Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Based on the wuxia novel Crane Iron Pentalogy by Wang Dulu, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is the story about a swordsman trying to stop a young thief from stealing a legendary sword as he and another warrior try to stop the thief and her master. Directed by Ang Lee and screenplay by James Schamus, Wang Hui-Ling, and Tsai Kuo-Jung, the film is a stylized martial arts drama set in ancient times as it revolves around themes of honor as well as identity. Starring Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Chang Chen, Cheng Pei-pei, Sihung Lung, and Zhang Ziyi. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a majestic yet visually-gorgeous film from Ang Lee.

Returning from Wudan after a period of meditation, legendary swordsman Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat) meets with his longtime friend Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) as he plans to give up life as a warrior and give the legendary Green Destiny sword to their friend Sir Te (Sihung Lung). Shu Lien accompanies Mu Bai to Peking where she gives Sir Te the sword while encountering the daughter of the town’s governor named Jen (Zhang Ziyi) who is set to marry a bureaucrat in an arranged marriage. Later that night, a mysterious young woman had stolen the Green Destiny sword as Shu Lien, Sir Te’s guard Bo (Xian Gao), and many others try to retrieve it. Mu Bai and Shu Lien believe that the infamous Jade Fox (Cheng Pei-pei) might’ve been involved as a police inspector named Tsai (De Ming Wang) and his daughter May (Li Li) are after Fox over the death of Tsai’s wife years ago.

Fox also killed Mu Bai’s master years ago as Mu Bai, Bo, Tsai, and May decides to confront the mysterious Jade Fox until her mysterious masked apprentice appears with the Green Destiny causing problems as Mu Bai knows who is the thief. Fox meanwhile, confronts her apprentice over the fact that she was able to fight against Mu Bai very well. Later that night, Jen receives a visit from her lover in a desert bandit named Lo (Chang Chen) who learns about Jen’s upcoming nuptials as he wants to take her away back to the desert where they first met. Jen refuses only for Lo to interrupt the wedding procession until he’s captured by Mu Bai and Shu Lien. With the recently-returned Green Destiny sword stolen again, Mu Bai and Shu Lien return to Shu Lien’s home where some revelations occur about the thief as Mu Bai tries to offer her something which then leads to a final confrontation with Jade Fox.

While the film is a martial-arts adventure film that revolves around a legendary sword, it’s a film that explores the confines of duty and what is expected from people as well as breaking out of this repression. In this multi-narrative story, there’s two warriors who definitely have feelings for each other but could never express it due to the fact they lost someone they cared for and felt that it would insult that person’s memory. There’s also this story about the daughter of a governor who is set to be married only to be in love with a desert bandit she had encountered some time ago. It definitely leads to all sorts of complications when a sword is stolen as there’s those who are involved trying to retrieve this famed sword.

The film’s screenplay isn’t just complex in its narrative but also in the way the characters are presented. Li Mu Bai is a man who has endured enough training and fighting who feels like there is nowhere to go until he encounters this young thief whom he believes has the potential to be something greater and undo whatever mistakes that had been made by his masters years ago. Mu Bai’s friend Yu Shu Lien is a woman who knows what she should do as a woman but feels repressed by the fact that she and Mu Bai have feelings for each other but is still saddened by the death of her lover who was also Mu Bai’s best friend. Then there’s Jen Yu, a governor’s daughter who is feels stilted by her duty as she wants to do the things Shu Lien does while there’s something about her that becomes intriguing.

Notably as the screenplay features a flashback narrative about how Jen meets this desert bandit Lo where they fall in love as Lo becomes the escape that Jen craves for only for other things to complicate matters. The character of Jade Fox isn’t just this venomous antagonist who wants to kill Mu Bai over the fact that she never got the chance to grow as a warrior. She becomes upset that her apprentice has started to surpass her in skill as she starts to become envious and eventually corruptive. Eventually, a showdown occurs where Mu Bai wants to become the one person who can provide Fox’s apprentice something more.

Ang Lee’s direction is definitely stylish not just in terms of the presentation of the martial arts scene but also in the film’s dramatic moments. Shot on location in the mountains and deserts of China as well as locations around Beijing, it’s a film set in a period where there isn’t a lot of conflict happening and times are definitely changing in some ways. Lee’s approach to framing and not employing lots of close-ups allows the film to present the characters in the environment they’re in whether it’s the lushness of the forests or in the homes of government officials. Lee always find a way to put the actors in a frame where it isn’t show-dressing but rather express what is happening as there’s a lot of intrigue that occurs.

