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Lust, Caution review and chat with writer James Schamus

 
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Joined: 16 Dec 2004
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 9:57 am    Post subject: Lust, Caution review and chat with writer James Schamus

LFF Diary #12

Lust, Caution review and chat with writer James Schamus

by Orlando Parfitt, IGN UK

UK, November 1, 2007 - There was spies, murder and sex galore in sex Ang Lee's controversial espionage thriller Lust, Caution, which was screened at the London Film Festival last week.

Based on Eileen Chang's novel, the film is the story of Wong Chia Chi (played by Tang Wei) - a shy drama student at Shanghai university. Her studies are interrupted by the Second World War and Japan's subsequent invasion of China. When the invaders set up an occupying government, Wong and her drama-class friends hatch an ambitious plan to assassinate top Japanese collaborator, the shadowy and secretive Mr Lee (Tony Leung), with Wong assigned to seduce the target.

The director (whose previous effort was Brokeback Mountain) focuses tightly on the ambiguous relationship that develops between Lee and Wong. Does Lee know his lover is a secret agent? Are Wongs feelings for her prey genuine? The answers are kept under wraps until the shocking denouement, and it makes for an intriguing and complex psycho-drama, intensified by the atmosphere of suspicion bought about by the hostile occupation.



This gripping exploration of human nature is made possible through the extraordinary central performances. Leung is simultaneously sinister, repressed, almost sadistic and yet touchingly vulnerable. Tang Wei, amazingly making her film debut, is arguably pushed even further by her role, convincing as both a naive student and her controlled, seductress alter-ego.

Of course, their sexual relationship is an integral part of this drama. This is shown through a series of graphic sex scenes which have caused considerable controversy, especially in the U.S., where their explicit nature resulted in an NC-17 rating. In China, meanwhile Lee had to cut them out completely to placate the censors. Whilst it's true these scenes are perhaps more graphic than anything seen in mainstream cinema (except maybe Michael Winterbottom's Nine Songs) they are hardly titillating or erotic. Instead Lee uses them to show the development of Wong and Lee's relationship, with the emotionally repressed couple only able to express their feelings physically.



After the screening I spoke to Lust, Caution writer/producer James Schamus about the controversy, and he was forthright in his condemnation of those who have criticized the films sexual content, especially in America. He said "We do have those cultural headways (in the states), the hypocrisy, the NC-17 rating - that kind of crap. We know that's a kind of headwind that we're pushing against and all we can do is fight it... We expected the controversy, with America, I mean what can you do?!"

"After all, we're not selling (Lust, Caution) as some kind of sizzling, triple x film. Most films with the NC-17 rating have sold themselves as 'Hot hot hot!', but, and we've heard this from so many viewers, we've made the first nc-17 rated film for women. It takes its time, it's really about those emotions and those characters and about their stories, and we're very proud of that."


http://movies.ign.com/articles/831/831954p1.html
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