As i said over in "subtitled movies" in response to Spongebob's dumb ass...
youre right, the tightwire thing is hong-kong flick alla way. Not only was effect god Woo-Ping Yuen in top form, but Chow and Michelle Yeoh - largely action starts - played up the drama a lot better than i expected them too, i even recall Yeoh saying the two didnt know much Mandarin and had to learn it for the movie.
The ending, the flow of the movie - it felt like a kabuki play to me, all the tragedy intact. It is lyrical & dreamlike, i agree, and the way it was pulled off was top-notch; it deserved all the awards it got. At its heart, this was a fairy tale.
But youre right about the sappy love story part, even tho i found that element strong at parts as well.
Of course she was a brat, to play the reluctant heroine of sorts...also made Yeoh & Chow's stoicism that much stronger. In the end, she was humbled, as many such charcters would be in traditional chinese stories like this one. Id like to think she was far less the brat in the end, especially after Chow's sacrifice.
Having recently seen Iron Monkey...the fights were great, and it had many such kung fu flick elements to a tee, but this one had the style & grace Spiffy's talkin about...again, easily one of my favorites of the last few years, wish there were more like it.
(you meant the coco lee music vid right?)
What did you feel was missing from the end; did you want the chick to end up with her desert guy, or off to hone her skills or somethin? From my perspective, if it was anythin less than tragic, it wouldnt have followed the kabuki style of "fate" & such i mentioned earlier...