oscar jubis
11-05-2007, 02:21 PM
Brokeback Mountain became, upon release in 2005, the most notorious and, perhaps, most artistically successful of Ang Lee's films. Everyone at least heard of "the gay cowboy movie" and most sophisticated filmgoers found it more worthy of Oscar than best-film winner Crash. Like its predecessor, Lee's new Lust, Caution is based on a short story by a respected author: Eileen Chang's tale of a student-turned-activist who assumes a new identity to snare a high-ranking collaborator during the Japanese invasion of China. Also, both films won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
We approach a given movie with a set of expectations. These can be based on previous experience with movies by the same director or actor. Or, more immediately, based on the shared opinions of those who've seen it and the marketing materials (trailer, poster, etc.). I think it's important to maintain congruence between a film's true nature and how it's being sold and presented. Focus Pictures, Lust, Caution's distributor, has characterized it as a thriller or, more specifically, "a sensual espionage thriller". No one told Ang Lee. "Even in The Hulk, I do psychodrama", he explained at the Toronto premiere. No doubt, one can take Eileen Chan's 52-page story and turn it into a thriller, but that's not what Lee has done. He made a piercing and nuanced period drama in which the protagonist faces identity issues_what unites Lee's seemingly disparate filmography.
The first hour of Lust, Caution, which precedes a brilliantly choreographed and edited violent scene, is strictly occupied by Wong's comin-of-age. We meet her as "Mrs. Mak", a tycoon's wife and member of a mah-jongg group hosted by Mrs. Yee (Joan Chen as the wife of a ruthless collaborator with imperialist Japan). When Mr. Yee (Tony Leung) eneters the scene, it's apparent to us there's a secret liasion between him and "Mrs. Mak". She invents an excuse to leave, goes to a cafe, makes a phone call and, as she sits and waits, her memories take us back in time. Four years earlier, she was Wong Chia-Chi, a first-year college student. She befriends a group of politically-active drama students led by the handsome and committed Kuang. They are producing a play that condemns the occupation. Wong's audition for a key part in the play reveals a natural-born actress (like Tang Wei, the student who beat thousands who auditioned for the challenging role). Wong's youthful beauty and acting skills make her the ideal undercover agent. She agrees to impersonate "Mrs. Mak", seduce Mr. Yee and lure him away from his guards so he can be eliminated.
It's the characters that drive Ang Lee's movies. What's unique this time is that, partly by virtue of the period and the circumstances, Wong, Mr. Yee and Kuang don't go around verbalizing their feelings. If they are aware of their own feelings, they don't typically put them into words. When one does, as when Wong makes a desperate, urgent plea not to overextend the mission, the effect is devastatingly powerful. Otherwise, it's the audience who needs to interpret a series of behavioral and performance cues in order to glean meaning and motivation. That's the purpose of the sex scenes, explicit enough to earn the film and NC-17 rating and some press. They are windows into Wong and Mr. Yee's psyches that trace the arc of their complex relationship. Does the sexual rapture between them act as a catalyst towards love? Is Wong seduced and corrupted by the lifestyle inherent to impersonating "Mrs. Mak"? To what extent does her undercover role become a part of her real self?
Lust, Caution benefits from Ang Lee's obsessive attention to detail. The period recreation is, of course, beyond reproach. What's more impressive is narrative minutiae, such as having Wong, a character who mirrors the one played by Ingrid Bergman in Hitchcock's Notorious, moved to tears by Bergman's performance in Intermezzo. Wong loves to go to the movies; it's only in a theater, under cover of darkness, that she feels free to express her deepest emotions. It's quite appropriate then, that the beautiful song she sings to Mr. Yee happens to be the theme of Street Angel, a popular Chinese movie set during the occupation. The congruence between character and choice of song wouldn't be apparent to Western viewers, but this one appreciates it and takes it as a vivid example of Lee's thoughtfulness and painstaking craftmanship.