For the fight scenes, Lee employs the services of choreographer Yuen Wo Ping for a very stylized approach to martial arts where it involves lots of flying and moves where it is about the intensity of the fight as well as what is at stakes. Lee also employs bits of humor such as an elaborate scene at a restaurant where a bunch of men try to gang up on someone only for everything to wrong. Lee also knows when to give the audience a break from the fighting for a moment of serenity where it allows the characters to find themselves or to figure out what to do next. Overall, Lee creates an exquisite yet spellbinding film about love and identity.

Cinematographer Peter Pau does brilliant work with the film‘s photography from the lushness of the forests to the vast look of the scenes in the deserts while the nighttime interior and exterior scenes play to the element of style as well as a mood that was needed for those scenes. Editor Tim Squyres does amazing work with the editing by employing lots of rhythmic cuts for some of the film‘s fight scenes that were very stylized along with more methodical cuts in the dramatic moments. Production/costume designer Timmy Yip does fantastic work with the set pieces in the look of the restaurant with all of its chaos as well as the stylish clothes that Jen wears.

Visual effects supervisor Rob Hodgson does terrific work with the visual effects for some of the scenes of flying as well as other stylistic moments to play up that sense of fantasy. Sound editor Eugene Gearty does wonderful work with the sound to create an intimacy in the quieter scenes while splicing lots of different sound effects for the fight scenes. The film’s music by Tan Dun is mesmerizing for its mixture of somber string pieces with cellos provided by Yo-Yo Ma as well as bombastic, percussion-based music for the film‘s fight scenes.

The film’s ensemble cast is excellent as it features some memorable small roles from Li Fazeng and Hai Yan as Jen’s parents, Xian Gao as the guard Bo, Li Li as Inspector Tsai’s daughter May, and De Ming Wang as Inspector Tsai. Sihung Lung is wonderful as Sir Te who knows about the feelings between Mu Bai and Shu Lien while dealing with the theft of the Green Destiny. Cheng Pei-pei is great as the venomous Jade Fox who deals with her enemies as well as the fact that her apprentice is starting to surpass her in every way. Chang Chen is superb as the bandit Lo who is in love with Jen while trying to stop her from getting married.

Zhang Ziyi is amazing as Jen as a young woman dealing with the role she is forced to play as well as desire to rebel in order to find happiness as a young woman. Michelle Yeoh is brilliant as Yu Shu Lien who is determined to retrieve the Green Destiny sword while dealing with her own feelings for Mu Bai. Finally, there’s Chow Yun-Fat in a marvelous performance as Lu Mu Bai as a man who feels lost in his role as he deals with loss and uncertainty while trying to retrieve the Green Destiny sword and deal with his feelings for Shu Lien.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is an outstanding film from Ang Lee that features incredible performances from Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Chang Chen, and Zhang Ziyi. The film is definitely among one of the great films of the martial arts genre as well as a unique take on the world of fantasy. It is also one of Lee’s best films for exploring big themes on identity and repression as it serves as one of his most definitive works. In the end, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a phenomenal film from Ang Lee.

Ang Lee Films: Pushing Hands - The Wedding Banquet - Eat Drink Man Woman - Sense & Sensibility (1995 film) - The Ice Storm - Ride with the Devil - The Hire: Chosen - Hulk - Brokeback Mountain - Lust, Caution - Taking Woodstock - Life of Pi - Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk - The Auteurs #19: Ang Lee

© thevoid99 2013

Pushing Hands

Directed by Ang Lee and written by Lee and James Schamus, Tui Shou (Pushing Hands) is the story of a tai chi instructor who emigrates to America to live with his son’s family in a New York suburb. There, he deals with his new surroundings as well as the growing differences between himself and his son. Starring Sihung Lung, Deb Snyder, and Bo Z. Wang. Tui Shou is a fascinating and heart-wrenching drama from Ang Lee.

