I'd like to say a few words about Ang Lee's latest film, Lust, Caution. For anyone who has seen Mr. Lee's films that came before The Ice storm this will seem like yet another odd contribution from this talented filmmaker. If you are not familiar with his earliest films I would highly recommend watching them. They are small, quirky little movies that are very human and moving.
Lust, Caution is none of these things which is odd because it should be. Instead it is a rather large, disconnected movie that skips around in time (I think) to try and make a rather bland story more engrossing movie. The acting is superb and although the running time is quite long (two and a half hours I believe) the film has a steady pace that keeps the movie from dragging. Which is to say this movie has a number of things going for it.
What the film does not have, as far as I am concerned, is a story worth telling. This is yet another movie where if a person were to sum up the story to you in a sentence or two (I won't, don't worry) I think most people would be thankful for being allowed to keep the remaining two hours and twenty-eight minutes. This is all the more upsetting because the cast is truly fantastic and Tony Leung almost achieves the impossible -- that is he almost makes the central point of the story believable.
I would highly recommend finding someone to give you that two sentence plot summary before watching this film, knowing the ending should not ruin the movie for anyone who would still watch it after being informed.