Every Ang Lee film ranked: from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – now 20 years old – to Gemini Man, Brokeback Mountain and Life of Pi

Taiwanese director Ang Lee is Asia’s most successful filmmaker, lauded at the Oscars and the world’s leading film festivals

From his English-language debut Sense and Sensibility, to the erotic Lust, Caution to superhero movie Hulk, Lee’s eclectic portfolio has something for everyone

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Heath Ledger (left) and Jake Gyllenhaal in a scene from Brokeback Mountain, directed by Ang Lee. Photo: AP/Focus Features/Kimberly French

Published: 5:00am, 12 May 2020Updated: 7:35pm, 13 May 2020

Twenty years ago this week, Ang Lee’s sumptuous martial arts epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, going on to achieve unprecedented success around the world, and triggering renewed global interest in Asian cinema.

The film won four Academy Awards, while its Taiwanese director, already an established presence in Hollywood, secured his position as Asia’s most successful filmmaker on the world stage.

Universally lauded, Lee has won Oscars, Baftas, Golden Bears, and Golden Lions.

His impressive, yet eclectic, filmography displays a keen understanding of a wide variety of cultural and genre conventions.

Suraj Sharma as Pi Patel in a scene from Life of Pi.

Shifting between personal stories of Asian immigrants, to period adaptations of Western literary classics with an alarming authenticity, Lee has barely put a foot wrong in almost 30 years.

But where does Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon place among these stories of forbidden romance, and intense family microcosms?

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