Lust, Caution will have limited viewership due to how its NC-17 rating limits where it can be advertised and shown. Some will walk-in expecting a thriller and will likely be disappointed to find stately-paced drama. Others might not welcome the demands it makes on the viewer; it's more cerebral and ambiguous than Brokeback Mountain and, consequently, less emotionally affecting. But I hope Lust, Caution finds an appreciative, rabid following, no matter how small. This ambitious period drama is as impressive as anything Ang Lee has ever done.
We approach a given movie with a set of expectations. These can be based on previous experience with movies by the same director or actor. Or, more immediately, based on the shared opinions of those who've seen it and the marketing materials (trailer, poster, etc.). I think it's important to maintain congruence between a film's true nature and how it's being sold and presented. Focus Pictures, Lust, Caution's distributor, has characterized it as a thriller or, more specifically, "a sensual espionage thriller". No one told Ang Lee. "Even in The Hulk, I do psychodrama", he explained at the Toronto premiere. No doubt, one can take Eileen Chan's 52-page story and turn it into a thriller, but that's not what Lee has done. He made a piercing and nuanced period drama in which the protagonist faces identity issues_what unites Lee's seemingly disparate filmography.
The first hour of Lust, Caution, which precedes a brilliantly choreographed and edited violent scene, is strictly occupied by Wong's comin-of-age. We meet her as "Mrs. Mak", a tycoon's wife and member of a mah-jongg group hosted by Mrs. Yee (Joan Chen as the wife of a ruthless collaborator with imperialist Japan). When Mr. Yee (Tony Leung) eneters the scene, it's apparent to us there's a secret liasion between him and "Mrs. Mak". She invents an excuse to leave, goes to a cafe, makes a phone call and, as she sits and waits, her memories take us back in time. Four years earlier, she was Wong Chia-Chi, a first-year college student. She befriends a group of politically-active drama students led by the handsome and committed Kuang. They are producing a play that condemns the occupation. Wong's audition for a key part in the play reveals a natural-born actress (like Tang Wei, the student who beat thousands who auditioned for the challenging role). Wong's youthful beauty and acting skills make her the ideal undercover agent. She agrees to impersonate "Mrs. Mak", seduce Mr. Yee and lure him away from his guards so he can be eliminated.
It's the characters that drive Ang Lee's movies. What's unique this time is that, partly by virtue of the period and the circumstances, Wong, Mr. Yee and Kuang don't go around verbalizing their feelings. If they are aware of their own feelings, they don't typically put them into words. When one does, as when Wong makes a desperate, urgent plea not to overextend the mission, the effect is devastatingly powerful. Otherwise, it's the audience who needs to interpret a series of behavioral and performance cues in order to glean meaning and motivation. That's the purpose of the sex scenes, explicit enough to earn the film and NC-17 rating and some press. They are windows into Wong and Mr. Yee's psyches that trace the arc of their complex relationship. Does the sexual rapture between them act as a catalyst towards love? Is Wong seduced and corrupted by the lifestyle inherent to impersonating "Mrs. Mak"? To what extent does her undercover role become a part of her real self?
Lust, Caution benefits from Ang Lee's obsessive attention to detail. The period recreation is, of course, beyond reproach. What's more impressive is narrative minutiae, such as having Wong, a character who mirrors the one played by Ingrid Bergman in Hitchcock's Notorious, moved to tears by Bergman's performance in Intermezzo. Wong loves to go to the movies; it's only in a theater, under cover of darkness, that she feels free to express her deepest emotions. It's quite appropriate then, that the beautiful song she sings to Mr. Yee happens to be the theme of Street Angel, a popular Chinese movie set during the occupation. The congruence between character and choice of song wouldn't be apparent to Western viewers, but this one appreciates it and takes it as a vivid example of Lee's thoughtfulness and painstaking craftmanship.
Lust, Caution will have limited viewership due to how its NC-17 rating limits where it can be advertised and shown. Some will walk-in expecting a thriller and will likely be disappointed to find stately-paced drama. Others might not welcome the demands it makes on the viewer; it's more cerebral and ambiguous than Brokeback Mountain and, consequently, less emotionally affecting. But I hope Lust, Caution finds an appreciative, rabid following, no matter how small. This ambitious period drama is as impressive as anything Ang Lee has ever done.