After moving from Taiwan to America, Mr. Chu (Sihung Lung) is still trying to find his place living at the home of his son Alex (Bo Z. Wang). Though it’s been a month as his presence has been stressful for his novelist daughter-in-law Martha (Deb Snyder), Alex still believes that it is his duty to take care of his father while their son Jeremy (Haan Lee) enjoys his grandfather’s company. While Mr. Chu takes in a job to teach tai-chi to local Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants at a local community center. He stills feel lost though he is befriends the center’s cooking teacher Mrs. Chen (Lai Wang). When Martha is anxious over a review of her first novel that hasn’t been printed on the New York Times, she starts to have stomach cramps as Chu tries to ease her pain only to have her go to the hospital.

Though he’s able to connect with Mrs. Chen over their fond memories of Taiwan, he still feels lost as Martha returns to the hospital dealing with writer’s block where Chu decides to take a walk. When he doesn’t return, Alex freaks out as he tries to find his father only for Alex to wander off where Chu eventually returns with Alex drunk over everything that’s been happening. When Alex decides to have his father sent to an old folk’s home, a picnic with Mrs. Chen and her family has Chu realizing what Alex had been trying to do. Chu decides to leave on his own to Chinatown to start his own life only to deal with the fast new world of Chinese-Americans at a restaurant where he decides to make his stand.

The film is essentially about an old Taiwanese tai chi instructor who has a hard time dealing with his new surroundings as well as the culture shock he receives from his own son and American daughter-in-law. With only an elderly Taiwanese woman to connect with it, he is trying to deal with this new strange world as well as the world where it’s filled with Chinese and Taiwanese people where it still feels strange. The screenplay that Ang Lee and James Schamus creates isn’t just about culture shock but also about an old man struggling to adapt to this new world and the life that his son has. Particularly as he tries to find his role for this new world that is fast and ever-changing while his son struggles to take care of his father until it becomes too much to bear.

A lot of the film is told from the perspective of Mr. Chu while there’s also glimpses from Alex and Martha as they’re just a young couple struggling with his presence. Though Alex has work and other things to do, it’s Martha that is really annoyed by Chu’s presence though it’s really the fault for both her and Chu for not really putting any effort to try and communicate with each other despite not knowing each other’s languages. Chu is trying to believe that things will come to pass only to realize things aren’t as easy as it seems. Notably in the third act when he decides to leave home for a new life only to realize that the Chinese in Chinatown are much more problematic than his daughter-in-law. While there’s a few flaws in the story due to some of the melodrama that occurs involving Alex’s struggle with his role and Martha’s annoyance towards Chu that later has her feeling guilty. The screenplay succeeds in creating an engaging story about a man trying to find his place in a new world.

Ang Lee’s direction is truly mesmerizing for the way he lets the camera capture the tai-chi scenes as it’s ever moving in a slow yet precise manner to see how it’s done. With a lot of the compositions being straightforward, they do however say a lot in its simplistic framing. Notably the way the film opens as there’s barely any dialogue in the first seven minutes as it involves Mr. Chu and Martha just not saying anything and do their opening daily thing. Notably as there’s a scene from the outside of their house where she’s in one room typing and he’s at another room doing calligraphy all in the same frame.

Some of the film’s tai chi scenes where Lee wanted to display the kind of power Mr. Chu has is presented with a degree of style that is similar to martial arts film but in a more restrained manner. Lee also utilizes simple close-ups to display some of the healing power Chu’s tai chi has to see the differing results depending on the person. Along with some amazing shots of NYC, including Chinatown and a nearby town of NYC. Lee creates a truly rich debut film that would bear all of the hallmarks of his later work.

Cinematographer Lin Jong does nice work with the film‘s straightforward yet vibrant cinematography to capture some of the beauty of the daytime exterior and interior scenes along with some wonderful look for some of the nighttime Chinatown interior scenes. Editor Tim Squyres does excellent work with the film’s stylized editing in using rhythmic cuts for some of the film’s tai-chi demonstrations as well as dissolves and jump-cuts to play with some of the film’s rhythm. Production designer Scott Bradley and art director Michael Shaw do some fine work in the set pieces such as the Chinese community center that Mr. Chu and Mrs. Chen meet to the home of Alex and Martha that is filled with a few of Chu‘s things.

Costume designer Elizabeth Jenyon does pretty good work with the costumes from the more modern, casual clothing of Alex and Martha to the traditional Chinese wardrobe that Chu wears. Sound recordist Jeff Pullman does terrific work with the sound from the calm but tense feel of Alex‘s home to the more raucous atmosphere of the community center and restaurant that Chu works at later in the film. The film’s music score by Xiao-Song Qu is superb for its low-key yet electronic-ambient score to play up the drama along with some traditional yet serene Asian string music that pops up every now and then.

