Asia Society New York presents Water and Oil: The Movies of Ang Lee, a complete retrospective with select appearances by the filmmaker and collaborators. The retrospective kicks off with a special Valentine's Day screening of the multiple-Academy Award-winning Brokeback Mountain (2005, 35mm, 134 min.) on Friday, February 14, at 6:30 p.m. and continues through February 23, 2025.

Ang Lee was born in Taiwan in 1954 and immigrated to the United States at age 23. He studied film at New York University and went on to become the first person of color to win an Academy Award for Best Director, twice (for Brokeback Mountain in 2006 and Life of Pi in 2013). The frequently observed eclecticism in his choice of projects has occasioned explosive Hollywood spectacles (Gemini Man), adaptations of Jane Austen (Sense and Sensibility) and Eileen Chang (Lust, Caution), three of the finest original romantic comedies of the latter twentieth century (Pushing Hands, The Wedding Banquet, Eat Drink Man Woman; a.k.a. the “Father Knows Best” trilogy), and a Marvel movie— arguably the very best one— for good measure (Hulk). On the sometimes glaring cultural divide in his output, Lee has remarked: “East and West are like water and oil; they do not mix.” Yet just as often he has suggested the opposite, characterizing himself as a fundamentally Confucian director, attuned to the tension between filial piety and personal desire in “Western” films like The Ice Storm (1997) and Taking Woodstock (2009) as much as “Asian” ones like The Wedding Banquet (1993) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). Like technology and intimacy, late and early-career and studio and independent efforts, East and West appear not to be useful binaries for discriminating between Ang Lee’s films after all. The apparent contradictions in his work are actually tandem forces characterizing its uniqueness: Yin and Yang.

It’s not surprising that one of the first world-famous Asian American directors would face challenges and compromises in bringing his visions to the screen; what’s remarkable is that he’s done so without losing himself in the process. Alongside career-long friend and collaborator James Schamus, Ang Lee has developed a body of work soaring in its variety but grounded by consistent themes of longing, ritual, repression and existential questioning. This complete retrospective of Lee’s feature films honors the diversity of his oeuvre while highlighting a philosophical throughline that resists polarization. “It’s not good or bad,” speak characters in both Ride with the Devil (1999) and Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (2016). “It just is.”

—Inney Prakash, Asia Society Curator of Film

The full schedule of screenings follows. Tickets for each show are $15 ($8 Asia Society Members) and are available for purchase at AsiaSociety.org/NY or by contacting the Asia Society Box Office at tel. 212-517-ASIA (2742) or in person at 725 Park Avenue at 70th Street. A limited number of complimentary tickets will be available to NYC college students with ID at the box office on the day of each screening. 

 

February 14 at 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Brokeback Mountain: US, 2005, 35mm, 134 min. 

 

February 15 at 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Pushing Hands: US, 1991, DCP, 105 min.

 

February 15 at 3:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. 

Sense and Sensibility: UK/US, 1995, 35mm, 136 min.

 

February 15 at 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Taiwan/China/Hong Kong/US, 2000, 35mm, 120 min.

(In Mandarin with English subtitles.*25th Anniversary Screening*)

 

February 16 at 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

The Wedding Banquet: US/Taiwan, 1993, DCP, 106 min.

(In English and Mandarin with English subtitles.)

 

February 16 at 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The Ice Storm: US, 1997, 35mm, 112 min.

 

February 16 at 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Hulk: US, 2003, 35mm, 138 min.

 

February 21 at 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Life of Pi: Taiwan/US, 2012, 3D DCP, 127 min.

 

February 22 at 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. 

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk: US, 2016, DCP, 113 min.

 

February 22 at 3:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Ride with the Devil: US, 1999, 35mm, 138 min.

 

February 22 at 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Lust, Caution: Taiwan/Hong Kong/China, 2007, 35mm, 157 min.

(In Mandarin, Cantonese, and Japanese with English subtitles.)

 

February 23 at 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. 

Gemini Man: US, 2019, DCP, 117 min.

 

February 23 at 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Taking Woodstock: US, 2009, 35mm, 120 min.

 

February 23 at 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Eat Drink Man Woman: Taiwan/US, 1994, 35mm, 124 min.