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Home > DVDs
Lust, Caution (Widescreen, NC-17- Rated Edition)
Features :
AC-3
Color
Dolby
Dubbed
DVD-Video
Subtitled
Widescreen
NTSC
Directors :
Ang Lee
| Release Date: |
19 February, 2008 |
| Manufacturer: |
Universal Studios |
| Availability: |
Usually ships in 24 hours |
| List Price: |
$29.98 |
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Lust, Caution, Ang Lee's follow up to Brokeback Mountain, for which he won the Academy Award® for Best Director, continues his exploration of people with a passion for each other trapped in a world where their passion could be life-threatening, but in a very different context this time. Set in China during the Japanese occupation of early World War II, the underlying plot concerns the story of young Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei), an actress and member of a small group of student resistors planning to infiltrate the home of Mr. Yee (Tony Leung), a high-ranking collaborationist government official, in order to kill him for his role in the torture and executions of Chinese resistance fighters. Chi ingratiates herself with Yee's wife, the sophisticated and cultured Mrs. Yee (Joan Chen) under the guise of being the wife of a wealthy but unseen tycoon. Flashbacks tell the tale of how Chi came to be involved with the resistors: her acting ability is her most valuable asset, and her assignment is to act the role of Mr. Yee's lover, right down to the sex. The story of their love and the painful intimacy it involves for both of them is told through their sexual relationship, which starts out violently, drifts into S&M, and shifts with their feelings, moving from pain and fear to some sort of desperate connection. This is lust with a capital L; the film's sex scenes have become famous for their frankness and acrobatic portrayals (they took 12 days to film), but amazingly enough, it's never prurient. The nature of their sexual relationship, and not the sex itself, is the point. Chi falls in love with the man she's supposed to kill, but there is no stopping the mission and she knows it. The danger of it all collapsing for them both is ever present, and that's the Caution. The cinematography and direction in Lust, Caution is masterful, and every scene is beautiful. The film does drift into a languid pace, and at times one wonders why Lee would feel the need to draw it out at the expense of delaying the crucial climactic scenes. Still, it's a wonderful piece of storytelling that should only help solidify Ang Lee's place in cinematic history as a master of films that express the difficulty of being essentially human in an inhumane world. --Daniel Vancini
Stills from Lust, Caution (click for larger image)
 Customer Reviews 
Lust, Caution: Acting, Becoming
Rating: 5
Ang Lee has the ability to transform simple stories about human relationships into epic films that somehow maintain the quality of intimacy and tenderness despite the grand sweep of his productions. In LUST, CAUTION ('SE, JIE') he has once again created a symphony of a film with a script by James Schamus based on the short story by Eileen Chang, assembled a cast superb actors who convey the story's multileveled messages on the historic backgrounds of World War II Shanghai and Hong Kong using the sensitive camera eye of Rodrigo Prieto and accompanied by Alexandre Desplat's evocative East/West musical score. It is a visual triumph, a fascinating recounting of China's history about which we know little, and one of the most intriguing love stories committed to film.
The film opens in Hong Kong focusing on a group of college students who form a theater group to present plays of 'significance'. Young Wong Chia Chi (the luminous Wei Tang in her first cinematic role) is asked to join the theatrical group and she consents primarily because of her attraction to the leader of the group, Kuang Yu Min (Lee-Hom Wang, a commanding and handsome actor). Events of history alter the purpose of the art groups and they become a Resistance force against the Japanese occupation of China. The leader of the Japanese sympathizers is a Mr. Lee (Tony Leung, one of the most solid actors on the screen today) and the student group plans an infiltration into his home and life by placing Wong Chia Chi into his household. In residence in Mr. Lee's home, she learns to tolerate the constant mah jong games with Mr. Lee's wife (Joan Chen) and her gossipy girlfriends, only to await the moment when Mr. Lee will notice her and hopefully begin an affair that will result in inside information espionage. As the effects of the war tighten problems the Yees move to Shanghai and the troupe follows them: the troupe has become a committed political resistance force with plans to kill Mr. Yee and the cadre of men who support his siding with the Japanese. Wong Chia Chi agrees to follow Mr. Yee's sexual advances and in short time they are caught up in powerfully erotic explosions of lust: it is during these very frank and very erotic lovemaking scenes that Ang Lee manages to reveal the inner aspects of each of these important characters, allowing the audience to see the complete picture of how lust can dissipate caution. The changes that occur between the two characters set in motion a surprising ending, at once disturbing and understandable.
Accompanying the DVD (already in excess of 157 minutes) is a 'making of' feature and a discussion period with not only Ang Lee but also with the stars and production people that is very solid commentary and for once seems pertinent to enhance the enjoyment of the film. Some may find the extended lovemaking scenes too frankly sexual, but so much of the real grit of the story lies in the non-verbal, purely physical language that could only be understood in the way Lee decided to film these gorgeous scenes. This is an important film on many levels and will probably become better appreciated with multiple views. In Mandarin, Japanese, Shanghainese, English and Hindi with subtitles. Grady Harp, February 08
How much is each of two lovers willing to lose in order to find redemption and compassion in an unforgiving world?
Rating: 4
In 1940s occupied Shanghai during the War of Resistance Against Japan, an introverted college actress (Tang) finds she is naturally talented in seducing empathy from her audience. Soon enough, she is recruited to seduce the Occupier's key interrogation agent (Leung) and lead him to his own assassination.
Tang learns Leung is not evil incarnate, but rather a human being privately thrashing within the undertow of the ethical dilemmas inherent in his circumstance. She realizes that Leung is more deserving of her sympathy and respect - than those others surrounding her who hold a more simplistic "us versus them" perspective. Leung, who specializes in suspicion and subtlety, senses both the malice and compassion residing in Tang's heart - and trades off personal risk to provide her an opportunity to choose between them.
The mystery of what each is willing to lose - in order to find love, redemption and compassion in an unforgiving world - is left for the viewer to discover.
The film's highly explicit sexual content has taken much comment. Left uncommented is the fact that almost nowhere else in the history of cinema has sexual imagery so effectively revealed the underlying persona of its characters. Tang and Leung are initially enigmatic to the viewer; what is truly laid bare in their bedroom are their psyches.
The film excels in cinematography, colorization and costuming, though it does not approach the level found within "In the Mood for Love." Every frame is lush and immortalizes a nearly forgotten period of Chinese history, but still the pace and the length of the film (2 hours, 40 minutes in the NC-17 Region 1 flavor) is a bit more trying than it should be.
Strongly recommended.
Great movie. Well transfered sad that no Blue Ray
Rating: 4
Yes. I like brief review.
I saw this movie at the theater and already decided to buy Blue Ray disc and only DVD released. Too sad. But DVD quality is not bad. Sound and video both.
The movie is one of Ang Lee's best, I might say.
He is in his peak as a director, I guess.
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