The casting by Harriet Bass, Jeff Berman, and Wendy Ettinger is excellent for the ensemble that is created as it includes small roles from Fanny de Luz as Martha’s real estate friend Linda, Hung-Chung Wang as the verbally-abusive restaurant owner that Chu works with late in the film, and Haan Lee as Alex and Martha’s son Jeremy. Deb Snyder is pretty good as the frustrated Martha although it’s a role that doesn’t have much depth while Bo Z. Wang is also good as Chu’s overwhelmed son Alex. Lai Wang is excellent as Mrs. Chen who befriends Chu as she seeks some solution to heal her ailing right arm while suspecting about why Alex and her daughter are trying to set her up with Chu.

Finally, there’s Sihung Lung in a marvelous performance as Mr. Chu. It’s a very restrained performance that allows Lung to portray a character trying to maintain a sense of dignity in a new world. There’s a bit of charm to the way Lung tries to deal with his surroundings and culture shock while he’s also this very quite bad-ass who proves that he is not the kind of guy to mess around with. It’s definitely an extraordinary performance from the late Chinese actor.

Tui Shou is a superb and compelling debut film from Ang Lee that features a remarkable performance from Sihung Lung. While it may not rank high with a lot of the films Lee would do later on, it is still an intriguing one for the way culture shock is depicted in the eyes of an old man. Notably as it also reveals the world of tai chi and its attributes to help find peace in a troubled world. In the end, Tui Shou is an excellent debut film from Ang Lee.

Ang Lee Films: The Wedding Banquet - Eat Drink Man Woman - Sense & Sensibility (1995 film) - The Ice Storm - Ride with the Devil - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - The Hire: Chosen - Hulk - Brokeback Mountain - Lust, Caution - Taking Woodstock - Life of Pi - Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk - The Auteurs #19: Ang Lee

© thevoid99 2012

The Wedding Banquet

Directed by Ang Lee and written with Neil Peng and James Schamus, Xi Yan (The Wedding Banquet) tells the story of a gay Taiwanese man whose life unravels when he decides to marry a Chinese woman so she can get a green card. Things get worse when his parents arrive in America to help with the wedding while he’s dealing with his boyfriend who feels left out. The film has Lee explore the theme of homosexuality as it would something he would explore again with his 2005 masterpiece Brokeback Mountain. Starring Winston Chao, May Chin, Ah Lei Gua, Sihung Lung, and Mitchell Lichtenstein. Xi Yan is a witty yet engrossing comedy-drama from Ang Lee.

Wai-Tung Gao (Winston Chao) is a gay man who lives with his boyfriend Simon (Mitchell Lichtenstein) as they live a happy life in New York City. Yet, Wai-Tung still has to deal with pleasing his Taiwanese parents (Sihung Lung and Ah Le Gua) for him to marry and give them a grandchild. Wai-Tung also has to deal with a penniless tenant named Wei-Wei (May Chin) who needs a green card or else she gets deported back to China. After pressure from a dating service his mother puts him through, Wai-Tung takes Simon’s idea to marry Wei-Wei to please his parents and she gets her green card.

Wai-Tung tells his parents about his engagement Wei-Wei where they reveal they decide to go to New York City to celebrate much to Wai-Tung’s horror. Simon helps out to await their arrival as they’re aware that Mr. Gao has just suffered a mild stroke weeks earlier. When Wai-Tung’s parents arrive to meet Simon and Wei-Wei, they’re happy about the upcoming marriage only to realize that Wei-Wei and Wai-Tung are marrying the next day at court. The parents reluctantly accept the wedding as the dinner is held by one of Mr. Gao’s former soldiers (Tien Pien) is the restaurant owner who offers to hold an extravagant banquet for Wai-Tung and Wei-Wei. The wedding banquet becomes a massive event with loads of people at the ceremony.

The ceremony ends up overwhelming Wai-Tung, Wei-Wei, and Simon as the party raged on afterwards where something happens that changes everything they have been planning for. With Mr. Gao’s health becoming more fragile, truths come out as the three young people figure out how to live this new life.

