Ang lee

Because much of that curious mix has his filmography. As a good foreigner from oriental culture, he began by making small products with the exotic flavor of his homeland. But little by little he became more and more a citizen of the world to disregard races and skin colors and delve into the universal territory of the human heart. That creative range definitely opened the doors of the big studios for him and he knew how to take advantage of it with a good handful of genre films that ended up convincing critics and viewers around the world.

Ang Lee was born in Pingtung (Taiwan) on October 23, 1954, where he graduated from the National College of Art. But very soon, in 1975, he moved to the United States willing to learn the trade of cinema, which he did with superb success at the University of Illinois, where he studied theater directing, and later in New York, where he was Filmmaking student. During those years, he made his first steps together with Spike Lee , then a complete stranger, but who would eventually become the champion of African-American cinema. The two “Lees” worked together on the film Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads, where Spike worked as a director and Ang worked as an assistant director. The year was 1983. And yet, the future director took his time getting behind the camera. It was in 1992, at the age of 38, when he made his debut with Pushing Hands , a small film whose script he wrote narrated, in a dramatic comedy tone, the vicissitudes of a Taiwanese family in New York. Lee then demonstrated a gift for subtly and gracefully delving into the hidden corners of the hearts of his people living in a foreign land. Cut by the same pattern, but at a higher level in terms of social relevance, was The Wedding Banquet.(1993), where, with the same bittersweet tone, he focused on the social conveniences of his culture through the curious story of a young homosexual who was forced to celebrate a marriage of convenience. Such a politically correct subject, it was not missing more, it earned him the recognition of the official critics, in addition to the Golden Bear in Berlin and two Oscar and Golden Globe nominations.

But undoubtedly the filmmaker’s coming of age is linked to Eat, Drink, Love (1994), a delicious ensemble comedy, rich in characters and situations, about the generational differences of a Chinese family. The film shot entirely in Mandarin garnered notable success that catapulted the Taiwanese director. Hollywood noticed his exquisite treatment of the motivations of the human heart and placed at his feet a work by the champion of these conflicts, Sense and Sensibility (1995), by the British writer Jane Austen . The actress Emma Thompson was in charge of writing the script to star in this period drama, of fine psychology and interior storms. And two years later, Lee managed the solvents Kevin Klineand Sigourney Weaver in the hit drama The Ice Storm .

But like any good oriental director worth his salt, Ang Lee had to make his wuxia, that is, his martial arts film, and he couldn’t do better with the attempt. Tiger & Dragon surprised Hollywood with its daring and its magical air of legend. The reward was no less than four Oscars. Later they offered him to direct Terminator 3 , but he preferred to enter the world of comics with Hulk (2003), an ample sample of his trade when it comes to combining internal drama and spectacularity.

And then 2005 came along and there was a tremendous stir with Ang Lee’s next film. The Taiwanese adapted a story by the writer Annie Proulx that narrated the homosexual relationship between two cowboys in the mountains of Montana. The approach to the controversial subject and the explicitness of the images had a huge impact on public opinion. In addition , Brokeback Mountain (2005) starred two actors of recognized quality, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal . The result of all this, along with Lee’s talent behind the camera, led to the film receiving 8 Oscar nominations. finally crashit deservedly won the Oscar for best film, while the cowboy love story took only three statuettes, but one of them went to Ang Lee for best director.

Following its success, Lee took a break of just two years to return to directing. He did it with an oriental film, a spy thriller that also astonished for its high sexual content. So much so that his images were censored in several countries. This is Desire, Danger (2007), starring Chinese film star Tony Leung . Much more discreet was his next film, Destino: Woodstock (2009), a kind of hippy recreation of the late sixties in which he narrated with a failed tone of comedy the celebration of one of the most famous musical events of that time.

But Ang Lee’s big break was yet to come, also because it was so unexpected. His next project was a challenge for any filmmaker: bringing to the screen a novel by Yann Martel that was a prodigy of imagination: The Life of Pi(2012). The tricky thing is that most of the story took place on a boat, in the middle of the ocean, with only two travelers on board: a young boy and a Bengal tiger. Something impossible to shoot. But the genius of the Taiwanese director was able to translate the story into prodigious images of great beauty, thanks also to some exceptional special effects. Still, the prize for such an effort came as quite a surprise: the film won 4 Oscars and Lee picked up his second directing Oscar, leaving none other than Steven Spielberg in the gutter .