First, I want to say that I actually did enjoy this movie (Lust, Caution) and find it on my top 10 Chinese movies that I like. The art direction was stunning, the actors were just amazing, and everything about it was just so beautiful. Yes, there was plenty of graphic sex to go around and one pretty scary stabbing scene to boot, but I think it really helped show emphasis to the storyline plot plus character development in the movie. All the critics who are blushing and cringing from "over-the-top" nudity can just go gouge their eyes out for all I care, they seriously need to get a life.
For some, this film may be a bit slow-moving, but for me, it moved at a pretty good pace. I think I enjoyed it more than most people since I understood the differences in dialect and languages used in various parts of the film. Like for some people it's easy for them to just watch a movie straight in English since it's all in one language they could understand, for me it was straight through in all languages that I knew so it made the entertainment value so much more elevated for me.
A funny thing I wanted to note is that when I was reading reviews from westerners on this film, I really wanted to laugh when they say "a truer title to this movie is Caution: Lust." I'm like... well... yes, literally it is a true title, but unless you expect the rest of the western audience to read backwards, it will say Caution: Lust. I guess it really is bad on Ang Lee's part to write it horizontally, of course anyone would get the wrong idea, but we know better as we all grew up reading vertically backwards ^_^. I know I was confused the first time I read the title since it was set up as Caution : Lust, but since it is officially known as Lust, Caution (per reading Asian style), critics... please just leave it be. It kind of makes you look like an arrogant ass when you try to appear knowledgeable when you're just flaunting knowledge blindly.
On a better note, Tang Wei is amazing in this film. You really see the development of her character, Wong Chia Chi, throughout the entire film as realistic and heartbreaking. She played every facet of her character to the tee and just really wowed me. From naive, innocent college student in a drama club, to a conflicted and talented seductress, one can really see the change she undergoes and it makes it all the more powerful at the very end of the movie.
Tony Leung Chiu-Wai is also fantastic in this film. He is one of my fave HK actors and his portrayal of the brutal, sadistic, yet loving Mr. Yee was absolutely stunning. He really made you feel and believe as though he were actually from that era. Yee's job as a Japanese collaborator within the Chinese government made him a controlling, domineering force of evil, denounced by his fellow people as a national traitor. He acts as a gentleman at home and keeps much to himself, never trusting anyone or lets anyone know anything, including his own wife. Meanwhile, he is ruthless and cruel when torturing resistance members and signing their death warrants. The stress, pressure, and hatred that's accumulated from the dealings in his line of work makes him a closeted sadist in presence of those around him. The only person he truly drops his defenses and shows his wild, savage, and vulnerable side to, is Wong Chia Chi as Mrs. Mak. Unleashing all his pent up frustrations, stress, and anger unto her through violent intercourse, we see how much his job position is taking a toll on him. On the other hand, we also see how vulnerable he is becoming in the presence of Mak as he is falling deeply in love with her. Though he is brutal and physically abusive during sex, we can see the honesty in his emotions towards her. It's really heartbreaking to see how both characters truly do fall in love with each other, but due to their circumstances and turn of events, things do not end well between the two.
I think that the western audiences -- though much of their films have tons of sex -- are just nonsensically bashful when it comes to full frontal nudity. Come now, really? I can see the Chinese censorship getting in a tiff about it as they're a bit more conservative and seems to love finding problems in everything =_=, but really now, I think just deleting all the "juicy" parts kind of takes away from the film. To some, the 10-15 minutes of combined footage of sex scenes may be unnecessary, but I think it really shows a lot about the characters and it's also really welldone. One would think they were actually doing it for real -- of course, that is an argument for another day... or I can just argue about it now.
Yes, it looks like real sex. No, I don't believe they were actually doing it, they were just really great at acting it. Tony Leung Chiu-Wai is pretty monogamous to his then-long-time domestic partner, now officially legal wife, Carina Lau, despite all the ridiculous rumors thrown their way, so I would find it hard for him to actually have real sex on screen. Of course, people may just want to fight me on this, and say that I just have "wishful thinking" or whatnot, but I think Ang Lee was shooting for cinematic art piece, not trashy home-video pornography on expensive film. The cast was just fantastic and I loved every moment of it. This has got to be one of the best Chinese movies I've seen in a really long time.
I usually like Wong Kar-Wai, Chen Kaige, and Zhang Yimou for directors, but lately, all three haven't really made much of anything that I like. Wong Kar-Wai is good and has lots of potential, but his artistic movies sometimes have lots of loose ends so unless you have a tolerant personality and just enjoy cinema for the art direction, you will probably hate his works. Chen Kaige used to be good, until he tried to wow the international audiences with realy bad CG animation in "The Promise," which now has dropped him off my fave list in a way. And Zhang Yimou needs to go back to the classics. His art direction is good, but his penchance for extravagance is a bit over-the-top. I feel like he has a "What will wow my western audiences" checklist in his hand when he makes his movies, they all have a same sort of formula to them... which usually concerns LOTS of vivid imagery, colors, details, and predictable storyline that seems to still blow a lot of people's minds =_= (Is it just me, or do people need better deciphering skills? His movies really aren't that hard to figure out anymore. The suspense has long been gone). Yes, while one can say that his works are art pieces, I really miss the old Zhang Yimou direction style and the good old days (Gong Li era) when he made really great poignant movies.
Now, I like Ang Lee best. He is daring and not afraid to take risks. He utilizes his skills, talent, visionary to make something wonderful as Lust, Caution. It's unfortunate that he's getting (or has gotten) a lot of bashing for stepping way out of the boundaries of formula film-making, but I'm really happy that he did. Even of there are critics who despise his works, it's ok, everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but I do firmly believe that he has really outdone himself (no pun intended) in this sensually luscious masterpiece.
No comments:
Post a Comment