The film is about a gay man trying to please his family by marrying a woman so she can get her green card and he can get his parents off his back. What happens doesn’t turn out this way as the time with the Wai-Tung’s parents become much more intriguing forcing the three young people to think about their lives and future. While Wai-Tung and Wei-Wei marry for selfish reasons, they realize that their married life isn’t going to be as easy to do when his parents are around. Wei-Wei becomes sentimental and overwhelmed by the gifts Mrs. Gao gives her while Simon becomes fascinated by the parents including Mr. Gao whom he helps as a physical therapist.

The screenplay that Ang Lee, James Schamus, and Neil Peng create is one that is lively and as engrossing as it does a bit of exploration into gay life along with the idea of how families would react to the news of coming out. Since it takes place in the early 1990s when gay culture starts to become much more open, there is the struggle to come out along with the idea of a family featuring gays. Even as there’s dialogue where Mrs. Gao and Wei-Wei talk about the different roles of women in their generation and the same struggles they each have. The script is truly captivating in its study of family and culture along with the idea of what was considered to be very unconventional in terms of a family setting with these two people, a woman, and two gay men.

Lee’s direction is definitely potent in its presentation for the way he captures the chaos of the wedding banquet to the intimate settings in the townhouse Simon and Wai-Tung live in. Lee also creates some wonderful framing and compositions to the dramatic scenes without going being melodramatic or underplayed. The humor of the film is also very subtle without being too much as it’s presented in a more wild fashion for the banquet and after party scenes. While the mixture of humor and drama does make the film a bit uneven in its tone, Lee does create a fascinating yet touching film about family and acceptance.

Cinematographer Lin Jong does a great job with the colorful look of New York City in its exterior settings while creating a much vibrant yet straightforward look for the wedding banquet sequence. Editor Tim Squyres does a superb job with the editing in creating an array of stylish cuts for the film including dissolves and jump-cuts to create a lively movement for the film. Production designer Steve Rosenzweig, along with set decorator Amy Beth Silver and art director Amy Beth Silver, does an excellent job with the look of Wai-Tung and Simon‘s apartment with its clean look that is mixed with Asian artifacts along with the lavish look of the wedding banquet scene.

Costume designer Michael Clancy does a wonderful job with the costumes in the look of Wei-Wei’s wedding dress to the traditional thin dress she wears after the wedding. Sound editor Pamela Martin does a very good job with the sound to capture the intimacy of the apartment to the raucous world of New York City and the wedding banquet in all of its craziness. The film’s score by Mader is brilliant for its mix of traditional Asian music mixed in with soft orchestral arrangements to comical musical pieces to play up the film’s humor.

The casting by Judy Dennis is amazing for the ensemble that is created that includes cameos by director Ang Lee and his son Mason in the wedding scenes plus Vanessa Lang as a woman Wai-Tung is set up with early in the film, Yung-Teh Hsu as an old friend of Wai-Tung, and Tien Pien as a restaurant owner who knows Mr. Gao as he helps create the lavish wedding banquet. Ah Le Gua is wonderful as Wai-Tung’s mother who brings some humor to her maternal role along with a wonderful sentimentality in her scenes with May Chin about the young Wai-Tung. Sihung Lung is great as Mr. Gao, Wai-Tung’s father who observes everything that is happening while dealing with his own health problems as he gets to know Simon. May Chin is superb as Wei-Wei, an artist in need of a green card as meeting Wai-Tung’s parents make her think about her own family along with the unexpected relationship she has with Mrs. Gao whom she comes to think as a mother.

Mitchell Lichtenstein is excellent as Simon, an American who brings the idea for Wai-Tung to marry Wei-Wei so he can help win the approval of Wai-Tung’s parents. Instead, he unknowingly becomes part of the family while sharing his own sense of frustration and anguish over not being with Wai-Tung in an intense period. Winston Chao is brilliant as Wai-Tung, a business man trying to maintain his homosexuality while wining the approval of his parents. Chao brings a wonderfully understated yet real quality to a man who is in conflict while worrying how the truth would hurt his ailing father.

Xi Yan is a fun yet heartwarming comedy-drama from Ang Lee that features a superb cast along universal themes about family and acceptance. Fans of Lee’s work will no doubt see this as one of his finest films in its exploration of family and homosexuality that he would explore in later films. For fans of 90s gay cinema, this is one of the quintessential films as it is gives American audiences a chance to see a world that is very different but also exciting. In the end, Xi Yan is a warm yet sensational film from Ang Lee.

