LUST, CAUTION

Director: Ang Lee
Cast: Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Joan Chen, Tang Wei Anuparn Kher, Lee-Horn Want
Run Time: 157 minutes
Country: United Kingdom/Belgium/France
Language: Mandarin with English subtitles
Rating: 18A (Sexually suggestive scenes)

"[Ang Lee] is a true master, and his potently erotic and suspenseful Lust, Caution casts a spell you won‘t want to break." – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Reviews: www.metacritic.com/film/titles/lustcaution

Academy Award®-winning director Ang Lee (CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON; BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN) returns with his latest sweeping cinematic offering, a Special Presentation at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival®. Based upon a short story by the late Chinese author Eileen Chang and adapted for the screen by Ang‘s frequent collaborator, Wang Hui-Ling (EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN, CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON), LUST, CAUTION is a riveting tale of espionage, betrayal and desire set against the backdrop of World War II-era Shanghai. This dazzling film boasts the star power of Asian icon Tony Leung Chiu Wai (IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, HERO) and the scintillating Joan Chen (SAVING FACE, SUNFLOWER). It also introduces rising Chinese talent Tang Wei who is sure to become one of the major performers among the next generation of mainland Chinese cinema.

Tang plays Wang Jiazhi, an idealistic and well-meaning young woman who finds herself operating as a secret agent affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist government during the Japanese occupation of Shanghai. She seduces Mr. Yi (Leung), a high-ranking and possibly corrupt official working for the puppet government. Her mission is to lure him into an assassination trap, but the back and forth of their fiery affair soon leads to a dangerous game of emotional intrigue that Wang may be too guileless to control.

Ang demonstrates once again his tremendous ability to transition between American and Chinese filmmaking and features the stunning cinematography of Rodrigo Prieto, who was nominated for an Academy Award for BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, his previous collaboration with Ang. Leung and Chen established themselves as megastars through precisely the types of performance they each deliver here: smoldering, smart and sexy. Tang is definitely a talent to watch; she portrays the youthful drives and confusions of her character with a savvy innocence. LUST, CAUTION is a uniquely Asian story, woven from the complicated fabrics of that region‘s his-tory, but it is a film for lovers of cinema around the world.

Note: Because of the film’s length, the 2nd showing will be at 8:15 pm

"A brooding meditation on the unnerving power and terrible cost of emotional and political masquerades, the Chinese-language Lust, Caution gets under your skin with its examination of what qualifies as love and what does not." - Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

 

Winter/Spring 2008 Film Schedule Jan 7 - ONCE January 21 - EMOTIONAL ARITHMETIC February 4 - THE AURA February 18 - LUST, CAUTION March 17 - THE KITE RUNNER March 31 - ATONEMENT April - 14 PERSEPOLIS April 28 - THE BAND’S VISIT May 12 - THE COUNTERFEITERS May 26 - THE YEAR MY PARENTS WENT ON VACATION June 9 - THE STONE ANGEL June 23 - AMAL