Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Foreign films seem to be enjoying an unparalleled level of success in the United States. Three years ago, Life Is Beautiful more than doubled the previous highest gross for a foreign-language film, and scored a foreign-record seven Oscar nominations. Last year's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon more than doubled Life's gross, and bested it with a new-record 10 Academy Award nominations. It begs the question: How on earth does a foreign-language film gross more than $130 million, as Crouching Tiger did?
For starters, the film does have some Hollwood pedigree, despite its Asian roots. Director Ang Lee had already garnered critical acclaim for Sense and Sensibility before helming Crouching Tiger. Lead actor Chow Yun Fat starred with Mira Sorvino in the English-speaking film The Replacement Killers. And lead actress Michelle Yeoh had done some memorable work opposite Pierce Brosnan in the 007 flick Tomorrow Never Dies.
Much more important to Crouching Tiger's success, though, is the fact that the film has an astonishing visual look that's unlike anything you've seen before. Actors and actresses leap from rooftop to treetop and everything in between, all with a balletic grace that's a tribute to the talent of Lee and cinematographer Peter Pau. The fight scenes are breathtaking, majestically choreographed with precision and style by Yuen Wo-Ping, who's also responsible for the unforgettable action sequences in The Matrix.
Crouching Tiger's story involves a legendary warrior named Li Mu Bai (Yun-Fat) who gives a magical sword to an elderly friend as a gift. When the sword is stolen from his friend shortly thereafter, Li sets about trying to retrieve it. Yu Shu Lien (Yeoh), a woman who possesses impressive martial arts skills in her own right, offers her assistance. Li and Yu have been had feelings for each other for many years, but circumstances have always prevented these feelings from being expressed.
Another major character is Jen Yu (Zhing Ziyi), a wealthy district governor's daughter who becomes fast friends with Yu. But Jen has some secrets up her sleeve that figure heavily in the movie's plot.
In all honesty, the movie's script isn't its strongest point. A flashback scene involving Jen Yu is both confusing and overlong. The screenplay is basically a classic kung fu tale of revenge that's peppered with a little romance. Nothing groundbreaking here, with the notable exception of the strong, athletic female characters.
Strong female leads seem to pop up in foreign films with considerably more regularity than in U.S. films. In the last few years alone, we've had Franka Potente in Run Lola Run, Fernanda Montenegra in Central Station, Cecilia Roth in All About My Mother, and Elodie Bouchez and Natacha Regnier in The Dreamlife Of Angels, to name just a few. Add the excellent performances of Yeoh and Ziyi to this impressive list. Whether busting heads with their feet and fists, expressing their philosophies and emotions, or stealing the hearts of men, these two give performances that would shame the one-dimensional female characters being churned out by Hollywood. Their exclusion from the Oscar nomination list would have been laughable if it wasn't such a disgrace.
As I was walking out of the theater after seeing Crouching Tiger, a group of four or five young kids were raving about how "cool" the movie was and how much they loved it. While Crouching Tiger can stand on its own merits, I'm a huge fan of any subtitled film that encourages millions of young (and old) viewers to expand their moviegoing palettes. Let's hope the success of Life Is Beautiful and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is just the start of a trend in this direction.
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Getting tore up isn't likely to enhance your subtitle-reading abilities (and don't even think about watching the dubbed version).
This mix of martial arts and romance is a tough call, but we're betting that this film could help you get lucky.
Buy this movie from Amazon.com
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