Ang Lee

Ang Lee came to the fore in the 1990s as one of the 'second wave' of Taiwanese directors. After studying at New York University, Lee returned to Taiwan where over the next three consecutive years he directed three comedy-dramas focusing on aspects of the East vs. West culture and its impact on the family - Pushing Hands, The Wedding Banquet, Eat Drink Man Woman.

Considering Lee's background it is surprising that he should be approached to direct the most British of novels, Jane Austen's Sense And Sensibility. It was a tremendous critical and commercial success. Since then Lee's projects have been both eclectic and striking - he took on the American suburbs of the 1970s and the war-torn American South of the 1860s in The Ice Storm and Ride With The Devil. But it was his triumphant return to the East with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon which has transformed him into an internationally successful director, and whose next film project is eagerly-anticipated by millions.

In this Pocket Essential Ang Lee's three contemporary Taiwanese films are analysed as is his remarkable leap into the world of costume dramas with Sense And Sensibility, his move to Hollywood and his successes and failures before his triumphant success with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Ellen Cheshire also examines Ang Lee's plans for the future in his genre and country-hopping career.