CAUTION: Lust!
by Flick Chick Vique
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Lust, caution earns 4 Red Vines for capturing my mind and holding it hostage |
Director Ang Lee is no stranger to controversy. Funny thing is, my first introduction to him was as director of Jane Austin’s Sense and Sensibility. Okay, I’ll concede that even Jane Austin was controversial-once upon a time!
But for most Americans, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was their first exposure to this impressive Taiwan born director. Broke Back Mountain sealed the deal. Now comes Ang’s latest work of art, Lust, Caution, a tale of espionage and World War II intrigue. Oh yeah and lust. Lots and lots of lethal lust.
The year is 1942. The place, Japanese occupied Shanghai. The movie opens with ‘the ladies who lunch’. The mahjong foursome are privileged wives, with one of them (Joan Chen) married to an important Japanese collaborator, Mr. Yee (Tony Leung). When one of the ladies excuses herself to run an errand for her husband, we follow her to a cafe where she makes a mysterious phone call. Upon hanging up Mrs. Mak reminisces to a time several years earlier when she was just a shy schoolgirl.
What ensues is a tale of optimistic college students, eager to cause political unrest and awareness against the Japanese occupation. But the group makes the leap from actors on stage to real life plotters against the regime when they decide to assassinate one of their enemies: Mr. Yee. Soon it becomes apparent that the nefarious Mr. Yee will be impossible to get to until they realize that his one weakness is beautiful young women.
From there Wong Chai Chi takes on the persona of Mrs. Mak and transforms herself inside and out from shy college virgin to seductive femme fatal. It isn’t long before she has Mr. Yee right where she wants him but is it possible that she has actually developed feelings for her intended victim? Is it possible that lust has grown to love?
Much has been made of the notorious sex scenes that have earned Lust, Caution the infamous NC-17 rating. I have never seen anything like this-not even Last Tango in Paris was this graphic! And while I understand Ang Lee feeling that the scenes are integral to understanding the characters and their relationship, I found they confused my understanding of the relationship rather than clarify it. For me it was more of an illustration of how lust could grow to hate-not love.
But let’s just forget about those sensational minutes for the moment and concentrate purely on the film and it’s stars. They are phenomenal. As Wong Chai Chi, Wei Tang is positively luminous. Her transformation from country schoolgirl to leading lady in a high stakes plot is mesmerizing. Tony Leung as Mr. Yee is devastatingly brutal and amazingly tender. The two are surrounded by a competent cast but make no mistake this movie is all about these two characters. Wei Tang and Tony Leung do not disappoint in holding your rapt attention at all times.
I don’t know if I would call Lust, Caution a masterpiece. If it is, it is flawed in my book. Two days later, I still can’t wrap my mind around the ending. But I think that is mostly because my ‘western’ sensibilities will not allow me to make the leap the movie takes. I will say that two days later, I am still haunted by the characters, their choices and the streets of occupied Shanghai. Even if it isn’t the masterpiece I thought Crouching Tiger, Hidden Tiger was, there’s no question Lust, Caution is masterful storytelling. Masterful and disturbing.
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