Saw the much anticipated Ang Lee film "Lust, Caution" in the Charles Theatre. The reaction from the general public in United States differed a lot from the Chinese community: While the Americans, with their proud lack of history, yawned it as "yet another period drama with some sex", as exemplified in this New York Times review, the Chinese, with a much wider historical context, paid a lot more attention, to say the least.
The film is based on a (very) short story by Eileen Chang (张爱玲), who in turn based it on a true story. Unlike the real life heroine, who was allegedly a determined patriot andfemme fatele , the protagonist in the novel and the film was reluctant to be a spy and confused from the struggle between sense and sensibility. Do I really care which government I am living with? Aren't good meals and good sex all that we want? Asked Ms. Chang, who was a longtime mistress of a high ranking official in the Japanese-supported collaborationist government in Nanjing during the World War II. As much as I admired Ms. Chang's achievement in Chinese literature, I disagree with her answers, in her story or in her life. People do not live just for food and sex. There *is* a greater cause, especially in wartime.
By the way, there was a very subtle detail which couldn't possibly be noticed by a non-Chinese. To motivate his colleagues for the assassination, Mr. Kuang, the leader of this amateur spy group, quoted a verse by, utterly ironically, Jingwei Wang, the "Chinese Quisling", when he was a patriotic youngman who was jailed for trying to assassin the regent of the Old Chinese Empire：“引刀成一快，不负少年头。” （Raise the guillotine and cut my head off quickly!/ So my young life is not wasted for nothing.）
In terms of filmmaking, this film is another masterpiece of Ang Lee’s. The sex scenes, for which it got a NC-17 rating, were artfully done. The casting was excellent. Wei Tang made a dazzling debut, showing off her great potential. And Tony Leung was at his finest. I am glad that even the lukewarm NYT review mentioned above acknowledged Mr. Leung's superb acting. Joan Chen was also great, as always. The only problem, though, was that the film had "little left to the imagination", to quote the NYT review again. My response: NC-17!
P.S., for another great Chinese movie based on a famous Eileen Chang novel of the same title, see "Red Rose White Rose" (《红玫瑰，白玫瑰》), starring Winston Chao (The Wedding Banquet) and, once again, Joan Chen.
The film is based on a (very) short story by Eileen Chang (张爱玲), who in turn based it on a true story. Unlike the real life heroine, who was allegedly a determined patriot and
By the way, there was a very subtle detail which couldn't possibly be noticed by a non-Chinese. To motivate his colleagues for the assassination, Mr. Kuang, the leader of this amateur spy group, quoted a verse by, utterly ironically, Jingwei Wang, the "Chinese Quisling", when he was a patriotic youngman who was jailed for trying to assassin the regent of the Old Chinese Empire：“引刀成一快，不负少年头。” （Raise the guillotine and cut my head off quickly!/ So my young life is not wasted for nothing.）
In terms of filmmaking, this film is another masterpiece of Ang Lee’s. The sex scenes, for which it got a NC-17 rating, were artfully done. The casting was excellent. Wei Tang made a dazzling debut, showing off her great potential. And Tony Leung was at his finest. I am glad that even the lukewarm NYT review mentioned above acknowledged Mr. Leung's superb acting. Joan Chen was also great, as always. The only problem, though, was that the film had "little left to the imagination", to quote the NYT review again. My response: NC-17!
P.S., for another great Chinese movie based on a famous Eileen Chang novel of the same title, see "Red Rose White Rose" (《红玫瑰，白玫瑰》), starring Winston Chao (The Wedding Banquet) and, once again, Joan Chen.
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