Corktown common
THURSDAY, July 13, 2023

Crouching tiger, hidden dragon

With the short film Requiem for Romance

Director Ang Lee fulfilled a childhood dream in creating a traditional wuxia world of martial arts in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, a vision brought to life by its leads Michelle Yeoh (catch this year’s Oscar winner also in Everything Everywhere All At Once earlier this TOPS season) and fellow Hong Kong legend Chow Yun-Fat. This lyrical film sweeps the audience into a romantic adventure where the body supersedes all limitations, and martial arts demonstrates the beauty of human connection in the face of oppression. After a warrior in the  Qing Dynasty places his sword in his lover’s possession for safe keeping, it is stolen, setting in motion an epic journey as she seeks to retrieve it. Revisiting the film over twenty years after its release only reaffirms how masterfully Lee communicates  not only the excitement of the spectacular fight sequences but also its powerful entanglement with the emotionally charged world of the narrative. (Fans of Ang Lee’s films shouldn’t miss our screening of Brokeback Mountain in August.)

Complementing Lee’s delicate yet striking style is Requiem for Romance. Filmmaker Jonathan Ng uses rich watercolor animation to aesthetically complement the bittersweet break-up between a couple whose reasons for parting are due not only to societal and family pressures but have larger political implications as well. These subtly come through in the poetic animation of a sword fight between a man and woman in feudal China that dramatizes the emotional modern-day phone conversation that overlays the visuals.