Reviewed by Max Foizey.

Release Date: October 12, 2007
Directed By: Ang Lee
Starring: Tony Leung, Tang Wei, Wang Leehom
Rating: NC-17

“Lust, Caution” is the best film I've seen all year.

Yes, it's subtitled and almost three hours long, so if those are two strikes against the film for you, then you can stop reading the review here. This one's not your cup of hot tea.

Adapted from a short story by Eileen Chang, director Ang Lee has crafted his most confident, adult work yet. An espionage thriller that manages to breathe, live and die within sharp contrasts of character and mood.

It's 1938 in China, and WWII is underway. Wong Chia Chi (Wei) meets fellow student Kuang Yu Min (Leehom) at the university they attend. Kuang has started a drama club to inspire patriotism, and Wong joins. Kuang is left unsatisfied after a few stirring productions, feeling the troupe should be doing more to help their country. Soon he's convinced them to assassinate a top Japanese collaborater, Mr. Yee. (Leung).

So Wong Chia Chi, the star of their plays, goes undercover as Mrs. Mak, to gain trust and access to the nefarious Mr. Yee. Wong is successful right away, befriending Mr. Yee's wife (Joan Chen) and becoming a regular partner at their Mah Jong games.

Then things go horribly, horribly wrong.

Three years pass. Kuang and Wong Chia Chi meet again, and Kuang convinces Wong to reprise her performance as Mrs. Mak in hopes of finally taking down Mr. Yee, who has gained even more power. She agrees, finding and starting a violent affair with the evil Mr. Yee.

This is where the NC-17 rating comes in. The sex in this film is not the usual 'skinemax' fare we're used to seeing on screen. This is shocking, explicit, and at times powerful sexuality on display. It's also a window into the thoughts and motivations of our main characters.

Through a series of intimate scenes, we see Mr. Yee go from someone who treats sex as something to violently take from someone to letting go of control, and letting his guard down as we see Wong Chia Chi go from submissive to more dominate.

There are of course other ways the filmmakers could have shown us these changes happening in our main characters, but why not tell this side of the stroy through sex? It's the perfect vehicle for this particular film, as shown by the speech an overwhelmed Wong Chia Chi gives her superior when he asks her to keep the ruse going. If the audience had not been in those rooms with he two of them, her pain is lost on us.

As both Wong Chia Chi and Mrs. Mak, Tang Wei is a revalation, infusing her scenes with quiet dignity and fragile strength. I love the fact that although we hear how evil Mr. Yee is, we only see him through Wong's eyes, giving a mysterious air to his daily dirty dealings. As Mr. Yee, Tony Leung recalls the undercurrent of somber brooding as Heath Ledger in Ang Lee's "Brokeback Mountain."

If there is a flaw in the film, it's the moment when the young drama troupe decides to stop performing on stage and start performing in real life, in hope of murdering one the their Japanese oppressors. The decision seems to be taken to lightly, and given what Wong Chia Chi goes through, I felt should have been handled with more weight.

Still, this is a very minor nitpick in this masterful film. Ang Lee continues to examine emotional distance and longing between sexuality and culture better than anyone else in modern cinema. 

In addition to hosting 'Max on Movies' on Sunday nights at 7pm on 97.1 FM Talk, Max appears weekly on the Dave Glover Show Fridays at 5pm. A member of the Saint Louis Gateway Film Critics Association, Max has written about film and theatre for various print and Web media, and appeared as guest critic on various nationally syndicated radio shows. Max lives in Missouri and is a diehard Miami Dolphins fan. Hulk want to know, why no "Hulk 2?"