Director Ang Lee honored at 'Asian Nobel' award

Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee added another prestigious honor to his already illustrious career this past week. In Tokyo, he was awarded the Praemium Imperiale Prize - better known as the "Asian Nobel".

Ang Lee has just been awarded the Praemium Imperiale Prize - better known as the "Asian Nobel"

PHOTO: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

This is an award given annually to artists working in many different fields. In the field of cinema, those who have been named so far are all legendary, including directors and actors such as: Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, Jean-Luc Godard, Martin Scorsese and Catherine Deneuve.

Sharing about this honor, Ang Lee wrote: "I like to think that my career is a never-ending journey of learning. There I learned about cinema, myself and the world . There is no end to that learning. As the first person from Taiwan to receive this award, I am filled with pride and gratitude."

He also confided: "The Japanese consider this their Nobel Prize, so it is quite noble and a huge privilege. I understand that since I am the first person in Taiwan to receive it, I should be proud. But actually I like to think that I am just pursuing my career, so maybe I am receiving it quite early."

On the public side, major review sites have considered this a well-deserved honor. For decades, Ang Lee's works have been characterized by their artistic freshness and expressive mastery. Many critics have argued that almost no other director of his generation has produced films of such high quality and endless variety.

After receiving two Oscar nominations for his first trio of Taiwanese family films — Pushing Hands (1991), The Wedding Banquet (1993) and Eat Drink Man Woman (1994), Ang Lee ventured out of his comfort zone to direct an adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel Sense and Sensibility in 1995.

A scene from Ang Lee's 1995 film adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel Sense and Sensibility

That success encouraged him to continue his creative path. What followed were: the family drama The Ice Storm (1997), the martial arts masterpiece Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), the heartbreaking Western Brokeback Mountain (2005), the boundary-breaking spy film Lust, Caution (2007) and Life of Pi (2012).

And long ago, when it became common to ask famous directors if they would ever consider helming a superhero movie, Ang Lee took it upon himself to do so. He directed Marvel's first hit, Hulk, in 2003.

To date, he has received nine Oscar nominations and won three, including Best Foreign Language Film for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Best Director for Brokeback Mountain and Life of Pi.

When asked why he continuously produces works on diverse topics, Ang Lee said: " Perhaps the most honest answer I can give is because I fear that if I don't change and keep doing what I already know, I will lose my artistic purity and create something that is simply not good. That is my biggest fear."

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/dao-dien-ly-an-duoc-vinh-danh-tai-giai-nobel-chau-a-185241122103147253.htm