Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon arrived in Western theaters in 2000 and introduced millions of viewers to a form of cinema they had not encountered before. Ang Lee’s film combines physical choreography of extraordinary beauty with a story of suppressed love and unfulfilled longing.

Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun-fat) is a warrior monk who has decided to retire and give his sword, Green Destiny, to a government official for safekeeping. His partner Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) carries her own unexpressed love for him. A young noblewoman named Jen (Zhang Ziyi) steals the sword and sets events in motion that will cost everyone something irreplaceable.

The action choreography uses wires to create a visual language of weightlessness: combatants move across rooftops, float through treetops, fight in a vertical bamboo grove. This is not realism; it is the physical expression of emotional extremity.

This won four Academy Awards including Best Cinematography and Best Foreign Language Film. It is one of the essential films of its decade.