Ang Lee always says something in his films? Like what? While I Ioved some of the visual imagery in CROUCHING TIGER, I failed to understand what all the hyper-praise for it was about. The plot was incredibly simplistic and full of logic holes. The whole impossibly gravity-defying flying-warrior thing may look cool on film, and I understand it has become such a "tradition" in the martial arts films that it is virtually mandatory to include such shots, but after a while it becomes silly, and there was way too much of in the film for my taste. The only thing the film "said" as far as I can tell was "don't mess with powers you haven't been trained to handle" and "if want to get rid of your a dangerous magic sword, do the job yourself and make sure it can't found and used for ill, or else be prepared to sacrifice your own life in penitence... what you thinking, anyway... next time sink it in a deep loch like you're supposed to."
This kind of wisdom I can get from the Harry Potter films, or most any Disney fantasy. CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON struck me as one of those films that got hailed as wonderful simply because it contained characters and imagery most people in the west are not that exposed to, but I couldn't call it a "great" film, just a good one. I think I'll go change into my asbestos zoot suit now... -- JR ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kirby McDaniel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 10:00 Subject: Re: [MOPO] ANG LEE I would agree with you about Tarantino, but not about Lee. I have not seen THE HULK although I probably will. I loved CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, however, I loved THE ICE STORM. There is a difference between evaluating a film and evaluating the direction of a film. In my opinion Lee is a very deft director. He understands the language of film in a very thorough way. Whether his canon is as important as Spielberg's, Welles' or Roy Del Ruth's, for that matter, is another question altogether. But watching his films is a pleasure for me because the way he says something in film is amazing. That is the mark of a good director for me. Not what his films are about, etc. Kirby McDaniel www.movieart.net Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
