We are thrust into a martial-arts movie for the ages, yes, but also a sly tragicomedy of cross-generational angst. The sword falls into impetuous young hands, heralding the first of “Crouching Tiger’s” many exhilaratingly fluid transformations. For this is a movie about, among other things, the mysterious inflections and operations of time: It’s about how a furiously kinetic fight scene can make the world stand still, and how years of silent suffering can pass by in an instant.īut defy it he does. The lack of hurry is crucial, not only to the story’s distinctive flow and rhythm but also to its meaning. His answer - he has a grave to visit and a score to settle - feels like both an honest one and a deflection. In every soft-edged gaze and wistful smile that passes between Mu Bai and Shu Lien, we can read years of unfulfilled, unarticulated longing. They have some important business concerning a trip to Beijing, a deadly sword and Mu Bai’s impending retirement, but their cautious body language tells a more personal story.Īnd Lee, to his credit, gives them the time and space to tell it. He eases us into a lost world - a Chinese village, sometime during the Qing dynasty - where two highly skilled fighters and longtime allies, Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-fat) and Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh), are about to have a long-overdue reunion. Right from the start, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” is built on a series of tensions that the director Ang Lee is in no hurry to resolve. It begins with a plaintive cello solo, followed by a crashing of drums: Serene melancholy yields to pulse-quickening excitement.
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