12/19/12 I watched this film again and while it does require patience and is not immediately accessible, it is a beautiful and poetic film about longing, which contains exciting action pieces as well as wonderful character development. Ang Lee's direction is marvelous and stunning and the three leads, Yun-Fat Chow, Michelle Yeoh, and Ziyi Zhang are truly excellent in their roles. *** 1/26/30/10 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is an Academy Award winning film from a versatile director that contains beautiful scenery and wonderful choreography, and it is a movie that I can never seem to get into. It is basically the story of two women, one arranged to be married into nobility but who strives for a life of crime, and one who has settled for a warrior's life, lived by its code, and regrets not expressing her love to her warrior partner. As the former steals an all powerful sword from the latter a deadly battle ensues where both will have to make unforeseeable choices. Director Ang Lee, who seems at home in any genre, strives to make a classic martial arts movie while blending in Matrix like choreographed fight scenes. Although I said this is a hard film to get into, I am recommending it because its scenery is too beautiful and its weightless fight scenes are too awesome not too. ***
