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Lust, Caution (Widescreen Edition) by Ang Lee
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DVD detailsActor: Chung Hua Tou, Joan Chen, Lee-Hom Wang, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Wei Tang Director: Ang Lee Brand: Universal Producer: Ang Lee Producer: Dai Song Producer: Darren Shaw Producer: David Lee Writer: Eileen Chang Writer: Hui-Ling Wang Writer: James Schamus DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: Mandarin Chinese (Original Language); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1 Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen Picture Format: 1.85:1 Running Time: 159 minutes DVD Release Date: 2008-02-19 Audience Rating: NC-17 Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of Lust, Caution (Widescreen Edition)DVD Review: Sexual Espionage Gone Awry Summary: 3 StarsSet mostly in World War II Shanghai, director Ang Lee's follow-up to "Brokeback Mountain" is an overlong, ambivalent journey into Chinese sexual espionage. Lee aims for an epic grandeur that clashes with the traditional spy thriller - minus the sharp pacing inherent in the genre. Strong performances, impressive period detail and Rodrigo Prieto's mesmerizing photography cannot fully redeem the plodding narrative. By the time "Lust, Caution" reaches its downbeat conclusion, the dramatic impact has been dissipated. Not one of Lee's best films, but certainly worth a look.
DVD Review: 3 stars out of 4 Summary: 4 StarsThe Bottom Line:
Lust Caution is far better when focusing on espionage than when focusing on sex and relationships, even if the sex is the reason the movie was so notorious; too long for its own good, it's a decent film but potential viewers would be better suited to watch the similarly themed but more enjoyable (if less stylish) Black Book.
DVD Review: Uncensored Emotion Summary: 5 StarsThis is art. On the surface it's about a group of theatre students who, out of patriotism, decide to seduce and murder a ruthless secret-police type political figure.
While the students work as a team to get near him, it ultimately takes a woman, an actress and not a seductress, to get him alone and away from his bodyguards. Much of the power in this film derives from the dynamic relationship of these two, a union whose extremes and maturation are intimated in the sex scenes.
Make sure you see this film as its creator intended, in the NC-17 version. What was cut was not cock and balls but minor truths, images like the serenity on a lover's face whose war has just been wiped away. These scenes, these moments, they drip with the stuff of life, they show us the feelings that sex can bring forth and allow the rest of the film to explore the responsibilities that we have to our emotions, that our minds have to our hearts.
DVD Review: What a movie! Summary: 5 StarsThis movie was different from any movie I've ever seen. The storyline and the nearly X-rated sex scenes were well balanced, so it did not come off like a porn movie, but the sex was more explicit than is usually seen in movies geared toward a mass audience. I did not turn on the English subtitles, and had no problem following the plot of the movie, even though I don't speak Chinese. It was better than 2 hours long, but was so engrossing that I saw it at a single sitting, which is something I do rarely. This was a great movie, though I don't think it will ever get the accolades it deserves.
DVD Review: Chinatowns Summary: 4 StarsThere are some missing chinks in the central relationship that detract from a totally realized film cf ,'Brokeback Mountain', even, 'Ice Storm'. these are noted by several reviewers, so i'm not going to repeat them. essentially, the story of lust and betrayal has enough tension to carry the day. The transformation of sex and emotion is conveyed; the screened sex and the violent murder are brilliantly filmed and essential to Lee's weave. This is a director of great powers and having seen all his films, i'd not want to miss one.
Description of Lust, Caution (Widescreen Edition)Provocative, thrilling and passionate, Lust, Caution is the daring new film from acclaimed Academy Award?-winning director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). Set against the backdrop of a transforming country, a young woman finds herself swept up in a radical plot to assassinate a ruthless and secretive intelligence agent. As she immerses herself in her role as a cosmopolitan seductress, she becomes entangled in a dangerous game that will ultimately determine her fate. Erotic, breathtaking and suspenseful, this award-winning film is being called "exquisitely beautiful" (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times) and "lushly sensual" (Leah Rozen, People). Lust, Caution, Ang Lee's follow up to Brokeback Mountain, for which he won the Academy Award? for Best Director, continues his exploration of people with a passion for each other trapped in a world where their passion could be life-threatening, but in a very different context this time. Set in China during the Japanese occupation of early World War II, the underlying plot concerns the story of young Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei), an actress and member of a small group of student resistors planning to infiltrate the home of Mr. Yee (Tony Leung), a high-ranking collaborationist government official, in order to kill him for his role in the torture and executions of Chinese resistance fighters. Chi ingratiates herself with Yee's wife, the sophisticated and cultured Mrs. Yee (Joan Chen) under the guise of being the wife of a wealthy but unseen tycoon. Flashbacks tell the tale of how Chi came to be involved with the resistors: her acting ability is her most valuable asset, and her assignment is to act the role of Mr. Yee's lover, right down to the sex. The story of their love and the painful intimacy it involves for both of them is told through their sexual relationship, which starts out violently, drifts into S&M, and shifts with their feelings, moving from pain and fear to some sort of desperate connection. This is lust with a capital L; the film's sex scenes have become famous for their frankness and acrobatic portrayals (they took 12 days to film), but amazingly enough, it's never prurient. The nature of their sexual relationship, and not the sex itself, is the point. Chi falls in love with the man she's supposed to kill, but there is no stopping the mission and she knows it. The danger of it all collapsing for them both is ever present, and that's the Caution. The cinematography and direction in Lust, Caution is masterful, and every scene is beautiful. The film does drift into a languid pace, and at times one wonders why Lee would feel the need to draw it out at the expense of delaying the crucial climactic scenes. Still, it's a wonderful piece of storytelling that should only help solidify Ang Lee's place in cinematic history as a master of films that express the difficulty of being essentially human in an inhumane world. --Daniel Vancini
Stills from Lust, Caution (click for larger image)
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