Crouching Tiger – Hidden Dragon IMDB
- Cast: Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi
Director:
Ang Lee
Categories: Adventure, Romance
Rated: PG13
Running Time:
120 minutes
Synopsis
Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee took a break from making Western period
dramas to fashion this wild and woolly martial arts spectacular featuring
special effects and action sequences courtesy of the choreographer of The
Matrix (1999), Yuen Woo Ping. In the early 19th century, martial arts master Li
Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat) is about to retire and enter a life of meditation, though
he quietly longs to avenge the death of his master, who was killed by Jade Fox
(Cheng Pei-pei). He gives his sword, a fabled 400-year-old weapon known as
Green Destiny, to his friend, fellow martial arts wizard and secret love Yu Shu
Lien (Michelle Yeoh), so that she may deliver it to Sir Te (Sihung Lung). Upon
arrival in Peking, Yu happens upon Jen (Zhang Ziyi), a vivacious, willful
politician's daughter. That night, a mysterious masked thief swipes Green
Destiny, with Yu in hot pursuit -- resulting in the first of several martial
arts action set pieces during the film. Li arrives in Beijing and eventually
discovers that Jen is not only the masked thief but is also in cahoots with the
evil Jade. In spite of this, Li sees great talent in Jen as a fighter and
offers to school her in the finer points of martial arts and selflessness, an
offer that Jen promptly rebukes. This film was first screened to much acclaim
at the 2000 Cannes, Toronto, and New York film festivals and became a favorite
when Academy Awards nominations were announced in 2001: Tiger snagged ten nods
and later secured four wins for Best Cinematography, Score, Art Direction, and
Foreign Language Film. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
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