Lust, Caution tells its story through the perspective of an actor playing a dangerous game. That Ang Lee, for all of his incredible care to make this a tale with subtleties of an risqué art film and the grace of an old Hollywood love story, puts it through the usual prism of "back four years earlier" then "three years later" is only a minor distraction. We've seen it so often before, in all kinds of movies, but at least here it's never as terribly boring as some of the detractors would say. And to give credit where it's due, Lee doesn't make it a big pulp of a melodrama like Paul Verhoven did- with very similar material unintentionally- with Black Book. Maybe it's because it's got such a cold tone, where everything is so repressed we don't even really have an idea of who this woman Wang Jiahzi is aside from her aspirations to be an actress (fulfilled, ironically, through the espionage of sorts as Mr. Yee's mistress), and it's a tone without much redemption. While this doesn't mean this adds power to the material, it doesn't ever lift off like Lee at his strongest or visually acute (Ice Storm, Brokeback Mountain).
But this said, I don't think you'll find a better movie this year about the topic- and it is a good movie for those who want to take the patience for its 158 minute running time- of deception and lust through tribulations of war. I also liked the whole facet of occupation as the backdrop, that the Japanese are the stranglehold on Japan, but there's still inherent problems within one group by itself. There's always repression through government, so why not through romantic subterfuge? The early section of the film, where we see the burgeoning youth of the drama group as it forms into a group of would-be spies, maybe is a little undercooked emotionally, with the biggest point finally coming with the most explicit scene of violence in the picture (much more staggering than anything one would've seen in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). The second half, however, is when it starts to pick up: Wang has a different name and becomes reacquainted with Mr. Yee after some years not seeing one another. She gets close to him, maybe too close (rough sex starts off their affair, as violent as the murder scene earlier), but with a passion that is piercing.
The themes are one thing in Lust Caution, but the performances are another. If not for Tony Leung and newcomer Wei Tang, the film might not have the same emotional wallop; Leung possibly goes head-for-head with his work in Wong Kar Wai's films as his best to date: he's terrifying but, as Wang notes, sort of lonely in his secrecy and security detail. It's be a leap of faith to see how he falls so much in love with the spy (all over one song she sings, you might scoff, though quite a song and a scene), and by the end he plays heartbroken with so much hurt he makes Heath Ledger look like a sap. And Wei Tang, a pretty face to be sure, is an even match as a real newcomer. No matter what can be said about the sex scenes (and yeah, there's a lot to be said, not just about length but about the styles right out of Kama Sutra), it can't be denied the star chemistry. Even with a flawed script, Lee has a cast that works, and a period setting that springs out deception as the most heart-rending drama. As I write this and think it over, the film actually becomes a little better than I remembered too. 7.5/10
But this said, I don't think you'll find a better movie this year about the topic- and it is a good movie for those who want to take the patience for its 158 minute running time- of deception and lust through tribulations of war. I also liked the whole facet of occupation as the backdrop, that the Japanese are the stranglehold on Japan, but there's still inherent problems within one group by itself. There's always repression through government, so why not through romantic subterfuge? The early section of the film, where we see the burgeoning youth of the drama group as it forms into a group of would-be spies, maybe is a little undercooked emotionally, with the biggest point finally coming with the most explicit scene of violence in the picture (much more staggering than anything one would've seen in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). The second half, however, is when it starts to pick up: Wang has a different name and becomes reacquainted with Mr. Yee after some years not seeing one another. She gets close to him, maybe too close (rough sex starts off their affair, as violent as the murder scene earlier), but with a passion that is piercing.
The themes are one thing in Lust Caution, but the performances are another. If not for Tony Leung and newcomer Wei Tang, the film might not have the same emotional wallop; Leung possibly goes head-for-head with his work in Wong Kar Wai's films as his best to date: he's terrifying but, as Wang notes, sort of lonely in his secrecy and security detail. It's be a leap of faith to see how he falls so much in love with the spy (all over one song she sings, you might scoff, though quite a song and a scene), and by the end he plays heartbroken with so much hurt he makes Heath Ledger look like a sap. And Wei Tang, a pretty face to be sure, is an even match as a real newcomer. No matter what can be said about the sex scenes (and yeah, there's a lot to be said, not just about length but about the styles right out of Kama Sutra), it can't be denied the star chemistry. Even with a flawed script, Lee has a cast that works, and a period setting that springs out deception as the most heart-rending drama. As I write this and think it over, the film actually becomes a little better than I remembered too. 7.5/10