Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

Directed by Ang Lee. Starring Zhang Ziyi, Michelle Yeoh, Chow Yun-fat, Chang Chen, Cheng Pei-pei, Sihung Lung, Wang Deming, Li Fazeng. [PG-13]

Sweeping, lyrical wuxia epic is nothing short of exhilarating, and firmly put the sub-genre on the international map after it became an enormous critical and financial success (still the highest grossing foreign-language film in the U.S.). Narrative intertwines a tale of theft and revenge with a pair of passionate but divergent love stories, one between two older warriors who have long repressed their mutual feelings out of respect for a dead companion, and the other between two young wrongdoers who freely give in to their desires; indeed, it’s a romantic melodrama from fabled history that incorporates heavy doses of imagination, martial arts, and swordplay. Peter Pau’s breathtaking photography won an Academy Award—the iconic bamboo forest “ballet” alone is worth the price of admission—as did Timmy Yip’s production design and Tan Dun’s music, but praise is worthy in all technical fields, including the brilliant action choreography as orchestrated by Woo-Ping Yuen (known to Western audiences for his work on the previous year’s blockbuster film, The Matrix). But despite all the visual artistry and eye-popping “wire-fu” on hand, it’s the subdued longing between Li Mu Bai (Chow) and Yu Shu Lien (Yeoh) that lingers the longest, the sort of anguish you’d expect to find in an Edith Wharton tome. Also an Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film. Based on a Wang Dulu novel, the fourth book in the “Crane Iron” Pentalogy; inspired a sequel more than fifteen years later (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Sword of Destiny).

95/100