Lee Let Lust Get Away From Him
If there is one filmmaker that can be called one of the new masters of cinema, that man would be Ang Lee. Over the course of nearly 20 years, he has given us a wide variety of films to celebrate. Like Spielberg, there might be one film of his you don’t like, but there’s at least one that you do, no matter your taste. He has paved new ground more than a few times, a couple of them most recently with his Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain. And to follow up the latter, he has decided to go back to China to tell a World War II drama. How can any film nut pass that up?
The film is Lust, Caution and truer words could not explain this movie. It’s been the epicenter of debate over the NC-17 Rating given by the MPAA due to graphic sex scenes that Lee refused to edit (and for good reason). The film stars a newcomer Tang Wei as the young college student Wang Jiazhi who gets involved in a revolutionary drama group during the Japanese occupation of China during the war. They start off producing patriotic plays that stirs their audiences to their feet. But while they do believe that the pen is mightier, the sword gets more immediate results and plan the murder of a Japanese sympathizer. They decide to target Mr. Yee (Tony Leung), a Hong Kong industrialist who helps get materials in for the Japanese.
Their initial plans get torn to shreds by Mr. Yee’s paranoia, he doesn’t take chances. But he does let his guard around Wang Jiazhi, who masquerades as a married woman to infiltrate his wife’s mahjong group. But before she could bait him into the perfect trap, he leaves for Shanghai with a promotion. After a few years, the major resistance movement swallows up the college radicals, and they call upon Wang Jiazhi to once again lure Mr. Yee into a death trap. But as she gets closer to her target, she realizes more about herself than she’s ready for. And Mr. Yee’s brutal nature makes her doubt her own.
And yet, all of this feels worn thin by the end. The characters are well thought-out but they lack any particular edge or sensibility. And ultimately we see that the story, like the characters, is indeed hollow. Mr. Lee makes the mistake an admirable mistake; he believed the material had meaning that didn’t exist. It wants to tackle the idea of occupation and the mindset that brings out. Wang Jiazhi is occupied by Mr. Yee in every way a man can occupy a woman. That’s why the sex had to be explicit. It’s not meant to be playful or joyous, but brutal, painful, and sad.
That’s also why I believe that the film was better suited as NC-17. It’s not in the content that I say this, but the ideas behind the film. I doubt anyone but a mature mind can see his kind of domination and understand what it means, to learn something from it that isn’t perverse. That’s not to say that I agree with the MPAA’s rulings when it comes to sex and movies. I’ve had parents email me about a film’s sexual content and my response is pretty much the same; if I have a child, I’d be more concerned about the violence my child watches than nudity and sex. But this is one of those times I would stress that ONLY adults should see this film.
I haven’t gotten to mention the great cinematography, costume and set design this film sports. Rodrigo Prieto is still in form with this visually beautiful film. In fact, I doubt there will be a better-shot film this year (although it does look like No Country For Old Men might give it a run for it’s money). Costumes and set designs are first-rate, giving this film a very classy look, style and feel that is authentic without feeling insufferable.
Acting-wise, this film goes a long way on very little. Emotions are held in, playing towards what we don’t see instead of what we do. The sex in the film is really the most external emotion that we see in the picture. But I must say that Tang Wei gives an electrifying performance as this girl who is caught up in forces that she only thinks she can control. Tony Leung is still the king of internal brooding that gives his Mr. Yee a little more pity than he deserves.
From what you’ve read, you probably think that I like this film, but I don’t. I respect the film in many ways, but I cannot like it nor can I recommend it since it’s ultimately a pretty, yet hollow film about people that do not feel entirely real. Complex, true, but not authentic.
And what really makes the film’s flaws even more noticeable comes from another film released recently; Paul Verhooven’s Black Book, which ultimately tells the same story (except that it’s told in Holland), but is much better realized with more compelling characters.
All in all, I forgive Ang Lee already since I know what he set out to do, which is admirable. The problem is that he either lost sight of his goal or realized that what he had really wasn’t there. And if I had a list of interesting failures, Lust, Caution would be on that list.