"Lust, Caution" (Language - Mandarin/Japanese) (2007) - Movie Review

Preparing for the character(s) in the movie for Tang Wei would have been more emotionally challenging and excruciating than the character in the film itself. It would have been the same for actor Tony Leung but the central role taken by Wei seem to take off the burden imposed on him. In the end, these two people handle one of the delicate, tough, erotic and equally disturbing scenes in the films we have seen. Going undercover and falling for the target has been come out as novels and as films too. The back ground setting of World War – II era of Shangai and Hong Kong is to make these two people into a dangerous journey into themselves.

The sexual contents of course are explicit but I have never seen an erotic story takes its form of love from the instances of intimacy alone. Posing as Mrs. Mak, Wong Chai Chi (Tang Wei) and entering into the dark corners of her target Mr. Yee (Tony Leung) considered as traitor due to his affiliation with the Collaborationist Government at that time, is an erotic romantic story. These two people for their reason of existence which they have defined take a weird form of commonality. Chai Chi been left alone by her father is struck by the zeal and passion her fellow student Kuang Yu Min (Wang Leehom) radiates enthusiastically. Her involvement in the patriotic play he invites her takes one step closer to him. Next she knows they are devising plan of his to assassinate the tightly secured and terribly cautious Mr. Yee. The bait for Mr. Yee is an obvious choice since Chai Chi moves every one with her performance over the stage. Her outlet of her frustrations of being lonely and being some one stage becomes her next step in doing the same in real life. But as for unexpected consequences, it twists into undesirable moments and desirable moments to be regretted upon in her later life.

Director Ang Lee who beautifully presented “Brokeback Mountain” is not some one to shy away from materials like this. We know about the school girl who becomes a young woman and how her life gets complicated. So when she enters into the sexual participation with Mr. Yee, we know her stand and vaguely enough understand her mild pain of submission to him. But as the film enters into that crucial moment of second time when they lay in each others hands is when we totally understand how Mr. Yee, so lonely falls for her and blindly for lust which at that instance blossoms into love. Rarely are the raw sexual encounters of film convinces into love. Because once the bodily fragrance dissolves and quenches the desires of each other, it unravels or illuminates the real person who was dressed up by his/her skin. And ironically enough, Chai Chi who actually is under the skin of Mrs. Mak does not get exposed to Mr. Yee even after that. When it is run second time, we understand even the existence of Chai Chi does not defines her but the inner left alone soul of her gets attracted, beaten and comforted by Mr. Yee’s very same inner nature of his character.

Chai Chi’s disintegration within herself cannot be more terrifically acted by Tang Wei. Tony Leung’s supporting role to her makes them the pair who is wandering in an island of conflicting images of personality. Mr. Yee is the most cautious person ever landed. But while depicting cautious it should not be looked like a coward. The anger, courage, battle within and yes, fear in him are shown through Tony Leung’s body language, terse dialogues and threatening eye contact he makes with the other characters. He is a gentleman of a mystery in him. Of course being an official of thrusting the resistance to the grounds and slicing their physical tolerance into pieces gives any one a numb face. At the end of the film, we might never know the real nature of him. Out of his political stand, he is disregarded from a philosophy widely followed at that time and Ang Lee carefully plays his bitter part of other person except with Chai Chi low. His aggression and violence over Chai Chi is his vent out and Chai Chi who starts it as a duty begins to acknowledge it, but suffers of deception and betrayal on either side.

There are holes in the film which passes by noticed enough to be forgiven but not forgotten. But it might reside in me due to the classiness of rest of the play. Even though Mr. Yee is a man of caution and clever ness, it is amusing when he does not track out the details of Chai Chi as Mrs. Mak. And the final disclosure to him by his subordinate does not convince, rather shows as cover up tried by Ang Lee. The importance of these two people might focus it away from those, but the bar sets by the rest swallows and spits it mildly on us. But “Lust, Caution” might be the best erotic and romantic film I have seen till date.