summertime
Joined: 16 Dec 2004 Posts: 923
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Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 8:34 am Post subject: My films are conventional: Lee Ang |
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My films are conventional: Lee Ang
By Ng Yan Bo, Channelnewsasia.com | Posted: 26 September 2007 2035 hrs
After multiple awards, numerous controversies, and a banned movie in various countries, internationally renowned director Lee Ang still says that his films are not unconventional, depending on how people look at it.
"I think (my movies) are conventional, just a twist upon a view, to examine what we think is conventional," said the director.
Propelled to fame for directing the Oscar winning film 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', the Taiwan born director had sparked controversy when his romantic drama 'Brokeback Mountain', which depicts the relationship between two men, was declared unsuitable for viewing and banned in various parts of the United States, China and other parts of the world.
Hot on the heels of Brokeback, another bout of controversies is blooming with Lee's latest romantic spy thriller, 'Lust, Caution', set to be released in US cinemas at the end of this week.
'Lust, Caution' is adapted from a short story by famed Chinese author Eileen Chang and is said to be loosely based on an actual event that took place in World War II era Shanghai.
The show focuses on a group of Chinese students who plot to kill a powerful collaborator with the Japanese, baiting him with a young and beautiful woman, whose job is to seduce, and then kill the collaborator.
Lee admitted that this is a very personal film to him, and besides controversy over intense sex scenes, the director has to toy dangerously with the Chinese culture of being conservative.
"You never challenge patriotism. It's like the utmost believe that holds everybody together as Chinese. So if you (mess) with that, especially with sex, it's a very scary territory," he said.
The film, which won Lee his second Golden Lion award at the recent Venice Film Festival, was pronounced by the director as having a rather clichéd story idea, but approached from a very different angle.
"We have to come from a different angle to examine something that is quite familiar with you," explained Lee. "We always hear the story (of women who) seduce the bad guy and get him killed for patriotic reasons.
"But how do the women feel when they go through that? Nobody has thought about it. So I see (in this) a short story that comes from a familiar material but different angle."
While the erotic thriller has been given the go-ahead in Lee's hometown, Taiwan, the director had to axe 30 minutes from the original film to pass censorship rules in China.
The movie, titled 'Se, Jie' in Mandarin, will be out in Singapore cinemas in October. – CNA/yb
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/entertainment/view/302211/1/.html |
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