Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

This film is definitely not a classic martial arts film. It's more of a love story, but still has quite a few action fight scenes. The story is a bit hard to follow. And the fact that it is in Chinese and the dialogue must be read doesn't make the film easier to understand. The basic storyline is about a girl who wishes she were something else other than herself. She is a governor's daughter who wants to be a warrior. She was trained in the fighting style of the Wudan, as the film calls it, by a murdering woman who stole the secrets from a legendary Wudan warrior after killing him with poison. The young girl, Jen, is being forced into an arranged marriage and, of course, is in love with someone else. She ends up running away and to escape the life she left behind becomes a warrior by stealing a sword and picking fights with men in taverns. This being my first time seeing the film, I found it hard to understand. Perhaps a second viewing would bring more of the story together and make it more enjoyable. The film is quite different from any martial arts film I've seen. One large difference I noted was that the supposed hero of the film dies. It also focuses more on the love of two warriors, and how their love could never be rather than the fighting and winning (though there is enough of that to not disappoint). The strangest thing about the film is the character's abilities to fly based on their training in the Wudan. At some points it seems as though they are flying, though it could just be that they move so effortlessly, jumping and climbing, that it appears as though they are flying. Either way it was kind of strange. It is a film worth watching.

This Film is Not Yet Rated

This is probably the most entertaining documentary I've seen.  Filmmaker Kirby Dick takes on the MPAA to make his documentary about the rating system.  It brings up several interesting points about what gets a movie an NC-17 rating instead of an R rating.  He interviews several filmmakers whose films received NC-17 ratings.  One main theme that seemed to be in all those films was unusual sexual themes, such as homosexual sex.  Dick points out that scenes of homosexual sex gave movies NC-17 ratings while scenes shot in similar fashion of straight sex received an R rating.  The thing I found most interesting that I did not know before is that the people who rate movies are kept secret from the public.  Dick actually hires a private investigator to find out the names of the people.  The amateur PI succeeds and the names of the people are revealed in the film.  Some other topics that are covered in the film are the idea of violence vs sex.  It is brought up in the film that in Europe the ratings are exactly opposite.  In the US, the more sexual material there is in a film the harsher the rating, but in Europe films receive harsher ratings for violence.  One man in the film states that he feels the films that portray the actual results of violence should receive a lower rating and the films filled with "fantasy" violence, or violence without blood, should receive a higher rating.  He believes that teenagers should see the results of violent acts instead of being led to believe in a fantasy world where no one bleeds when they get shot.  Another point the film brings out is that the MPAA favors studio films over Independent films.  One independent filmmaker submitted his film and received an NC-17 rating.  When he asked what he could change to get an R rating he was told that the raters don't take notes so he would just have to change some things and resubmit the film for a new rating.  Later the same filmmaker submitted a film he was making in association with Paramount studio.  This time when the film received an NC-17 the MPAA provided him with specific details on what to change in order to get an R rating.  In the end of the film Dick submits his own film to the MPAA and because of the graphic sex scenes taken from various NC-17 films his film also receives an NC-17.  He then goes through the process of an appeal, where the members of the appeals board are also kept secret.  It's interesting to note that during the appeal filmmakers are not allowed to reference films with similar content that received a lower rating.  Dick again hires the PI to find out the names of the appeals board members and discovers that most are very well paid members of large production companies.  Something I found extremely interesting is that there are two clergy on the appeals board.  One is from the Catholic church and one is from the Episcopalian church.  The clergy don't actually cast a vote, but they are there to influence the vote.  It's interesting that the clergy are always from those two religions.  The board relies on two men from two specific Christian religions, to represent the morality of the nation.  Dick ends up losing his appeal and rejects the films rating, which is the right of the filmmaker, his film was released without a rating.  The film is put together very well and is very informative.  I would recommend this film to anyone who'd like to learn more about how the ratings system works, but do give the warning that it did receive an NC-17 rating before it was rejected.