Title: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon(Mandarin dialogue with English subtitles)

Genre: Fantasy/Drama/Romance/Martial Arts

Official Website: www.crouchingtiger.com

Director: Ang Lee( The Ice Storm, Sense and Sensibility, Ride With the Devil, Eat Drink Men Women, The Wedding Banquet)

Summary: In the early 19th century of China, martial arts master Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-fat) is hanging up his sword, a legendary, 400-year-old blade known as Green Destiny, after fighting for so many years. He wants to retire into a life of quiet self-contemplation after his endless pursue for his master's killer was going no where. He realizes that revenge was not a way out. Although still keen on avenging the death of his late master, who was killed by the witchlike Jade Fox (Cheng Pei-pei), Li now seems more inclined to a meditative life and entrusts the sword to Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh), a friend and warrior with whom he has experienced a mutual, long-suppressed love. He wants Shu Lien to give the sword to a good friend in Beijing but things get complicated along the way.

While delivering the sword to Beijing, Shu Lien meets Jen (Zhang Ziyi), a petite, headstrong politician’s daughter. Jen is unhappy over being forced into an arranged marriage, which only increases the envy she feels over the freewheeling lifestyle she imagines is enjoyed by Shu Lien. She is a good fighter and has a good strong heart, but she's too stubborn and easily manipulated. Later, Green Destiny is stolen by a masked thief. Sir Te's chief security officer Bo (Gao Xian) and Shu Lien, both skilled fighters, try in vain to stop the thief, but the mysterious figure escapes.

After the sword is stolen, the plot supposely get better as Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-fat) has to recover the sword along with the help of Shu Lien. Together they would embark on a quest that will determine their fate and destiny for their love for each other.

Review(*****) : The film was creative and extremely imaginative from the characters to the serenity of the settings.Even the dialogues express poetic meanings like out of some Shakespeare plays such that they add substance and depth to the film.Everything seems to transcend the limit of human endeavors through the characters.As far as the plot goes, I definitely like it.The story is not as deep as one would like but it's enough to maintain a good flow as everything comes together in the conclusion.

The story is more of a romantic nature than an all-out battle of epic proportion with meaningless fight sequences. The fight scenes represent the anxiety of the characters and their struggles(SYMBOLISM). It is a story of obstructed love between a young and an older couple. They seek to break the conformity of ancient China in which honor codes and arranged marriages forbid them from expressing their free will. The plot is easily understandable and the stunning landscapes only add more effect to the story. The Gobi Desert is magnificently shot and what you see is what you get.

The characters are realistic, emotionally. It's the inner desire to break out and seek one's destiny that really captivated me in every way. Li Mu Bai loves Shu Lien and she him, but their love cannot be fulfilled b/c of their old views. In ancient China, it is quite different from Western civilization b/c people in China do not express their love so freely. They express their love for one another with subtleness. It's more of a gentle and serene love than a forward and direct love. Perhaps that is why this movie is so likable. For once, you see how a love can be so creatively displayed strongly without being so direct in a film such as this. Yet, it also show the unbearable lightness of being b/c of unfulfilled desires...Being is unbearable as we all know so well...

CTHD deals alot with human struggles emotionally. The characters in the film are not one dimensional at all. They are etched with specific personalities, each containing an INNER desire to break the norm of society.

For Li Mu Bai, he tries to break the traditional honor codes to be with Shu Lien but only succeeded in the end when it was too late. Sigh, the truth of love can never set you free unless it's done early.

For Shu Lien, she tries to relinquish the past which took her fiance away by asking forgiveness from Meng b/c she's in love with another. She wants to be with Li Mu Bai but honor codes forbid her to do so.

For Jen, she seeks to break the conformity of the mythical China by escaping from an arranged marriage to seek a freedom for herself, only to find a desire that was all to chaotic and proven disastrous.

For Jade Fox, she only wishes to learn the skills of men but her ambitions were diminish by the conformity of China. Women cannot learn the secrets held by men. She is not evil nor good but she exists as a living individual with goals and ambitious attributes.

Character development is there without a doubt. The plot is not raw nor overdone but well cooked with finesse by Ang Lee. There are so many things that I love about this film. I love how the characters are portrayed as real human beings when it comes to desires and emotions, not the flying mind you. I enjoyed the flying as well b/c it is artful in my view. The flying is artful b/c it is done like a dream where you're flying but in this case you're seeing it right there in the screen. Zhang Ziyi shines vividly as Jen, the confused and spunky girl whose abilities surpass that of her master, Jade Fox. She wants freedom, yet b/c of what she does, her fate due to her actions takes her on a chaotic and unwanted conclusion. What happen in the end will make you mist with tears and overwhelm your sense of emotion. I for one was saddened by such a conclusion.

The film is beautiful without a doubt. The subtitles are not very distractive at all and the fight sequences were exaggerated of course but is that not what we go to the movies for? We want to be entertained for at least 2hrs and this film definitely provides a great deal of entertainment. Do not take this film too seriously b/c it's a fantasy film. Be more open-minded and you might walk out of the theater with a new perspective on another culture. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon will be the most memorable FANTASY film for the year 2000.