Ang Lee
By Joanna Rivera
Life
 Ang Lee was born in Taiwan
on October 23rd 1954.
 In 1979 he came to the
United States to study at the
University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign.
 He received his bachelors
degree in 1980 in theater.
 After completing his
bachelors degree he received
his master’s degree at New
York University for film
production.
Career
 From the start of his career Ang Lee has set themes to his stories
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that have been recurring throughout his films.
His films focus on such topics as family, traditions, and sexuality.
His early start began with the “Father Knows Best” triliogy which
included the films Pushing Hands, TheWedding Banquet and Eat Drink
ManWoman.
These three movies include the actor Sihung Lung, who is a
Taiwanese actor.
These three movies gave Lee the push he needed to get into
Hollywood.
After going to making these films Ang Lee has directed many other
successful films such as, Sense and Sensibiliy, Crouching Tiger Hidden
Dragon, Hulk and Life of Pi.
Pushing Hands
 Released in 1992 this is the
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first movie out of Lee’s
trilogy.
The story is about a man
moving from China to
America to live with his son
and American daughter-in-law.
Living with his son and
daughter-in-law he find is hard
to get accustom to the new
culture.
(Full Movie)
http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=CMpKszSqxkY
Sense and Sensibility
 After Lee’s success with his
previous three movies in
1995 he directed Sense and
Sensibility.
 The film based off of the Jane
Austin’s novel about a widow
and her daughters being left
poor and finding love.
 This film was nominated for
several awards and had won
The Golden Globe Award for
Best Motion Picture.
 http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=Ns17RQr1yK8
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv_ed5VmoD8
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
 Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000) is considered to be
the most successful foreign language films released in the U.S.
(Chaudhuri 2005).
 This story is about two couples that are in love but also a tale of
class barriers, ethnicity and Confucian ethics.
 The film was shot in Chinese Mainland studios and locations and
although kung fu already had great success with American
audiences Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon emphasized the martial
art choreography and style making a powerful statement from
previous kung fu films.
 A winner of 4 Academy Awards in 2001 and won for Best Foreign
Language Film.
Brokeback Mountain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwTmI-EGEgc
Brokeback Mountain
 Brokeback Mountain (2005) became another very successful
film for Ang Lee.
 He decided to make the low-budget independent film based
off of the short story by Annie Proulx.
 This movie is about the love that two cowboys have for one
another and the difficulties that they have to deal with to
keep their love a secret.
 The movie was nominated for eight Academy Awards and
Ang Lee won for Best Director for that year. He also won the
Golden Globe Award for Best Director.
Lust, Caution
 After Brokeback Mountain Lee
returned to make a Chinese
foreign film called Lust,
Caution (2007).
 The story takes place during
WWII while Japan occupied
China about a woman caught
in a emotional relationship
with a powerful political
man.
 This film became very
popular among Taiwan
audiences.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R
n0uZaiukXQ
Life of Pi
Life of Pi
 Ang Lee’s latest film, Life of Pi (2012) has come to have great
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success bringing story and image a fresh new look to cinema.
The story of a young man’s life’s journey finding god and surviving
on a raft with a Bengal tiger after a shipwreck. The story is told to
see if a writer will believe in god at the end of the tail.
“The contrast between spirituality and nature, reserve and
emotion, family loyalty and independence, are continual themes in
Lee’s work.” (Chagollan: 2012)
This shows that his style as a director continues to be reflected in
his films although they tend to be completely different from one
another.
He won the Academy Award for Best Director in 2013.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZEZ35Fhvuc
ANG LEE
Sources
 "Ang Lee." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 20 Apr. 2013. 20
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Apr. 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ang_Lee
Chagollan, Steve. "Honoree Ang Lee High On 'Pi'." Variety 428.8
(2012): 30-31. Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text. 20 Apr.
2013.
Chaudhuri, Shohini. ContemporaryWorld Cinema: Europe, the Middle
East, East Asia and South Asia. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2005.
Print.
IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. 17 Apr. 2013.
Shaoyan, Ding. "Beyond Language: The Postmodern Poetics Of
Ang Lee's Adaptation Of Lust/Caution." Critical Arts: A SouthNorth Journal Of Cultural & Media Studies 25.1 (2011): 88-101. Film
& Television Literature Index with Full Text. 20 Apr. 2013.