北美 "好萊塢報導" - 李安

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film/reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9696


Lust, Caution

Bottom Line: Long, slow spy saga with a few shocking scenes of sex and
violence.By Ray Bennett

Aug 31, 2007


Venice International Film Festival

VENICE, Italy -- Ang Lee's lugubrious spy epic "Lust, Caution" brings to mind
what soldiers say about war: that it's long periods of boredom relieved by
moments of extremely heightened excitement.

There's a long and nasty murder scene in which several inept resistance
fighters make a bloody mess of stabbing a man to death and a series of sex
scenes so close to the knuckle and more lubricious joints as to appear real.
No wonder the MPAA has slapped an NC-17 rating on the picture, which screened
in competition at the Venice International Film Festival.

But getting to those episodes, which are of dubious merit, means enduring 156
tedious minutes watching a group of not very interesting young Chinese people
learn how to fight the occupying Japanese during WWII. Needlessly long and
filled with albeit beautifully staged and filmed sequences where not very
much happens, the film is unlikely to capture the word of mouth buzz required
to overcome the handicap of its rating.
The plot is much like "Black Book," Dutch director Paul Verhoeven's tale of a
young Jewish woman who sleeps with a Nazi on behalf of the resistance,
although it has none of the flair of that film. In "Lust, Caution," it's an
idealistic young Chinese woman named Chih-ying Chu (Tang Wei) who volunteers
to become the mistress of Mr. Yee (Tony Yeung), a traitor who runs the brutal
secret service on behalf of the hated occupying force.

The idea is that if she intrigues him enough he will breach his supercautious
regimen and place himself at risk so the others in Chih-ying's group can
assassinate him. Kuang Yu-Min (Wang Lee-Horn), who heads the group, is
handsome and noble, and also attracted to the girl although he reveals that
about three years too late.

Starting off as a theatrical troupe producing patriotic plays, they graduate
to armed activity as part of a cell run by the organized resistance. They're
just not very good at it. Chih-ying, however, having demonstrated onstage
that she's a superb actress, takes to subterfuge like a natural-born Mata
Hari.

With her shy beauty and pleasant manners, she is invited to join the mahjong
circle of Mrs. Yee (Joan Chen) among the Chinese elite permitted to enjoy a
privileged life by the Japanese. They are ladies who lunch and talk about the
luxuries that they miss but are sometimes available from Hong Kong.

Chih-ying soon catches the eye of Mr. Yee and before long becomes his
mistress. That's when she starts really earning her resistance pay. Mr. Yee
is a brutal rapist and their sexual encounters become sado-masochistic
episodes in which the man shows a glimmer of humanity only at the point of
sating his lust.

There's a fair bit of that and it is well choreographed with lots of flesh on
display although entirely devoid of passion. The film looks gorgeous but the
plotting is clumsy and the acting is flat. It takes a long time before the
idea of killing Mr. Yee gets going and by then it appears that director Lee
has lost the plot and his laborious tale appears to have no point at all.

LUST, CAUTION (Se jie)
Focus Features
Produced by River Road Entertainment in association with Haishang Films
Credits:
Director: Ang Lee
Screenwriters: James Schamus, Hui-Ling Wang, from a story by Eileen Chang
Producers: William Kong, Ang Lee
Executive producer: James Schamus
Director of photography: Rodrigo Prieto
Production designer: Pan Lei
Music: Alexandre Desplat
Editor: Tim Squyres
Cast:
Mr. Yee: Tony Leung
Mrs. Yee: Joan Chen
Chih-ying Chu: Tang Wei
Kuang Yu-Min: Wang Lee-Horn
Indian jeweller: Anupam Kher
Running time -- 156 minutes
MPAA rating: NC-17



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“凡是在屏幕上活動的就是電影” “電影無非是一種新的印刷方法”

電影如同小說和繪畫，是一個作者的作品”
法國電影大師 讓-雷諾阿

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