Lust, Caution Review

Oscar-winning director Ang Lee's most successful movies have an original hook which not only gets the audience into cinemas, but also drives the plot. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" has Jane Austen meets Kung Fu. "Brokeback Mountain" has gay cowboys. "Lust, Caution", an erotic espionage thriller set during the Japanese occupation of China in the Second World War, lacks the same originality, but does have a few elements to recommend it.

Newcomer Tang Wei will earn herself a place in China's A list with her portrayal of Wong Chia Chi, a naive student whose lust for fellow student Kuang Yu Min (Wang Leehom) leads her to join a patriotic drama group, followed by the Resistance, where she is tasked with seducing collaborator Mr Yee (Tony Leung). There's a lot of sex in the movie, but Wei's performance keeps it from being gratuitous as the audience is interested in whether Wong is falling for Yee or just faking and whether or not she will betray him in the end. Leung, a great actor and the best on-screen smoker working today (ever?), usually plays good guys, so there's a lot of enjoyment to be had from seeing him play a villain and a particularly strong scene for both is the not-quite-rape, not-quite-consensual-sex of the first time the two characters are alone together.

Late 30s/early 40s Shanghai and Hong Kong are recreated beautifully, but the film is let down by not going into why Eileen Chang, the popular Chinese author of the source material, decided to set her story during WWII. Similarly, in interviews Lee has said that the 'Lust' in the title also refers to the rush Wong gets from playing a role in order to get close to Yee, not just the sex. While this might have been the intention in production, due to the way the film has been edited it doesn't come across. "Lust, Caution" is a good movie, but ultimately not up to the standard Lee has set for himself with "Crouching Tiger" and "Brokeback".