A filmmaker who understands and appreciates the history of film is golden. This is the person who creates a film--or series of films--that seems to reinvent the genre from which it was spawned. Sergio Leone's first three westerns, A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, are classic examples. George Lucas' original Star Wars trilogy also proves the theory. Leone and Lucas were far from the most original filmmakers--both were heavily "influenced" by Akira Kurosawa--but both brought a childlike enthusiasm and a loving reverence for the films that inspired them to their trend-setting genre explorations.

The latest filmmaker to sound an eloquent praise-song to the genre that stimulated his imagination--in this case kung-fu--is the acclaimed director of such dramatic films as Sense and Sensibility and The Ice Storm, Ang Lee.

Even before Lee's latest film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, opened in American theaters, the buzz was strong. Critics were calling it the greatest kung-fu film of all time, responding to the breathtaking fight choreography of Yuen Wo-Ping (The Matrix) as if they had never seen a Hong Kong "wire works" flick before. And the truth is audiences have never seen a kung-fu flick like this--Crouching Tiger is wonderful mix of classic chop-sockey action with complex characters and a deeply emotional story. "Let me put it this way," Lee said during a recent phone interview. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is my version, my interpretation of a kung-fu movie. That's what it should be to me. I don't mind it being called that, but I think people should have more respect for the genre."

Kung-fu flicks have long been due respect. Years ago the only way to see films like Liu Chia Liang's 36th Chamber of Shaolin (a.k.a. Master Killer) was to catch them on television--usually Saturday mornings--or at sleazy grindhouse movie theatres like the ones that once populated New York's Times Square, or Portland's own, long-defunct Irvington Theatre. Martial-arts films have never found a true home in the United States. This is due to lack of accessibility coupled with stories steeped in Chinese folklore and culture, poor dubbing (or worse, poorly translated subtitling), and action sequences so over-the-top that many Western audiences couldn't handle the overload.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon may change all of that. The success of Lee's epic tale of honor, revenge and unrequited love is just the latest chapter in the ever-growing Asian invasion of Hollywood. Actors such as Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Crouching Tiger stars Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh and director John Woo have all found a home with U.S. audiences. "The influence is there already, but it's becoming more mainstream," Lee says of kung-fu genre films. "I don't know how far it'll go because of course the genre came from Hong Kong. We combine action-movie making along with Chinese Opera tradition-- that's a cultural heritage we really take from."

The success of Crouching Tiger--it has already broken box-office records in Asia--is a testimony to Lee's ability as a worldly filmmaker. Although the film, based on part of Wang Du Lu's epic novel, is markedly Chinese and immersed in poetic cultural beauty, it has all the universal hooks--love, honor and revenge. Without compromising any of the things that make kung-fu films great, Lee has crafted a film that has taken his beloved genre to a new level, a chop-sockey flick for the art-house crowd. "On the cheesiest level, at least you have to deliver wowing martial arts scenes and melodrama," explains Lee. "That's the least you have to do."