Ang Lee films, ranked

Demetri Martin is a great standup. He’s a funny, clever guy who knows how to craft a joke and deliver a punchline. He is not, evidently, capable of leading a semi-dramatic film about the original Woodstock festival. While the story of Woodstock is interesting, this film was a major flop. Critics didn’t like it, and the movie made only $10 million against a $30 million budget. This is pretty clearly the low point of Lee’s directing career.

“Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” was a best-selling book, so a movie adaptation made total sense. Lee also took a big swing in making this the first-ever feature film to use an extra-high frame rate. It seemed like a strange choice for a film such as this, though, and the movie is kind of a snooze. A lot of people were also put off by the look of the film.

This was Lee’s first feature film, which he both wrote and directed. He made it in his native Taiwan, and it is mostly in Mandarin Chinese as a result. Like a lot of first films, it’s got some rawness to it, but there’s also a lot of potential clearly on display. “Pushing Hands” wasn’t originally released in the United States, but it got a release after his second and third films, which are part of his “Father Knows Best” trilogy and were critically well received here.

“Ride with the Devil” is a fascinating slice of cinema. It’s a Civil War Western being directed by a man from Taiwan. It stars Tobey Maguire and featured the acting debut of Jewel. The movie has a great case, Jewel aside, and it has a lot of merits to it. Unfortunately it was a huge box office flop. At least that didn’t keep Lee from continuing to take big swings.

This may be the most divisive comic book movie ever made. Lee made his “Hulk” before the Marvel Cinematic Universe existed. He wanted to make a serious art house film about Bruce Banner, his rage and what fuels the Hulk. It’s somber and contemplative at times but also features the Hulk smashing stuff and jumping all over the place. “Hulk” is a strange juxtaposition. Some people love it. Others can’t stand it. Clearly, we’re splitting the difference here.

Making an NC-17 movie is basically a death sentence at the box office. Such films simply don’t get seen in this country, even when they are artistically minded. Lee wanted to include a fair amount of sex scenes and nudity, which he felt were pertinent to the story given that this is an espionage thriller in which sex is used as a tool of the trade. It may be explicit, but it has merit as a film nonetheless.

You know how “American Beauty” has aged really poorly? “The Ice Storm” covers similar ground, albeit with a ‘70s setting, but it doesn’t carry the same negative weight. The film tells the stories of two wealthy families unraveling with a tremendously talented cast. Sigourney Weaver got singled out in particular, even winning a BAFTA for her performance.

The second film in the “Father Knows Best” trilogy, this is the movie that put Lee on the radar here in America. It was his first film nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, though it did not win. Lee had shown how his filmmaking had grown since “Pushing Hands,” even if this is a romantic comedy involving the classic trope of a green card marriage.

Lee came to America to make films, and this movie was…an adaptation of a Jane Austen novel? This just shows how vast a scope Lee can cover as a filmmaker. He also had a dynamite script to work with thanks to Emma Thompson, who also starred as Elinor Dashwood, with Kate Winslet playing her younger sister, Marianne. It’s a classic story, and Lee made it look lush, although Thompson did steal the show, as she was nominated for Best Actress and won for Best Adapted Screenplay.

There’s a chance you haven’t heard of Lee’s first two films, but you’ve probably heard of his third movie, “Eat Drink Man Woman.” This was the last time he wrote the script for a film he directed, and he also edited the film. Clearly it was a personal film to Lee, as it’s another story focused on older Asian people dealing with changing times and mores of the younger, rising generation.

This is an instance of Lee getting cinematically adventurous, as he made it a 3-D film at a time when 3-D was rising. However, a lot of times 3-D effects felt cheap, as if they were being tacked on just for the sake of it. That didn’t feel like it was the case for “Life of Pi.” They helped make the tale of a boy stranded on a lifeboat feel alive, and it also helped Lee win his second Best Director Oscar.

His first Best Director, of course, came for the love story “Brokeback Mountain.” If you were alive at the time we don’t need to tell you about this movie, which garnered a lot of controversy. After all, the story focuses on a gay love affair between two men played by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, each of whom gave one of their best performances. Ledger could have easily won an Oscar, and he was nominated. Despite the controversy, the film was a critically and commercial success, as it deserved to be, as it is a fine film and a gripping story. The only shame is that, inexplicably, it lost Best Picture to “Crash” in one of the biggest Oscar faux pas ever.

Here’s how you know “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” is a great movie. Even though it’s not in English, the film was a massive success in the United States. The visuals told the story, as it’s still one of the most impressive movies to look at. It’s a beautiful film with amazingly choreographed fight scenes. “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” was an obvious choice for Best Foreign Language Film when it came out. Picking it over “Brokeback Mountain” was a little harder, but we feel like this is Lee’s best work to date.