Michelle Yeoh: Under Eastern Eyes

Despite bringing Michelle Yeoh long awaited recognition, the recent box-office success of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is highly problematic. Although this sub-titled Mandarin speaking film has introduced Western audiences to the fact that the standard wu xia pian martial arts genre is not to be limited to Bruce Lee films and the atrociously dubbed examples shown on "Kung Fu Theater" television channels, Ang Lee's film represents a highly unsatisfactory example of this cinematic movement. Crouching Tiger is really an Eastern parallel to William Wyler's The Big Country (1958). It is a film aiming at respectability designed to attract audiences who don't like martial arts movies rather than aiming to explore the dynamic conventions within the genre.