Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
by Tim Wick
Few films have generated as much positive buzz as this movie. Weeks before
we in the frozen north were given a glimpse, the movie was making almost
every critics top ten list. So how can a film actually live up to that kind
of expectation?
By being as good as everyone says it is.
Now I recognize that a large number of people in the US are illiterate and
many of them do not speak Chineese. Those are the only people who should
avoid this film as the subtitles will give them some trouble. For myself, I
prefer the worst subtitles to the best dubbing because you lose so much of
the actors performance in a dubbed film. To lose the acting in Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon is to lose something extraordinary.
Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh have been in Hong Kong films for some time
now
and both are finding an American audience thanks to Hollywood pictures like
The Replacement Killers and Tomorrow Never Dies. I don't want to take
anything away from the Hong Kong action genre, because I quite enjoy it, but
it tends to show off more of the actors fighting abilities and very little
acting ability. Not so here.
Both actors provide much needed depth to their characters, and Yeoh
especially shines here.
This is essentially a woman's picture in the sense that it is about the
paths
of Yu Shu Lien (Yeoh) and Jen Yu, a young woman looking to be inspired by
her
(played by Ziyi Zhang). Each of these women has a man in their life, but
both have reached a spiritual decision point. For one, her reckless days
are
behind her. The other wants nothing more than the older woman's past.
We all make choices in life, some good and some bad, but there comes a point
where these choices result in consequences. We enter the film as those
consequences are about to be realized.
Directed by Ang Lee (Sense and Sensibility), the movie uses Hong Kong style
martial arts sequences to a better effect than I've yet seen. Instead of
long battle sequences with little purpose other than to show off the talents
of a Jackie Chan, Jet Li or Michelle Yeoh, the fights have purpose and are
typically very compact. More impressive, when a character is thrown off a
balcony and breaks a table as he falls, he doesn't get back up. Lee has a
true eye for creating fight sequences with purpose and poetry.
Place this interesting story and stunning action against the scenic wonders
of China and it is hard to go wrong. I kept trying to remind myself that my
expectations were so high, I could hardly have been let down by this film.
Of course, my expecations were high for Gladiator and that film fell far
short of the mark.
The film is truly a complete package. The script and direction are solid,
the acting is fantastic, the cinematography and editing are just about
perfect and the score, played by Yo Yo Ma is haunting. Rarely does one have
the opportunity to see a film hit one every mark as this movie does.
2000 has produced few masterpieces to my way of thinking. It has, however,
produced this and for that, all is forgiven.
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