Rent Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon on Amazon Video (paid link) // Buy the book (paid link)
Written by: Wang Hui Ling and James Schamus and Tsai Kuo Jung (screenplay by), Wang Du Lu (based on the book by)
Directed by: Ang Lee
Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Ziyi Zhang
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer
Plot
A young Chinese warrior steals a sword from a famed swordsman and then escapes into a world of romantic adventure with a mysterious man in the frontier of the nation.
Verdict
It's a movie that feels more like art. The visuals include the vast landscape of a period correct China and fights that are more dance than brawls. This is secondary to a story that weaves multiple characters and couples together while considering women in this time period, love, honor, and desire. Through three different women this looks at the definition of freedom, how they view it and the implications. It's a film that does everything well.
Watch It.
Review
I'm a fan of Ang Lee's movies like Brokeback Mountain, The Ice Storm, and Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. While I've seen this, it's been far too long. This is the movie that gained Lee widespread acclaim.
The sequel Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny came nowhere close to matching the original, though Ang Lee was not involved.
Mu Bai (Chow Yun-fat) is a warrior that wants to retire. He asks his friend Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) to return his famed sword Green Destiny to make his retirement official. Shu Lien and Mu Bai have unrequited feelings for each other that are plain to others, but they refuse to act on them.
 |
| Chow Yun-fat plays Mu Bai |
The city is impressive and the time period feels authentic. The fights are wuxia style with actors on wires and defying gravity. It's different, but works with this story. It makes the fights more like a dance or poetry. There's a thoughtfulness to the action as there is with the story.
There's a contrast with the main characters. Shu Lien runs a protection service which is outside the typical gender role, but she encourages Jen to embrace an arranged marriage. Jen (Zhang Ziyi) is arranged to be married, but has trained under Jade Fox, surpassing her mentor. Mu Bai is so impressed with her skill that he wants to train her despite the rules against training women. Jade Fox (Cheng Pei-pei) killed Mu Bai's master because he wouldn't
train her because she's a woman. She killed him out of spite, vowing to
learn martial arts on her own.
 |
| Michelle Yeoh plays Shu Lien |
This story is a bit of a fable with the fighting style reinforcing that. This is also a movie about love. There's Shu Lien and Mu Bai who feel for each other but don't act. Jen, while arranged to be married, is in love with Lo (Chang Chen). There relationship is passionate, the opposite of Shu Lien's.
Shu Lien is a warrior without a husband, seemingly free but unable to act on her feelings. Jen is trapped in an arranged marriage without the freedom to choose her own destiny. Jade Fox wanted to be a warrior, choosing to force her future into existence, and it didn't work out. Mu Bai wants to be with Shu Lien, but the appearance of Jade Fox ignites his desire for vengeance
Shu Lien has a freedom through martial arts that Jen desires. Jen has achieved a freedom Jade Fox couldn't obtain. The three of them are also trapped. Shu Lien by the memory of her former fiance, Jen by a marriage, and Jade Fox by a lack of training. Even Mu Bai is trapped by vengeance. You could endlessly contrast and compare these characters and relationships. All of that packaged into a beautiful movie with a fresh fighting style at the time of release.
No comments :
Post a Comment