Ang Lee breaks through again with a masterful adaptation of Eileen Chang’s short chronicle, Lust/Caution (like what he did with Annie Prolux’s similarly brief memoir, Brokeback Mountain) . While the hype seems to be mostly misplaced on the controversial acrobatics displayed by Tony Leung and Tang Wei in bed, Lee’s storytelling leaves one breathless.
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The care for record unfolds against the backdrop of 1930′s Japanese-invaded Shanghai where tyranny and suffering were synonymous. Nubile Wang Jia Zhi played by Tang Wei joins the resistance movement and gets herself drawn into the role of a view to crumble the traitor, Mr Yee. In between the espionage and wild climatic trysts, both of them unknowingly embroil themselves in appreciate and deceit, noteworthy deeper than they would have liked themselves to.
Tang Wei, as a newcomer to cinema, is impeccable. Her evolution from a wide-eyed country girl to a seductive temptress is enough to effect the hardest of most men, in this case, the distrusting Mr. Yee tumble for her. Wei acts radiant powerful on instincts and her body language does wonders at seducing the somewhat vulnerable Mr. Yee played by multiple-award winner Tony Leung. Wei breaks down in the memorable scene where she’s talking to the resistance leader on her unyieldingly sacrificial role that is both a torment and insidious attack to her emotions.
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As usual, Tony has the penchant for playing black brooding men and in this instance, an snide Chinese traitor. He does not act. His presence already commands attention as the cynical no-nonsense minister. The pivotal sex scenes, split into three parts, are not unbiased there for visual enhancement. They actually assure the shift in roles between the two throughout their complex relationship. The raw emotions displayed on their faces were enough to convince anyone hard-hearted to reflect twice about the essence of esteem. I must say these are some of the best bed scenes you’ll ever watch on film.
Of course, the supporting cast of Joan Chen as Mrs Yee and Wong Lee-Hom as Tang Wei’s resistance compatriot, Kuang Yu Min, is every bit honest as spectacular. In the kill, the sage about esteem is bittersweet. You’ll also explore how eager the resistance movement, which puts the enemy above self and others, was through Wang Jia Zhi’s eyes. Lust Caution is 157 minutes’ of rewarding leer that will linger on in your minds well after the credits roll. (A+)
I saw this movie twice in the theater – very fresh for someone as indispensable of movies as I am. The first time I went by myself, and the second time I took my husband, who was not initially enthusiastic in the account line (espionage and all) . He also liked it a lot (though he did not have as great of a personal connection as I did with the film) . I was like in a zone for a few days after I saw the movie. It really shook me to the core in a sense. A very distinguished movie in and of itself, it moves me particularly because I am orinigally from China and Eileen Chang was one of my faovrite writers when I was a teenager book worm. Having grown up surrounded by the communisit propaganda, I found it refreshing to spy a movie so artfully done to acquire a theme about fancy, sexuality and loyalty. It shows how innocent and ignorant the young revolutionaries could be (something that was obviously omitted from our history lessons) . This is a movie about mighty human emotions, like all the other movies directed by Ang Lee. I’m also glad to glimpse Ang Lee sticking to making movies based on first-rate, solid stories, instead of falling into the ‘glitz overriding story’ trap like so many other talented Chinese directors, Zhang Yimou and Cheng Kaige specifically.
Ang Lee said that he made this film for the Chinese audience, but I also read that he was disappointed by the fact that the Chinese media focused predominantly on the raw, sex scenes. I can understand his frustration. I wonder really how the mainland Chinese will embrace such a anecdote. Eileen Chang was never a Communist writer. In the book and the movie, the revolutionaries were referred to as ‘the people from Chongqing.’ As the Nationalist Party was based in Chongqing at the time (and the Communists in Yan’an), the revoluntionaries in the book were not Communinist members but Nationalists. That sort of contradicts everything we have learned in history lessons about the Communisit being the main heroes fighting against the Japanese and the Nationalists (the Kuomingtang) being wimpy traitors. Because of these reasons, I doubt mainland China will allow the movie to be shown in public.
But it doesn’t mean the Chinese will be denied access to this dazzling film, thanks to the illegal DVD pirating industry. My sister-in-law in China has already bought the film (for a dollar) and watched it. Comical thing is she had very similar reaction to it as I did. My brother said she wouldn’t talk to him for a few hours.
I disagree with some critics who called Ang Lee ‘indecisive’ in directing the movie. I contemplate everything was very deliberately done and Ang Lee was very positive on what he planned to do with the tale. He said that it was one of his popular stories written by Eileen Chang. I jabber if you don’t like the memoir (such as some other reviewers), you wouldn’t like the movie. But to me, the epic can be interpreted in many ways, and Ang Lee has done a intelligent job conveying what Eileen Chang wanted her narrative to articulate. The sex scenes (not in the book) are integral to the epic, as Eileen Chang wrote, “If the path to a man’s heart is through his stomache, then the path to a woman’s heart is through her v….” The movie is certainly not for the faint of heart.
By the scheme, the soundtrack is glorious. I downloaded it from iTunes. Before I receive the DVD in the mail, the soundtrack will do. (But I wouldn’t want a Chinese film that’s dubbed in English. That’s a crime. I’m buying it from somewhere else.)
PEX manifold