Ang Lee Films: Pushing Hands - Eat Drink Man Woman - Sense & Sensibility (1995 film) - The Ice Storm - Ride with the Devil - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - The Hire: Chosen - Hulk - Brokeback Mountain - Lust, Caution - Taking Woodstock - Life of Pi - Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk - The Auteurs #19: Ang Lee

© thevoid99 2011

Eat Drink Man Woman

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 5/3/09 w/ Additional Edits.

After a couple of acclaimed films with 1992's Pushing Hands and 1993's The Wedding Banquet, the Taiwanese-born director Ang Lee was clearly becoming one of the new rising directors in the Asian film scene. Though both films were shot in the U.S. and got considerable attention, Lee was considering to go back to his native Taiwan for his third film. While his previous films dealt with alienation and homosexuality, themes he would explore in later films. His third film was a personal tale about a semi-retired chef dealing with the death of his wife, his loss of smell, and the lives of his three adult daughters. The film is entitled Yin shi nan nu (Eat Drink Man Woman).

Directed by Ang Lee with a script he co-wrote with longtime collaborator James Schamus and Wang Hui-Ling. Yin shi nan nu tells the story of a semi-retired chef dealing with the changes in his life while losing his sense of taste, dealing with the death of his wife many years ago, aging, and his three daughters growing up. Meanwhile, his three daughters face their own personal ventures in life as they each deal with love in a different way as well as their own goals. Starring Sylvia Chang, Sihung Lung, Yu-wen Wang, Chien-lien Wu, and Kuei-mei Yang. Yin shi nan nu is a wonderful, enchanting film from Ang Lee.

Semi-retired chef Chu (Sihung Lung) is making a feast for Sundy dinner with his three daughters. His eldest daughter Jia-Jen (Kuei-mei Yang) is a school teacher who is also a Christian as she is unattached following a broken heart nine years earlier. His second daughter Jia-Chen (Chien-lien Wu) works as an airline executive making deals and such while has a casual affair with her ex-boyfriend Raymond (Lester Chit-Man Chang). His youngest daughter Jia-Ning (Yu-wen Wang) is a college student who works at a fast food restaurant with Rachel (Yu Chen) while often meeting Rachel's boyfriend Guo Lun (Chao-Jung Chen), who is always waiting outside. During dinner, Jia-Chen makes an announcement about getting an apartment while making subtle criticism over the food believing her father has lost his taste buds. Chu tries not to be angry but is called upon by his colleague Old Wen (Jui Wang) to come in and make dinner for the governor's son at the wedding.

While Chu is out, his divorced neighbor Jin-Rong (Sylvia Chang) arrives with her daughter Shan-Shan (Yu-Chien Tang) as she is friends with Jia-Jen as they talk about things changing in their lives. With Jin-Rong's mother Mrs. Liang (Ah Lei Gua) set to return from the U.S., Jin-Rong feels like her mother is going to interfere though she finds comfort coming to Chu who treats her like a fourth daughter and Shan-Shan like a granddaughter whose food he makes for her are a hit at her school. With Chu still coming in to a kitchen he works on occasionally, the lives of his three daughters start to change. Jia-Jen finds herself being attracted to the new school gym teacher named Ming-Dao (Chin-Cheng Lu) while Jia-Chen meets a new co-worker in Li Kai (Winston Chao). Jia-Ning starts to hang out with Guo Lun as an attraction develops. Then when Old Wen becomes ill, things start to unravel in the lives of Chu and his daughters while changes occur for Jia-Jen through love letters and Jia-Chen getting a promotion.

Mrs. Liang becomes attracted to Chu, Chu has other problems to deal with while Jia-Chen's time with Li Kai reveals a story that might relate to Jia-Jen. During a dinner conversation in which Jia-Ning reveals some big, life-changing news, Jia-Jen has a conversation with Jia-Chen about her former boyfriend that reveals to be Li Kai. Li Kai is being confronted by Jia-Chen as he reveals something that Jia-Chen has trouble believing. With Chu's life filled with changes and overwhelmed, he finds himself hanging out with Mrs. Liang as Jia-Chen begins to make decisions of her own life as well as what she really wanted to do. Even as both Jia-Ning and Jia-Jen are having some breakthrough moments in their love lives as a big feast involving their lovers and extended families has Chu making a grand announcement of his own.

