One of the most versatile and consistently engaging of modern filmmakers, Ang Lee rejuvenated the Chinese martial arts movie with the terrific Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which holds the record as the most successful film ever shown at the IFC. Based on an early twentieth-century novel of the wuxia pian (martial chivalry) genre, Lee’s film uses elements from the popular martial arts films of the 1960s as a means of exploring the legacy of classical Chinese culture. In spite of the film’s epic scale, it observes modest Taoist themes about righting wrongs and discovering internal strength. Chow Yun Fat plays skilled martial artist Li, whose plans for a simple, meditative life are thwarted when a legendary sword he entrusts to his friend and sequestered love Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) is stolen by associates of Jade Fox, a notorious female assassin who poisoned Li’s master. Lee and his talented team choreograph the entire drama like an elaborate ballet, and the results are breathtaking.
U.S.A.-China-Taiwan, 200. English subtitles. Colour. Anamorphic. Dolby digital stereo. 119 mins.