Review: Ang Lee's Lust, Caution

Without lust, there's no caution.

First of all, congratulations again to the Bolehwood censors for doing such a great job to an otherwise fine movie so that young adults like myself would not have the opportunity to pull down our pants and jerk off at the cinema. Thank you.

That aside, Lust, Caution is an unpretentious foray into the human soul, faith and loyalty in times of national crises. I must admit that apart from watching halfway of Brokeback Mountain, I've never seen any of Lee's films before this one. So its one thing less that i don't need to compare this to his previous works. Suffice to say, i like this film a lot if it were not significantly censored.

Lust, Caution is a story set in World War II Shanghai where a female spy was reluctantly drafted by the Chungking Nationalist Movement to lure a Japanese collaborator in order to have him assassinated.

The highlight of this film surely goes to Tony Leung. His tormented personality in the Wong Kar Wai films and Internal Affairs is elevated to a new degree. This time, he's the baddest bad guy a bad guy could be. His character, Mr Yee, reminds me of the Qin Emperor in various movies. Cunning, suspicious, vicious, ultra sadistic, yet lonely and in need of love. Powered by some neat close shots, Leung drives his character like no other, putting the element of fear right in your face. Plus, Mr Yee is so unpredictable, the audience doesn't really know what's going in his mind, even the spy girl 'Mrs Mak' couldn't understand her target.

The spy girl, Wang Jiachi (played by Tang Wei) was as many ways as good as Leung's Mr Yee. I think she was underdeveloped at the first half of the movie, together with the rest of her university accomplices (Wang Leehom etc). It seemed their journey towards planning the assassination was rushy. But its the second half of the movie that Wang Jiachi, or Mrs Mak, shines through with some very emotional scenes. I just felt that i couldn't entirely pity her because i don't really see what hell she went through, thanks to the censors. I think the deleted sadism/masochism scenes really hurts the entire film. The end outcome was especially triggering though.

As i said, the deleted scenes makes this already difficult film even harder to comprehend. The sexual encounters are essential to understand the plight of Jiachi. First, you might not understand the struggle of the Chinese patriotic movement during the Japanese oppression. There's no Guy Hawkes fireworks nor spear wielding Spartans invoking your audiovisual senses. The resistance is really a secretive activity run in constant fear from people like Mr Yee. Secondly, the film feels bit like a stage play, its meaning is not always explicit. You must deduce. Lastly, the Shakespearean tragedy-like nature of this film might not suit everyone.

In all, this is not your typical fall blockbuster. So proceed with caution, and maybe you'll find some lust.

no-fark!