In 2023, on March 13, Beijing time, on the podium of the 95th Academy Awards ceremony, the first Chinese "queen" in the history of the Oscars - Michelle Yeoh was welcomed.
The fantasy movie "Instantaneous Universe" starring Michelle Yeoh led the scene with eleven nominations, and as the heroine of the film, she also became the first Chinese actress to be nominated for "queen" since the Oscar was established in 1929.
Regarding Michelle Yeoh, most domestic audiences have a simple and direct impression of her:
Hit women, chivalrous women, and have cooperated with many action superstars, including Donnie Yen, who was not famous at that time, in "New Meteor Butterfly Sword" she is the "tall boss" that Donnie Yen will never get, and also sang the theme song herself.
In the most glorious era of Hong Kong cinema, Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen, Chow Yun-fat, etc. have all performed intimate or humorous stories with her, in which Michelle Yeoh invariably uses fists and feet to make many heroes bow down.
As for Kung Fu itself, it is rare to show a different light in Michelle Yeoh's fists and feet, all thanks to her own good dance foundation.
The only difference is that in "Huo Yuanjia", she and Jet Li are staggered in time and space, and at the end of the film, with the slowly departing back, the drum sounds, and a song of the same name by Zhou Dong's movie sounds, which really made thousands of fans shout in those years.
After "Sword Rain", Michelle Yeoh gradually disappeared from the field of vision of Chinese movies with kung fu films, and "Blue Sword" or others belong to the category of "can be said or not".
Michelle Yeoh's influence abroad should be greater than many Chinese actresses we know, thanks to her almost focused positioning as a kung fu woman, and in addition to the "Instantaneous Universe" that helped her win the actress, it was "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" directed by Ang Lee at the beginning of this century.
Crooked nuts' impression of Chinese films benefits from kung fu and is also limited by kung fu, and there were also some negative comments in China when "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was first released, such as the "Western-style" dialogue of the characters, the simple story lacked Chinese cultural heritage, and the theme and intention were too focused on the tastes of Western audiences.
I don't know how popular "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is overseas, but I know that when I wandered in the video tape market somewhere in Siberia that year, I was in the position of a Chinese-language film, except for Jackie Chan starring Michelle Yeoh, and Chow Yun-fat was staring into the distance with a sword.
That year was 2001, after the millennium, people have two extreme impressions of Chinese kung fu, one is the "interdependence" of Jackie Chan and Jet Li's fists and feet, and the other is that in the Chinese landscape and water, some people stand on the treetops and look at everything in time with "a lightness that God cannot imagine", which can be compared with this surreal gravity, I am afraid that only the wizarding world in "Harry Potter" later.
However, from the perspective of an ordinary viewer, watching a movie requires a state of mind.
That year, watching "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", I was impressed by the white wall and green bricks, the green bamboo waterfall, the Jiangnan minor, the visual and auditory beauty of exotic folk songs, and saw the leap of Yujiaolong also produced infinite confusion, I don't know why there is such an ending, that I didn't understand it back then.
A few years later, I watched this film again, my mood and experience, it is no longer the same year, no matter how I watch it, I feel that the film permeates a sad atmosphere. It was a wound, a confusion.
"I do not have the joy of the righteousness, but on the contrary, I am surrounded by a sorrow of silence." Li Mubai (played by Chow Yun-fat) said.
This kind of line is not necessarily the sense of traditional Chinese films, but it is still very philosophical to illustrate a depressing fact:
Whether Li Mubai can stand in the forest with the light skill of letting Newton lift the coffin board, as a person, he will also be swayed by joy, anger and sorrow, which is by no means as detached as shown in the movie.
This left him unable to find an emotional home.
He is a hot-blooded man, and choosing Taoism as his destination is really a helpless move, because of Yu Xiulian (played by Michelle Yeoh), he gradually loses his youthful sharpness and has the desire to retire early.
Li Mubai looked at Yu Xiulian affectionately and said:
Xiulian.
It seems that the film hints here that because Li Mubai can't give up the concern in his heart, he can't "get right" in the end.
After all -
Whether they are children of the rivers and lakes or not, they can't break a word "love".
In "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", which is ostensibly a martial arts film, director Ang Lee hides a lot of things.
