Stardate 20020528.1634

(Captain's log): Last night I watched the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I watched it the only way that one should ever watch a foreign-language film: in the original language, with subtitles.

I've long been a fan of cheesy Kung-Fu movies from Hong Kong. Most of them are definitely C-grade or worse; the plots are contrived and are little more than a setup for fight scenes, and the fighting are usually unrealistic and cheesy. (What is this business of everyone making their moves according to a metronome, anyway? No-one who really fights does that.)

This film is nothing like the same. It got rave reviews from the critics, and it deserved them. If you've been resisting seeing it because it is a martial arts movie, take my word for it: this is not a martial arts movie. It is a character movie which has martial arts in it. That is not the same.

I am severely restricted in my ability to discuss the film by my wish to not reveal any of the secrets of the plot. So instead, I'd like to mention three aspects of my reaction to the film which I think indicate that it is a great movie.

As I was watching the film, I was never able to predict what was going to happen next. I was constantly being surprised. Sometimes I would have a guess and be wrong, and sometimes I simply went with the flow. It was a constant revelation, right up until the final seconds of the film.

What was more remarkable, however, was that once the film was over, as I looked back on what had happened, I realized that everything had been inevitable. No other story was possible with those characters; nothing else could have happened. Any of the plot twists I had expected would have ended up seeming like contrivances. The authors of this film did what the very best authors do: design several compelling characters and let them tell the story to the authors no matter what it ends up being. It may well be that the ending of the film surprised them as much as it did me.

There are five major characters in the movie, and the story concentrates on those five. Other characters are only introduced as needed to keep the story moving, but never as a deus ex machina, never as a stereotype. Every major character is believable; all have realistic motivations for what they do. Even most of the minor characters are believable to the extent that we learn about them.There isn't any business of a villain doing evil things because he's, well, evil and that's what evil people do. There is no character introduced for purposes of comic relief.

And when fighting takes place it always makes sense. It isn't like in most martial arts films where the director says, OK, it's been fifteen minutes since anyone threw a punch, so let's toss in another fight.

Third, and most important, is that the film has stayed with me. I can't stop thinking about it or the people in it; I'm writing this in hopes of stilling that a bit. One character in particular has me deeply conflicted; that character is very complex and I'm still not sure I understand how I feel about it. (I'm deliberately avoiding gender pronouns here.)

This isn't a "chick flick" but I think women would like it. It isn't a guy-flick, either. I would characterize this as an adult film. I don't think that kids would enjoy it. It's not gory, and in fact I can't think of anything which happens in it which would scandalize a parent, but most 9 year olds would be mystified by the film; most of what was happening would go right over their heads.

I watched it on DVD. It probably was even better in the theater, but it's plenty good on video. Be sure and use the controls to select Mandarin voice and English subtitles. (Dubbing is for wimps.)