Mass appeal for Mandarin movie

By Katherine MacColl

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MOVE over Jackie Chan. Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon splashes across the big screen like no other martial arts film has ever done. It utilises the film-maker's feminist vision to portray three woman as fighters so formidable Rambo would think twice.

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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, selected as the closing picture at the New York Film festival, has the kind of comic book melodrama that could�make it a blockbuster when it opens in Britain this month.

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So,�why has this Mandarin film with English sub-titles, already proved so popular overseas The story, adapted from Wong Du Lu's novel by James Schamus, takes us back to a world of medieval Chinese dynasties where warlords rule over fiefs.

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It was an instant hit in Asia, not suprisingly, but has also wooed Hollywod, becoming the most buzzed about movie of 2000 with a 10-minute standing ovation at Cannes.

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Film buffs say Ang Lee, best known for directing Sense & Sensibility, has successfully merged Asian folk culture and the kung-fu genre to come up with a new arty package that appeals to�Eastern and Western cultures.

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Lee, born in Taiwan, says he chose Hong Kong martial arts as an instrument to explore classical Chinese culture. 'We embraced the most mass of art forms and mixed it with the highest - the secret martial arts as passed down in time in the great Taoist schools of training and thought,' he says.

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The result is an epic love story set against the breathtaking landscape of ancient China.�The film stars two of the most recognisable Asian stars in America - Chow Yun Fat of Anna and The King fame, and Michelle Yeoh, who starred in Tomorrow Never Dies.

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As well as romance, the film is packed with action. Martial arts master Yuen Wo-Ping, best known here for The Matrix, has masterminded some seemingly effortless fight scenes.

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So is the secret of its success high kicks and karate and will it grab as much attention with a Western audience Is it fair to say Lee has reinvented the martial arts movie for the art house crowd and reparcelled a popular genre for a new audience Does it appeal to you Click here