Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000 film)

The “Titanic” of martial arts films, for better or worse (I’m voting “better”). It is heavily weighed down by side plots that don’t go anywhere meaningful and render havoc onto the pacing (one character seems to exist mostly to justify the most classically attractive member of the main cast having love scenes), but there’s so much care and craft in the rest of the film that I feel a fool for waiting twenty years to watch this. Special props to Zhang Ziyi carrying much of the emotional weight of the film on her shoulders. Arguably deserved to win Best Picture.

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