The film is about many themes yet all of this comes together in a weekly feast where people gather hopefully to talk to each other about their problems and such. Yet, there's always an event for announcement for families member and such. What the film is about really is life changing through a man and his three daughters as they each face through crisis of identity, aging, ambitions, and love. The script Ang Lee, James Schamus, and Wang Hui-Ling definitely revels into many themes while the story gives each character as well as the Jin-Rong character some stories for each of them to unveil. Yet, the core story is about Chu and his daughters. For Chu, still mourning the loss of his wife as well as feeling disconnected from his daughter has caused him to lose his sense of taste.

At the same time, unable to communicate through his daughters in even a simple conversation, he uses his mastery in the art of cooking in creating lavish meals with great detail despite the loss of his taste sense. He goes to Old Wen for conversations as it's often through alcohol as Chu as they talk about many things. When things in his life starts to unravel, he finds some comfort in making lunches for Shan-Shan in secrecy though Jin-Rong finds out that Chu had been eating the lunches she made for Shan-Shan with amusement. When Mrs. Liang arrives, he often has to hear her talk as everything she says is with lots of criticism about this and that in a motor-mouth manner.

While there isn't much development in some of the minor characters, they do get moments to shine including Mrs. Liang as the focus is on Chu and his daughters. Jia-Chen has the biggest story as her original ambitions was to be a master chef but fell by the wayside to become an airline executive. That loss of original ambition and her notice by her father's diminished sense of taste has caused tension between her and her father. While she has inherited his cooking talents as well as his attention to detail, she also has her late mother's stubbornness. She is unattached to anyone only to engage in a casual relationship with Raymond until she finds herself attracted to Li Kai, who also shares her frustrations in working as an executive. Jia-Chen's story arc is the one with the most interesting development as she sees and hears things about her own family that troubles her. All of this forces her to question her own life and ambitions as well as the decision to take a promotion far away from her family.

Though the story arcs of Jia-Jen and Jia-Ning aren't as big as Chu and Jia-Chen, they each get enough moments and depth for the audience to be interested in. Jia-Jen is a repressed woman who believes she will be the one to take of her father in the long run while devoting her life to being a Christian. When she meets Ming-Dao, sparks happen that is increased by a series of love letters while some truths about what happened to her nine years ago are unveiled through an outside source. Ming-Dao represents the man who can pull her out of her repressed persona while Jia-Ning is a just a young woman going through a growing phase. Meeting Guo Lun every time she steps out of work leads to one through another as it leads to a series of moments where she is unaware that she stole the boyfriend of a co-worker. This also leads to another life-changing event of her own that would make her the first to leave the family household.

Lee's subtle, enchanting direction is truly mesmerizing in its location shots of Taipei and all that is going on. The film moves leisurely yet he uses transitions and such to make sure how much time has moved on. At the same time, he keeps the camera moving with steadicam shots where the audience walks through the tense, chaotic kitchen that Chu occasionally works on. At the same time during the feasts, the camera moves for dramatic effect to add momentum to what effect the scene is going to have. Lee clearly gets to do more technically while having time to let the acting and drama unfold with some humor added to the mix. When Lee focuses on the food that is made throughout the film, there's a something magical that goes on that keeps the viewer very attentive without losing insight to the story. Lee's overall direction is truly intoxicating in every frame he captures every scene with such beauty as he creates a film that is dazzling.

Cinematographer Jong Lin does excellent work with the gorgeous, exterior look of Taipei at night while the day time, in its varied look in weather, also has something that is colorful. Lin's shots of Taipei truly is amazing as it's a very different world from the typical Asian cities in Japan and China. The interior shots are also great, notably the nighttime feasts where it's colorful but also straightforward as Lin's work is superb. Lee's longtime editor Tim Squyres does fantastic work with the editing in the use of smooth transitions, dissolves, jump-cuts, and mostly, fade-outs to help move the film from one time transition to another. Squyres also does great work in the use of repetition to give the film a day-to-day to feel to convey the idea of time moving on as Squyres' work is phenomenal.

