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The globalization of leaping kicks.

Article Excerpt
THERE IS nothing more dangerous than success--especially when it comes to moviemaking. We've known that about Hollywood films for forever. A film that does well in the U.S. and beyond will set off a vicious chain of events involving sequels, spin-offs, and countless derivative and degrading copycat movies.

I used to believe that somehow international films were immune to that imitative downward spiral. With state and independent producer supports for filmmakers as well as audiences that really seemed to celebrate a talented writer-director as a true "auteur," the making of films in foreign lands appeared to be more an act of artistic creation than an act of commerce.

Perhaps that was never true. In any case, it doesn't seem true anymore.

Globalization is a powerful and terrible thing.

Case in point is how every oh-so-serious art house director from China thinks that they need to start making martial arts films because they're hot (and cool) and beloved by audiences worldwide. The Chinese film industry has discovered the power of ka-ching, baby. And the Chairman's children now know that big box office means grasping for dollars and euros, as well as yuans.

Film geek turned filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is partially to blame for making martial arts movies hip. Although it's not as though we haven't always loved the sheer wacked-out energy of Hong Kong "kung fu." (There's good reason that Bruce Lee has been considered a demigod on both sides of the Pacific for more than thirty years.)

Even more influential was the critical and phenomenal worldwide box-office success of Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). That film was a watershed. An art house director, celebrated in the West, embraced...

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