Finally caught Lust Caution last night with my husband. No, we were not holding out for the R21 version just for the supposed 9 minutes of sex scenes (though I can only speak for myself hee hee). As with any movie, the crew put their blood and toil into it, and I think it's only right to watch the complete version of the story they want to tell.

I don't know why there was so much interest in the sex scenes. They felt like porno at times. Even now, I'm still trying to decide if they were necessary. Don't get me wrong; the scenes are necessary, as they depict the love-hate tug-of-war between the female protagonist (汤唯 as 王佳芝) and her prey (Tony Leung as 易先生) and how they open up to each other (pun not intended).

I'm just wondering if they could have been taken at other angles to portray the same effect, but less explicitly and more artistically. Yet, perhaps it is precisely due to the starkness of these scenes that the 2 characters' thoughts and personality are laid bare for the audience and each other.


For those who want to know, yes yes~ you can see Tony's balls and pubic hair. And you can see Tang Wei's e-ve-rything. It's actually split into 3 different scenes.

I was keen to watch the movie because I wanted to know the story of this 王佳芝 who sacrificed herself for her country. And the movie is all about her.

Even Tony becomes a supporting actor to Tang Wei. And I have to say that I'm very impressed with her. For a newcomer, she showed real guts to take on the sex scenes. To do such scenes, the 2 actors must be very professional as they still have to look each other in the eye after that.

Her acting is also very good, showing her progression from naive schoolgirl to intelligent spy. In fact, for the whole movie I was transported back to 1940s Shanghai. I felt like I was voyeuring on these people's lives; not as if I'm watching a movie with actors role-playing. So you feel for her at the ending too, and can understand why she choose what she did.

Go watch it. Very good. A pity I was so engrossed in the story that I forgot to pay attention to 张爱玲's dialogue. Would want to watch again for that.

More on the movie and the true story it was based on here.

P/s: Tony Leung looks really really old in this movie due to the many close-up shots. Looks like sagging hush puppy :s

Labels: Being Random, Cynic In The House