The winner of four Academy Awards, includingBest Foreign-Language Film, Art Direction, Cinematography, and Original Music.To coincide with the Sony Pictures Classics release--this elegantly illustrated moviebook captures the beauty, spirit, and extraordinary talents behind whatTimeAsia heralded as an instant classic...a rule-bending master-piece that weds martial arts with sense and sensibility. The latest film fromSense and Sensibility director is an epic love story and a thrilling action drama set against the breathtaking landscapes of ancient China, filmed entirely on location. Based on a five-volume Chinese novel by Wang Du Lu, the project was scripted by Wang Hui Ling (Eat Drink Man Woman), James Schamus (The Ice Storm), and Tsai Kuo Jung. Marking Ang Lee's first Chinese-language feature since 1994, the film is punctuated by beautifully choreographed fight scenes and dazzling stunts masterminded by Yuen Wo-Ping, who worked onThe Matrix. The actors include the two most popular Asian actors in the world, Chow Yun Fat (Anna and the King, The Replacement Killers) and Michelle Yeoh (Supercop, Tomorrow Never Dies). The Newmarket book includes the screenplay, stunning full-color photographs before and behind the cameras, interviews and notes with filmmakers, features on the history and tradition of martial arts storytelling and filmmaking, and articles byTime's Richard Corliss and world renowned film scholar David Bordwell.A breathtaking epic love story set in mythical China, where saber wielding Taoist masters--most of them women--save the day.--Lee Yanowitch, ReutersA sweeping romantic epic with a strong feminist backbone [with] a generous offering of seriously kick-ass action sequences that make The Matrix seem downright quaint by comparison.--Michael Rechtshaften,Hollywood Reporter[The film is] a blending, not a collision, of Eastern physical grace and Western intensity ... Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.