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Only in Hollywood : Lustful scenes in Ang Lee film to be sho

 
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 2:59 pm    Post subject: Only in Hollywood : Lustful scenes in Ang Lee film to be sho

ONLY IN HOLLYWOOD

Only in Hollywood : Lustful scenes in Ang Lee film to be shown in Manila


By Ruben V. Nepales
LA Correspondent
Inquirer

Posted date: October 26, 2007


LOS ANGELES—It is encouraging to hear that the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) has allowed Ang Lee’s controversial, award-winning film, “Lust, Caution,” to be shown without cuts in the Philippines.

The R-18 without cuts rating means the much-talked about sex scenes of Tony Leung and Tang Wei—graphic, yes, but integral to the film—will be seen intact by Philippine moviegoers. Hurrah for this evidence of enlightenment on the part of the censors. We’ve always been bothered by the double standard in the US, the Philippines and elsewhere—that it seems okay to show people killing each other but not making love.

Full nudity

Rather than cut the sexually explicit scenes, Ang and his producers accepted the film’s NC-17 rating in the US. Usually, filmmakers slapped with an NC-17 tag make cuts to get a less restrictive rating. They see NC-17 as a death knell for a movie at the box-office since this rating severely limits the size of the audience allowed to watch.

As we’ve written previously, these sex scenes are acrobatic and daring. In a film that wonderfully, deliberately takes its time to tell a story of emotional and political intrigue in World War II Shanghai, the scenes appear toward the end of the film. Tony and Tang, playing characters both wary and attracted to each other; circling, testing, baiting each other, finally let go and have unembarrassed sex.

Even as they copulate, they are still sizing each other up. “Making love” is not the term—in fact, some cruelty is involved. The element of danger and betrayal hang heavy on these scenes since Tang, as a student masquerading as a rich young matron, has tempted Tony’s powerful, vicious political figure (Mr. Yee) so he can be assassinated. Mr. Yee is still probing—no pun intended—Tang’s Wong Chia Chi if she’s who she says she is.

The full nudity scenes seem so real that not a few viewers wondered if actual “pene” (borrowing a term, short for penetration, that was in vogue in Manila in the ‘80s) took place. Our colleague did ask Tony and Tang, who came with interpreters, about it in their joint press con with us in Toronto. The reporter asked, “I apologize ahead of time. I hope no one will be offended. If you feel uncomfortable, you don’t have to answer. Did you have actual sex?”

Tony answered, “Of course not.”

The actor, one of the finest in Asia (he won Best Actor in the 2000 Cannes Film Festival for his role in Wong Kar Wai’s “In the Mood for Love”), said that, at first, Ang didn’t make a big fuss about these torrid scenes. “I think he didn’t want to scare me,” Tony said with a smile. “I never set a line for myself as to how far I can go. Ang just always emphasized that we have those scenes but they are no big deal. He didn’t mention them much.”

But when it was almost time to do the scenes, Ang—known to be very meticulous and a perfectionist, got down to it. “We spent a lot of time discussing what we were going to do,” Tony explained. “We also rehearsed through all the scenes before shooting so we have an idea what will they be. But after the rehearsals, we were still not very comfortable. We felt shy and uneasy. But I have been in this business for 25 years so I know that when the cameras roll, you stop feeling shy. You start reflecting on the emotions and inner accents of the character.”

New peaks

Tang, who spoke some English but occasionally had to turn to her interpreter for assistance, said, “I was shy because I had to be very bare to face Tony. But everybody was so professional. There were just four of us on the set—Tony, Ang, the DP (director of photography Rodrigo Prieto) and me.”

Of his celebrated director, who won the Oscar and Golden Globe Best Director award for “Brokeback Mountain,” and who steered “Lust, Caution” to a Best Picture win in Venice, two years after he won the same top prize for “Brokeback,” Tony said, “I saw a lot of Ang’s movies. I was always curious why the actors in his movies are very good. That’s one of the reasons that I took this role. Now, after working with him, I realize that he is very demanding, very tough. He will give you new peaks to reach every day. You are under a lot of pressure during the shooting but still, it was very [rewarding].”

Full credit

He added, “You can never change even a word in his script (which Ang co-wrote with James Schamus and Wang Hui Ling). That was good for me because Mandarin is not my mother tongue. I spent a lot of time memorizing all the lines because my brain functions only in Cantonese. He didn’t allow me to change a word.” After all, sometimes a look, not a word, from Tony or Tang was all that was needed. It’s that kind of film where a look between characters is often enough to convey what’s going on.

Ang, who spoke in his usual quiet manner during our press con with him, claimed complete credit for the various positions that Tony and Wang assumed. He disclosed, “I didn’t have anyone to help me. I did the choreography. It was a very closed set. I stole a few things from the choreographer of ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.’ To me, the two films are similar. The choreography for one is for sex; the other is for life and death fighting. They’re not merely fighting or having sex—they’re dramatic tools. They’re the ultimate expression of characteristics and development in a relationship—how you treat each other; how you occupy—being occupied, manipulation.”

“I can tell you that most of the things I put in the movie I couldn’t do in real life,” the filmmaker quipped to laughter. “That’s why I put them. I figured that theirs was a distorted relationship. I had to distort their bodies to give the body language. In each position, I have a specific idea in mind. When Tang assumes a fetal position, for example, it’s because she needs a fatherly love.”

Of the lust part in his movie’s title, Ang said, “I think lust is a catalyst of love. I think romantic love is an interesting subject matter. I became aware of it and got interested in it only in this last couple of movies (‘Brokeback’ and ‘Lust’). Maybe I’m a late bloomer. I became mature very late. I feel like I am just old enough, like somebody in his 20s, to yearn for and look up romantic love which I don’t really exercise in life (laughing). I have to guess. These drama stories, they help me have a taste of it.”

Private man

In his reply to a question about his wife, Jane Lin, a microbiologist whom he met while they were studying at the University of Illinois, he gave a rare glimpse of Ang, the private man: “My wife’s taste is so opposite to the public’s so I never listen to her (laughter). Sometimes I feel that she’s a strange person like I would think that normal people would think this or that way [but she doesn’t]. She is a very unique character. I am very attracted to her, not by her beauty, but as far as I could see, inner beauty. I basically model a lot of the strong, independent women characters on her. She’s a very smart woman who takes a man like myself but doesn’t get into the sentimental or artistic stuff. However, she has a soft spot that’s quite vulnerable.”

He continued, “In our daily life, I do the cooking and she does the rest. She takes care of the children because she has a stable job. She comes home every day while I am away a lot. When we talk, it’s mostly about our mundane life—house chores—mostly that kind of thing (laughter). It’s quite boring. The biggest help she gives me is that she is independent. And she can get excited when I get excited about something. When I am not busy and I really have time with her, I think she is bored with me (laughter). I wouldn’t want to retire because I fear that she might kick me out of the house. We have two boys. She runs the house and sets the rules. She’s the leader. We listen and obey. That’s the kind of family we are.”


http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/entertainment/entertainment/view_article.php?article_id=96800
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