such as avenging a master's death but Ang Lee keeps the focus on the characters. At times, the martial arts aren't the main focus here and it is the character development and the story that you really care about - but it is great that the action scenes are just breathtaking.
The performances are terrific. Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun Fat look great together and make the performances very believable. Ziyi Zhang is just stunning and brings a combination of beauty and danger to her role as the feisty young princess. What is terrific about the film is that you really need to invest emotionally with the characters in order to fully understand the meaning of the film. In particular with the ending, if you don't get it then it just means that you didn't feel what the characters went through and the meanings behind their actions.
In a lot of ways CTHD is a very spiritual film. It deals with many themes such as repression, freedom, the longing to love and the expectations of a society where the rules don't always fit us. The cinematography I might add is stunningly beautiful and really adds a lot to the film. A lot of the landscape also seems to add a lot of energy into the film and bring some visual imagery as though the landscape itself represents the freedom of the soul, in particular the desert.
The action scenes have the characters floating in mid air and flying, walking on water and flying through the trees. To many people this might seem ridiculous but I took this as a dream. This film is essentially a fantasy though the characters feel real. It is just amazing to see these scenes. I am sure that Chinese audiences are already accustomed to such scenes and I have seen some of these things before but the way it is done here is just so elegant and beautiful it just takes your breath away.
Ang Lee always has that ability to make you invest emotionally with the characters in the story. He knows that the complex emotions that occur in the story are what is important at the core and heart of a film and that is what makes such great films so memorable. However, CTHD also offers fantastic action as well and is also very romantic at the same time.
I can not recommend this film enough. It might not be for everyone but for those who do love it, you will understand exactly what I mean.