SPECIAL SUNDAY SCREENING -- PRESENTED IN HIGH DEFINITION BLU-RAY
Two veteran warriors cross paths with an ambitious young woman and encounter an old enemy.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is based on a series of books written in the 1940's by popular Chinese author Wang Dulu, and part of the wuxia martial arts genre that has appeared across the spectrum of cultural art forms, including film, opera, theatre, comics, and games. While wuxia films have been produced in China since the 1920's, Taiwanese director Ang Lee was drawn to the material by its strong female characters, and its contrast of structured society vs. the untamed wilderness. He also saw it as a challenge to make a film in the genre that could connect to a Western, international audience.
Lee was born and raised in Taiwan but studied theatre in Illinois and attended film school at NYU, where he was a classmate of writer-director Spike Lee (no relation!). Lee made his first two films about Asian immigrants living in the United States, each with a mixture of languages, but returned to Taiwan for his breakthrough film Eat Drink Man Woman, which earned him his first Academy Award nomination. Next began a successful run in Hollywood, with his art house hit Sense and Sensibility the 1970's drama The Ice Storm, and Civil War drama Ride With The Devil. With his experience in a variety of genres, Lee finally felt comfortable to return to Asia and make the wuxia epic he had hoped to film for a long time.
The production was shot in Beijing and many other areas of China, including the Gobi Desert. Lee's decision to have the film in the Mandarin language raised issues with his cast; Hong Kong action icon Chow Yun-Fat (star of many John Woo films) spoke Cantonese natively, as did Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh. Young and upcoming actress Zhang Ziyi knew Mandarin but her co-stars were forced to learn their lines phonetically.
An additional challenge for the actors, despite their previous roles in action films, was the stuntwork done with wires, suspending them high above the ground and enabling them to achieve unnaturally high jumps and flying movements. These fights were choreographed by Yuen Woo-Ping, a legend of Hong Kong cinema, responsible for helping build the careers of Jackie Chan and Jet Li, as well as the eye-opening fights in The Matrix films. The cinematography is by Peter Pau, who was behind the camera for Hong Kong classics The Killer (also starring Chow) and The Bride With White Hair.
The film was released to rapturous reviews, praised for its ability to excite the audience as well as its deep romantic roots, and the poetry of Lee's imagery. It went on to become the highest-grossing foreign language film in U.S. history at $128 million, making over $70 million more than previous record-holder Life Is Beautiful. Lee won a slew of awards for his direction, including those from the BAFTA, Los Angeles Film Critics, the Director's Guild of America, the Golden Globe, and Independent Spirit. It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards including best picture, and took home Oscars for its cinematography, musical score, art direction/set decoration, and best foreign language film.
Running time is 2 hours.
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