Why I'm taking a film major...
It is saddening I think, that a movie so great as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon should be released when I was only eleven, too young to truly appreciate the masterpiece that it is (I might still be too young for that matter). It is also saddening that Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon should come out two weeks earlier than the only other movie that can compete with it as the film that I have loved above all others. Because, for those two weeks, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was the greatest, most beautiful movie I had ever seen. When I was eleven I was swept away by the martial arts and wooed by the tragic love stories, and even as I desired for the happy endings I was used to, I understood why death was necessary, and that the pure emotion caused by this separation is part of what makes this movie so excellent. For two weeks I cried, and laughed, and gloried in having seen the greatest film ever. Then The Fellowship of the Ring was released and my young heart was swayed in another direction by a film that was just as beautiful, just as powerful as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon but with the good fortune of being released second and the promise of both sequels and a happy ending. And so, while I still loved Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, it was replaced for three years by The Lord of the Rings as my favorite movie (this may seem trivial, but it was the most important artistic experience of my life up to that point, and I have yet to see a work of art that can move to tears or went to shout an ovation with such ease).
So years passed, and as I grew up I learned that “favorite” was just a word, especially when it came to my love of movies. I continued to see movies that made me cry, and laugh, and glory at their existence, and while I acknowledged in my mind that masterpiece Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is, I forgot about the pure power of emotion it had brought forth from me. When I did think back, which was rare, I chocked this emotional wave to being a troubled preteen, rather than admitting it was Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon itself that made me feel so strongly.
Now, I am nineteen, movie-viewing has become a weekly event, and I can easily name 10 movies released in last year that I happily admit I love and would watch over and over again. But instead of something new, the desire to watch Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon came on me again, so I popped the DVD in the player, wholeheartedly expecting to enjoy the action, adore the story, and feel slight pain at the sad ending. But as I watched, I turned into the eleven year old girl I once was, only with the experience one only gets by growing up, of having fought, and loved, and lost those I cared for, and it was like seeing the movie for the first time, all over again. I laughed, I cried (in fact I still am), and in writing this little piece I glory in the true work of art Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is. And to at least attempt to articulate why I love this movie so much, is a gift. To be able to put into words why I love something inanimate, just a story on film, and to have people understand, really understand, that would be something worth more than I can express (and isn’t that ironic).
So years passed, and as I grew up I learned that “favorite” was just a word, especially when it came to my love of movies. I continued to see movies that made me cry, and laugh, and glory at their existence, and while I acknowledged in my mind that masterpiece Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is, I forgot about the pure power of emotion it had brought forth from me. When I did think back, which was rare, I chocked this emotional wave to being a troubled preteen, rather than admitting it was Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon itself that made me feel so strongly.
Now, I am nineteen, movie-viewing has become a weekly event, and I can easily name 10 movies released in last year that I happily admit I love and would watch over and over again. But instead of something new, the desire to watch Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon came on me again, so I popped the DVD in the player, wholeheartedly expecting to enjoy the action, adore the story, and feel slight pain at the sad ending. But as I watched, I turned into the eleven year old girl I once was, only with the experience one only gets by growing up, of having fought, and loved, and lost those I cared for, and it was like seeing the movie for the first time, all over again. I laughed, I cried (in fact I still am), and in writing this little piece I glory in the true work of art Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is. And to at least attempt to articulate why I love this movie so much, is a gift. To be able to put into words why I love something inanimate, just a story on film, and to have people understand, really understand, that would be something worth more than I can express (and isn’t that ironic).