Movie: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

I am sooooo late to the party with this one.
Actually, because I am so late, and it was so popular, and it is fairly recent, I won't go into the movie itself too much. If you were going to see it, you probably already would have.

What I'm going to do instead is put the entire world on notice: Never again do I want to hear someone say you can't have a good female lead in a good action movie. Ever.

Heck, this movie comes very very close to failing the male equivalent of Bechdel's Law. (Bechdel's Law being the principle that a movie should 1) have at least two women in it, 2) who talk to each other, 3) about something other than a man.) I have only seen two movies that fail the male equivalent. One is (of course) Thelma and Louise*, and the other is, interestingly enough, My Neighbor Totoro. (Dad and the boy are the only male characters. I'm not sure they ever talk to each other; if they do, it's about the girls.)

Here, the only reason Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon passes is because there's one scene where two men talk to each other about a sword. Maybe two scenes. And yet the movie holds the record for Oscar nominations for a non-American film, grossed about a bagillion dollars, and is widely (and rightfully) regarded as awesome.

So world, don't tell me it can't be done.

(And if you haven't seen it, you really should. We have some really bitchin' female leads here, and you just don't get to see that very often.)


*OK, confession time: anyone else, when you saw Thelma and Louise, did you also check the credits to see whether it was written by a man or a woman? I did. (It was a woman, BTW.) I was giving it even odds. In the early 90s I think it would have been difficult to find a male writer who would write a female buddy pic, but at the same time it was so over the top with the man-hating that I had to wonder if it was a guy trying way too hard to pass. I mean, it's not just over the top, it is so over the top. You've got to have the formatting to really express the misandry here.