Ang Lee specialises in films that explore love and intimacy. His best work explore these intangibles from all angles: the lack of affection between a middle aged, quite unhappily married couple in The Ice Storm; the repressed but deeply held intimacy between two men in Brokeback Mountain; the interwoven, requited and unrequited love in Sense and Sensability. All these films are superb examples of how to bring to life a relationship and convincingly portray it on screen. His latest effort is arguably his most convincing and most satisfying yet. It concerns the intensely intimate relationship between a government official and a resistance fighter and it can be described as nothing short of ground breaking.
This is Ang Lee's first film in his native tongue since 2000’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and it is fascinating to see him work again with great Asian actors. One of these is Tony Leung, an actor who is all over my colleague's movie years ballots, and after seeing this it’s not hard to understand the appeal. I’ve seen Leung before, in Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love. That’s a highly regarded film and one that features a widely acclaimed performance. But I’ll be damned if he’s not so much better here. Starring opposite him is an actress with none of Leung’s years of experience, but one who betrays such youth with a performance that matches Leung in every way. Tei apparently saw off literally hundreds of other applicants for the role. It was one well worth fighting for and for Lee and his casting crew, such a meticulous auditioning process has paid off.
Wang Tei plays a student in Japanese occupied China, who's recruited by a group of idealistic, patriotic youths determined to resist the oppression thrust upon them. They begin their opposition through theatre but quickly become frustrated with the impotency of their efforts and soon gradate to more brutal methods. They hatch a plan to murder one of the key Japanese collaborators in the region (Leung) and plot for Tei to first befriend then seduce him.
Ang Lee has really taken a chance in this film, filming the most graphic love scenes ever seen in a movie intended for mainstream audiences. However these scenes are not only the most graphic they are also the most convincing. Perhaps there’s a correlation between the two, but it is not just the nudity that makes these scenes so effective. Lee handles the camera with absolute precision. Every movement, every shot so thoughtfully planned and note perfect in execution. The acting is a tour de force and this fascinatingly complex relationship is brought to life, and to a certain extent is told through their love making. It’s a relationship that evolves in unexpected ways throughout the course of the film and it is rare that we see character development as effective as this.
Leung and Tei are perfect. Leung plays a man who shows very little emotion for 90% of the time, and then an explosion of ferocity and passion for the rest. This stark contrast and the intensity of the emotion displayed, nearly all of which is reserved for the love scenes between himself and Tang Wei, is completely riveting. Wei begins the film as a naïve student who can barely overcome her shyness enough to appear on stage, and ends the film as a key figure within the resistance able to deceive one of the most paranoid and cautious men in China. Her transformation is utterly compeelling; she’s superb.
Lust, Caution was disqualified as Taiwan’s entry for foreign language film at the Oscars due to having to large a percentage of cast and crew coming in from outside Taiwain. It’s a real shame as it will almost certainly not find itself shortlisted in any of the other categories* and this is a film that deserves more attention. Rodrigo Prieto’s cinematography deserves notice, although it has to be said there’s an embarrassment of riches in that particular category this year so one cannot complain too much if he is overlooked. The score by Alexandre Desplat is certainly award-worth as well, but the greatest behind the camera achievement is undoubtedly that of Lee’s. This may very well be the best directed film of the year and the greatest directorial achievement in his illustrious career.
A-
*and indeed it wasn't. Nominees were announced earlier today - I wrote this review last weekend.
4 comments:
Does "Social Skills" know something we don't Adam??
Do you think he read that post about Curb Your Enthusiasm and you in an Internet Cafe a few months back : )
On which note, did you see the first one in the new series monday? Genius!
Seen them all already! Genius is correct.
Here in Bangkok, Lust Caution is in limited release. Even more shame that the film has been cut by Thailand Board of Censors. Anyway, I saw the mostly uncut version (157 mins.), it's perfect! Can't imagine how the film could be cut cause each scence is meaningful.
And, yeah, Tang Wei is superb in her feature debut!
how ridiculous is it that tang wei was banned from china because of this film?! the film itself was banned in china i think, or at least the uncensored version was. but she now has hong kong citizenship and has made an official comeback in china, so good on her. shame this film didn't get more recognition.
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