Picturenose

Lust for strife

Fast making a name for himself as one of the greatest living directors, Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain (2005), The Ice Storm (1997)) has once again set the screen on fire with his latest, a beautifully shot, savagely sexual look at the hunter and prey, betrayer and betrayed, and how easily such roles can switch.

We’re in 1942, WWII-era Shanghai - the battle lines are clearly drawn between the occupying Japanese and the Chinese resistance and young Wang Jiazhi aka Wong Chia Chi (Wei Tang) is caught up in a potentially deadly game of emotional intrigue with powerful political figure, Mr. Yee (Tony Leung Chiu Wai), who’s perceived as a traitor by Jiazhi’s student group because of his Japanese allegiances. The virginal girl is charged with seducing Yee and lowering his guard before the rest of the group (and their leaders) move in for the kill. Expert though she may be at playing her role, Jiazhi’s emotional boundaries and allegiances are becoming blurred, and the consequences may be devastating for all…

Much (too much, frankly) has been made of the sex scenes at the core of Lust, Caution and, while it’s true that the startling congress really does take no prisoners, there’s so much more to the film than angry amour fou. For a start, there’s James Schamus’s superb screenplay, adpated from a short story by Eileen Chang, that’s as much a feast for the ears as the beautiful visuals are a glowing example of how to make cinema sing.

Then there are the performances themselves - it’s difficult to imagine a more precise, ornate yet at the same time realistic depiction of the period and place’s upper-middle class mores; games of mah jong, for example, in which seemingly little happens but a great deal occurs, form a counterpoint to Tony Leung’s depiction of a sexual predator on whom the tables are definitely turned by newcomer Tang’s astonishing take on innocence surrendered.

Director Lee, meanwhile, plays with his genres like a master - from war film to espionage, psychological thriller to romance, the man shows his genius. One for the grown-ups, certainly, and one that’s not to be missed.

Lust, Caution: Official Site
Languages: Mandarin/Japanese/Shanghainese/English. 157 mins.