Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon: 25 Years On
Two love stories and a plethora of breathtaking fight scenes in Ang Lee’s finest film
Warning: Contains spoilers
Lou Reed once sang about a perfect day. One such day lodged firmly in my memory involved Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000), which my wife and I saw during the original cinema release as part of a particularly splendid Saturday. I won’t bore you with details of why the rest of the day was so perfect, but Ang Lee’s wuxia masterpiece firmly cemented itself as a film beloved by us both. How does it hold up 25 years on?
Short answer: Brilliantly. Based on a Chinese novel by Wang Dulu, this first-rate adaptation, courtesy of Wang Hui-ling, James Schamus, and Tsai Kuo-jung, features two love stories; one unrequited, the other not. These romances occur within a fairy tale set in Qing dynasty China, involving Wudang warriors, a mystical sword, an evil witch and her apprentice, and a plethora of breathtaking fight set pieces. I sometimes flippantly refer to this as The Remains of the Day (1993) with action scenes, but it’s a surprisingly apt description.
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