If you lived through ‘90s, and aughts cinema, filmmaker Ang Lee could do no wrong. It seemed as though almost every movie he made turned out to be very memorable: “Eat Drink, Man Woman,” “The Wedding Banquet,” “Sense and Sensibility,” “The Ice Strom,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Brokeback Mountain,” “Lust Caution” “Life of Pi” … Even his 2003 “Hulk” was one of the most artful superhero movies ever made.
We learned some very exciting news this late evening, Lee’s next film will be a Taiwanese production in Mandarin, his first one in over 15 years. “Even Trees Wither” will be based on Taiwanese writer Pai Hsien-Yung's novel of the same name.
Pai is an important queer Taiwanese writer. He’s credited as being one of the very first novelists in China to explicitly deal with gay themes. His seminal works include “Taipei People” and “Crystal Boys.”
“Even Trees Wither” is a literary work about a gay author reminiscing about his late lover and friend. Lee is currently scouting for locations in Malaysia.
Lee has been stuck in a rut of big studio machinery of late, with “Taking Woodstock,” “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” and “Gemini Man.” It seemed as though he may have lost his mojo. That’s why today’s new is very exciting. Lee is going back to his cinematic roots and there’s no reason to think he won’t make another worthy film to add to his already impressive filmography.