Some people see rivers and lakes, some people see midlife crises, and some people see male and female lust. In fact, this is a martial arts film that challenges traditional concepts. When watching a movie, the audience is easily uncomfortable with the heroine Yu Jiaolong (played by Zhang Ziyi).
She was too arrogant. No big, no small, no respect for seniors, or even no respect for parents.
When people who come through adolescence look back on her, they will slowly feel:
Why can't she?
What are we looking forward to? It may be a happy revenge, alone in the rain, but it is only a momentary sense of picture. In fact, "jianghu" is also a circle, but "circle" has always been a bit foul-smelling, because it also pays attention to closeness, origin and seniority.
The people inside hold each other's stinky feet, carry palanquins, suppress and sanction those who dare to challenge. One thing they say in their mouths, and what they think about in their hearts is another; Teaching others the rules, in fact, thinking about things is very simple:
Follow the rules of the game, let the old guys come out first in everything, and wait for the old people to get old before the new guys get their turn.
Moreover, it is better not to talk nonsense.
The juniors should give three points of courtesy when talking to the old people, and listen to a few lessons from others.
Therefore, Yu Jiaolong was born, and she held the Qinghai Sword and the sharp sword grew her sharp qi, punched the sages and kicked the division commander, and directly stirred up the rivers and lakes.
As for those who dare to challenge a profession in reality, there seems to be no one else except Guo Degang back then. After he gradually established the rules of the sect, it seemed that everything returned to its original appearance...
However, Guo Degang is not as good as Yu Jiaolong, at least Ang Lee also choreographed a love for her in the movie, so that she and the horse thief Luo Xiaohu (played by Zhang Zhen) fell in love.
A rebellious woman, a horse bandit leader, can also be regarded as a "door-to-door pair".
Luo Xiaohu is known as "Half Sky Cloud", and his natural arrogance and frankness are like a mirror reflecting the desire of Jade's heart. During the days of wandering in the desert with him, Yujiaolong's life opened up another vast sky, bringing unprecedented peace and satisfaction to her heart.
Yu Jiaolong longs to seek a spiritual belief or dependence, but her critical mind makes her not easily trust anyone, and Li Mubai intends to take her as an apprentice and take the opportunity to fight her in the ancient temple to enlighten her:
There is no helplessness, no response, no argument, no desire and no heart, self-denial, and I am obedient to others.
At this time, Yu Jiaolong was a little moved, but she would not show it because she was stubborn by nature. As a result, we only saw her crying with Sister Yu aggrievedly after a fight in the tavern. In the end, Li Mubai educated her, and everything fell silent in the bamboo forest:
Reduced to nothingness, people see their true hearts.
In the end, she jumped off the cliff, to a large extent, it was also a kind of transcendence to herself, or maybe this leap was a relief.
Ang Lee, a humanistic director who is familiar with Chinese culture and has been educated by Western culture for many years, wants to explain to the audience not only a happy feud of rivers and lakes, but wants to convey many life concepts through the lens, so Li Mubai in the film must carry this concept of his.
Li entered the retreat because he still had some worries in his heart and did not attain the path, on the contrary, he entered an unprecedented sadness, feeling that time and space did not exist.
Morality and duty prevent him from being left alone; If you want to seek inner peace, you must first hand over the sword, and there is a relationship with Yu Xiulian that has not been understood for many years.
Li Mubai finally admitted his love in the end, he couldn't waste his time, in fact, at this moment, he was also relieved and right-
At least from a cinematic point of view.
So in Ang Lee's martial arts world, "rebellion" and "detachment" seem to be metaphysics, and at the same time, the film was praised by overseas markets while making some domestic audiences feel that it seemed too "bent".
However, no one will deny the martial arts scenes in the movie, including the fight between Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi, after a dazzling battle, Michelle Yeoh held a water-milled Zen staff, and the weapon suddenly ended in embarrassment of falling headfirst on the ground.
Later, the audience seemed to recognize this hidden humor, until everyone was happy in "Instantaneous Universe":
That's right, heroes, or heroes, or English "females", should be happy, playing fists and feet in the folding space to make the audience happy, what is "eternal ah sink into the sea?" "It's too deep.
No matter who it is, reasoning requires joy, even if it is wrapped in a layer of "philosophical" meaning, it must also know how to exhort, otherwise it is Versailles, such as Li Mubai:
I am a martial artist, but I prefer it to not.
You can't love it, and you don't know martial arts.
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