Art is not always meant to be critical. Some art is made simply for the sake of art. Two films that are drastically different but strikingly similar in this aspect are “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” directed by Ang Lee and “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” directed by Steven Soderbergh.

Right from the start, the poster for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” sets a mood of tension and possible violence, depicting two women with swords and an angry looking man. The color scheme of the poster is tinted yellow, and the font used in the title makes the mood one of heroism and boldness. The poster ultimately draws viewers in with the appeal to action and adventure. 

The trailer opens with breathtaking scenery of the wilderness, and epic music to accompany it. Then, the almost stereotypical sounding narrator speaks of the “journey of the warrior” and speaks of the action and violence that takes place in the film. This shows that the filmmakers were trying to make a stereotypical action movie in a spectacular way.  Overall, these resources show that the film was made to tell an epic story of a warrior with elements of action, adventure, and violence.  

Although being the highest grossing foreign film at the time of release, the film is both conventional and unconventional. On one hand, it had very little political or controversial content and had an emphasis on appealing visuals rather than a unique plot. On the other hand, it is a foreign film, not intended to be groundbreakingly competitive with American movies. 

Critics have much to say about Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, emphasizing its greatness and even sometimes its cultural significance. 

This still shows the sheer fictionality of the film, but does so in a way that is visually stunning and epic to the story. Not only is it one of my favorite shots of the whole movie, but it also supports the argument that “The best martial arts movies have nothing to do with fighting and everything to do with personal excellence” (Ebert). Does the scene realistically depict martial arts? No, they’re practically flying. Is it awesome? Absolutely! The beauty of the shot is in the personality of the film and the artistic choices made in spite of realistic combat. 

This scene is one of the most epic fight scenes in terms of choreography and visual brilliance. The scene shows the two female warriors relentlessly throwing themselves at each other, using weapon after weapon. The scene definitely supports the claim that the film is one of “the most exhilarating martial arts movies” ever (Ebert).

After watching the film and reading what others thought, I came to the conclusion that the film is simply meant to be entertaining and artistically unique rather than to “display the simultaneously localizing and globalizing tendencies of mass culture today”(“A Diasporic Reading” by Christina Klein). On the other hand, I agree with Roger Ebert’s point of view because the movie was exhilarating and excellent in my opinion. Furthermore, I do not think the film is meant to be politically, culturally or economically significant. The film only became historically and culturally significant because of its success in the United States. 

Like Lee did, Soderbergh utilizes the poster and trailer for “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” to create captivating moods for people to see. The trailer introduces each character as their role in the film, and gives a piece of dialogue for each. It is an interesting way of introducing a film for the first time. The purpose of this is likely to get the viewers attention and pique their interest. It exposes the drama between some of the characters and attempts to leave you wanting to know and see more.

The film is mostly unconventional because it is made with sexual and graphic content. Whether or not to include sexual themes within a film was a controversial topic around the time of the film’s release. While almost any film wouldn’t mind making profit, Soderbergh seems to care less about how many people he is entertaining, and more about the film he is making. 

Reviews for this film are more diverse, and significantly less positive. This video clip shows the scandalous intensity between the characters as they are tangled in affairs, disatisfaction, and drama from Ann’s perspective. It is supportive of the argument is “A Dance of Sex and Love, Through a Lens Darkly”(The New York Times). 

The still from the film depicts Ann’s husband, John, lying down on the bed completely naked except for what can only be a potted plant on his body. This supports the argument that the film “is never boring, and there are moments when it reminds us of how sexy the movies used to be, back in the days when speech was an erogenous zone”(Ebert).  

After seeing the film for myself and researching what scholars and critics thought, I came to a different conclusion than most of what others had to say. Personally, I disagree with Roger Ebert in his opinion that the film “is never boring” because while engaging, it was barely exciting or climactic. The image of John with the plant is just about the most visually surprising thing in the whole film. I do agree with the New York Times that the story seems to be filmed “through a lens darkly”. 

These two films seem substantially different, but are almost identical in the way that the directors create atmosphere within each movie. Both Soderbergh and Lee utilize different elements to change the mood of the story as they each progress. They both meet the end goal of a feeling or atmosphere that resonates with the audience. There are some differences in what aspects each film uses however, such as Lee’s choice to place an emphasis on visuals rather than the way Soderbergh implements music. “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” essentially is just one big atmosphere rather than a stereotypical film. Its whole purpose is to create a feeling rather than tell a story. “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” differs from this by telling a story in order to create a feeling. Overall, the two films use different methods to get to the same goal: a unique atmosphere. The concept that I found to be most interesting was that neither film had a significant reason to tell its story. Historically, and realistically speaking, there seemed to be no purpose in making either film. Because of this, I have reached the conclusion that it is the feelings that are created by each film that are important, and not the stories that they tell. Film for the sake of feeling, art for the sake of art.