Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
The martial arts film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" has opened nationwide in the US. What's your opinions of this movie?
Check out this month's cover story on Kung Fu Online for my review and some cool pics from the film.
http://www.kungfuonline.com
Is Crouching Tiger the first consistently Taoist Martial Arts Movie?
I know there is already a Good movie/bad movie thread. I just want to talk about the representation of Taoism in the movie.
I posted on another thread about the Taoist perspective Croaching Tiger presents.
Okay a couple of examples:
The Green Dragon was very flexible and a Wudang warriors weapon. Every other jian in the movie was far more rigid.
No matter what a little sh!t Jen was, she was never made out as bad or good. The worst she was called was a potential "poisoned dragon" or "you are not my sister." No good or evil except for Jade Fox, but she had a history with White Crane...maybe she was just a bitter jilted lover...not truly evil?
What do you think? Most martial arts movies are "Shaolin/Confucian" in technique and philosophy(even Tai Chi Master). CTHD seems to be consistenetly Taoist/Internal.
One must toughen up without losing one's tenderness.
not the first Taoist movie
Conan the Barbarian was one too. In the end the bad guy "detatches" from his head.
Any psycologist can tell you that this is a symbol for letting go of one's thoughts and worries.
Crouching Tiger was a Taoist outreach propaganda, however in the end he chose attatchment and love over detachment and enlightenment proving that Conan The Barbarian is far truer to taoism. :) :( :o :D :eek: :rolleyes: :cool:
I don't have a signature because I have no pen to write it.
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" Wins Hugo Award
For those who didn't know:
CTHD won the prestigous fan-based Hugo Award for best science fiction and/or fantasy movie last week at WorldCon, the largest SF convention held throughout the year. If I'm not mistaken, it's the first time a MA film ever won this award.
K. Mark Hoover
logic...i believe the caption says kimura
(nt)
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Its all fun and games til someone loses an
eye. Then its just fun.
crouching tiger fans besides me??
Sometimes in circles i'm afraid to express my opinion/enthusiasm about ANYTHING because some uppity snob will slap me down with something to the effect of "are you insane?? how could you like that!? it was crap!!!" If you are a fan of anime or manga you are likely to have been on either end of this conversation...
Crouching TIger was a great movie. Most of what america has been exposed to when they think of movies like this is exactly responsible for "Kung Pow: enter the fist." Now, i've never seen that movie, but my opinion is people see wireworks in the first place and they scoff and make fun of the dubbing.
In my opinion, the attitude and mood of this movie is what made it what it was. Yes, i've seen better fights, and i laugh everytime someone mentions kevin costner's accent in Robin Hood so i can appreciate Chow Yun Fat's shortcomings in the movie. However, what have people who CAN'T pick apart his sword form in the movie been exposed to??? how many of you signed up for a kung fu class or couldn't wait for more martial arts movies after you saw Rumble in the Bronx?? i know some of us have been here a lot longer, but honestly, we owe a lot to Crouching Tiger, the Matrix, etc...
Which brings me to my next point. The attitude and mood of this movie is what made it what it was. Have you ever shown a friend Once Upon a Time in China and they thought it was completely silly? Did they have the same reaction to Crouching Tiger? I'm going to guess not, because the movies, regardless of the validity of their techniques (or whatever the problems critics had with the fighting, i think it's an important point that wasn't it nominated for best dance????) take themselves seriously, and the special effects are JUSTIFIED. Why can people run up walls in the Matrix? Not because the director just thought a "plain ol' fight" would be boring but because the presentation suspended the audiences beliefs and made what we see on the screen seem natural and cool... same with CTHD. We get used to the world and how things are very quickly, and with the beautiful music and plot, we can appreciate how the "physics" work a lot more. This talk of the fighters looking cartoonish is like complaining about the boxing in Rocky looking bad, i don't think i have to explain THAT to this board :) ... It's not necessarily about the fighting.. the motions of the actors (sigh, and doubles ;) ) the music, the cinematography perfectly match the mood of the film, in my opinion.
As a martial arts movie, or even a love story (tragedy?) i've seen better. As a fantasy, and an ACTION flick... i think it deserved every award it got. Costner's accent is terrible (unlike some other robin hoods..., lol) the sword fighting was meh... but that doesn't mean Robin Hood wasn't a great time, and in my opinion i think it deserved all its praises too, (Same goes for the matrix, mwa ha ha)
love and unity,
matt
(P.S. On the other hand, any suggestions for looking for "good" wushu/ action flicks? because this movie has sent me on a non-stop quest for them...)