Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a kind of gift. The beautiful costumes and locations – some of the film was shot in the Gobi Desert – make the film a lust for the eye. Alongside the breathtaking and humorous action scenes, Ang Lee gives a respectful wink at the genres that have been combined in his film; the kung-fu film and the romantic costume drama. Lee keeps providing a new angle on familiar formulae, for instance by focusing on two women as ‘martial-arts’ experts. After years of trusty service as warriors in late nineteenth-century China, Li (Chow Yun-Fat) lays down his sword. He thinks it is time to lead a restful life and entrusts his legendary, four-hundred-year-old sword – entitled Green Destiny – to his fellow warrior Yu (Michelle Yeoh). The relationship between Li and Yu is very close, but they have never dared to express their love for each other. When Yu is on his way to Peking with the sword, he meets the young Jen (Zhang Zhiyi), the stubborn daughter of a politician, who is opposed to her imminent marriage. She is jealous of the apparently independent and free life of Yu. When the sword is stolen, this is the start of a quest filled with romance and spectacular fight scenes. The choreography of these scenes was by Yuen Wo-ping, who also did the fight choreography of The Matrix and had previously worked with Jackie Chan.