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| Even More |
| Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon [Wu hu zang long] (2000) Chow Yun-Fat. Michelle Yeoh. Ang Lee. Yuen Wo-Ping. Flying duelists battle before a backdrop of a China of long ago and never was. Assassins paralyze with a touch. Concealed love threatens to destroy characters from within. Empassioned struggles against societal and personal obligations further enrich this film, a rich crafting of colorplay, unbelievable action, poignant depth of character and wonderful sentiment. If you've seen any films starring Michelle Yeoh or Chow Yun-Fat, see this film to continue a great trend. If you haven't, see Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to see something truly innovative and mind-expanding. You haven't seen wirework like this. Yuen Wo-Ping (yes, the man who choreographed the kung fu fighting scenes in The Matrix) has truly outdone himself. Each fighter is properly outfitted with moves that define character and mood, each battle pushes the envelope further and further out. Still, at no point did things pull so far from what was previously presented that the film left the viewer behind. Since Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun-Fat are generally good in whatever they do (even the lackluster Replacement Killers in the case of the latter), I didn't expect to be so amazed by the ingenue, Zi Yi Zheng. Word has it that she's a dancer (as Michelle Yeoh once was), but her fighting was truly exquisite and fierce. I felt guilty for cheering her on against Ms. Yeoh, who is my *hero*, fer gawd's sake.. The sad, green beauty will stay with you long after Coco Lee's ending song fades to a close. The music was wonderful. Lush strings and pounding drums. There simply wasn't the noise we usually hear in martial arts films. Everything was musical. Even the fighting. CSO Winter 2000 |
| Hermit I am *this* close to telling everyone to go away. I work in a bookstore, a member of one of the chains threatening to bring the free world to its knees with its blight on the landscape. I'm grateful for the job. I mean, no one was banging down my door or ringing the phone off the hook except to peel me open and devour my heart. So, thank goodness for the blight. Thank goodness for the people who want to photocopy one page of a book, for those who must use their cellular phones to read off every title on a single shelf, for people who want me to find that new book everyone's reading that's red. Can you find that book? It's red. Got a title? Nope. It's red, though. I'll get right on that. Letsee... I'll type red in the computer and I'll get right on that. Maybe certain people shouldn't be trying to read anything except a menu at McDonald's. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine in the morning. Perky, even. A little soymilk and Life cereal and I'll be good. CSO 4/11/2001 |
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