Production designer Fu-Hsiung Lee does great work in the look of the place that Chu works for as well as the school that Jia-Jen works at and the home of Chu. Chu's home is definitely filled with a lot of space and a backyard that he houses chickens and such while his kitchen is definitely filled with lots of things. Costume designer Wen-Chi Chen does excellent work with the costumes from the more conservative look of Jia-Jen, the casual look of Jia-Ning, and the modern look of Jia-Chen. Another notable costume comes in the more lavish look of Mrs. Liang who wears these dresses that expressive her large personality. Sound editor Steve Hamilton does fine work with the sound to capture the chaos of the kitchen and exuberance of the school that Jia-Jen works at. Music composer Mader brings a unique yet whimsical score from traditional, Asian music to play to its drama while playing a more piano-driven, Latin-like melody for some of the film's humor and as accompaniment to the Mrs. Liang character.

The cast is excellent with many of them appearing in Lee's previous films. Small but memorable roles from Chuen Wang as Jia-Chen's boss, Shih-Jay Lin as the boss' son, Man-Sheung Tin as the restaurant manager that Chu and Old Wen work at, and Yu Chen as Jia-Ning's co-worker Rachel. Other notable small roles like Lester Chit-Man Chang as Jia-Chen's ex-boyfriend Raymond and Yu-Chien Tang as Shan-Shan are memorable with Tang bringing lots of joy in her scenes. Chin-Cheng Lu and Chao-Jung Chen are excellent as the respective suitors of Jia-Jen and Jia-Ning with Lu as the more charming Ming-Dao and Chen as the melancholic, book-reading Guo Lun. Jui Wang is great as Old Wen who assists Chu at the kitchen hall while being an uncle of sorts to Chu's daughters. Winston Chao is really good as Li Kai, an airline executive who befriends Jia-Chen while carrying some things in his past as he sympathizes with Jia-Chen over the boredom of working at an airline.

Sylvia Chang is fantastic as Jin-Rong, a single mother finalizing a divorce while always turning to Chu for advice while dealing with her motor-mouth mother's criticisms and overbearing advice. Ah Lei Gua is great in a small role as Mrs. Liang, Jin-Rong's mother who likes to talk and talk about anything while trying to nab Chu for herself. Yu-wen Wang is very good as Jia-Ning, the youngest daughter who works at a Wendy's dealing with school and her first real love as she comes to term with the changes in her life. Kuei-mei Yang is excellent as Jia-Jen, the oldest daughter turning to Christianity for balance while falling for a gym teacher who helps loosen her up as she finds freedom from her duties at home. Chien-lien Wu is phenomenal as Jia-Chen, the middle daughter dealing with all of the things that are going on in her life. Wu's performance is really the standout as she encompasses all of the drama that goes on as her character tries to have her own life only to realize how much is changing around her family.

Sihung Lung is brilliant as Chu, the master chef who is dealing with things in his life that are troubling him. The death of his wife many years ago, the loss of artistry in cooking food, his sense of taste, and his own daughters. Lung's performance is full of life when he is playing cook to the young Shan-Shan whose lunches he makes become a hit at her school. Even as he plays a great listener to the ongoing jabbering of Mrs. Liang as Lung is really the heart and soul of the film.

Released in 1994, the film was a huge hit with critics while becoming a hit in the art house film circuit. Its acclaim helped the film receiving Foreign-Language film nominations at the Golden Globes and Academy Award. Ang Lee meanwhile, was asked to direct an adaptation of the Jane Austen novel Sense & Sensibility for its star and screenwriter Emma Thompson which he did next. In 2001, a remake of Yin shi nan nu was released as Tortilla Soup starring Hector Elizondo, Elizabeth Pena, Paul Rodriguez, Jacqueline Obradors, Constance Marie, and Raquel Welch that received a decent reception from critics and audiences.

Yin shi nan nu is a enjoyable, intoxicating, and heartwarming film from Ang Lee and company. Led by a superb cast including Sihung Lung and Chien-lien Wu, it's a film that delves into various themes that audiences can relate to while salivating the dishes that are made throughout. Fans of Ang Lee will no doubt put this as one of his best films that stands up among his other revered films like Sense & Sensibility, The Ice Storm, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Brokeback Mountain. In the end, for a film that has universal themes of aging, values, and ambitions with a side of some tasty dishes that will make anyone's mouth watering. Yin shi nan nu is the film to see from the great Ang Lee.

Ang Lee Films: Pushing Hands - The Wedding Banquet - Sense & Sensibility (1995 film) - The Ice Storm - Ride with the Devil - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - The Hire: Chosen - Hulk - Brokeback Mountain - Lust, Caution - Taking Woodstock - Life of Pi - Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk - The Auteurs #19: Ang Lee

(C) thevoid99 2011