Lust Caution 2007

     This film is based on a story written by Eileen Chang.  She began the story in the 1950’s and then it was heavily revised by Chang.  It was published in 1979.  Old Wu has lost his wife and two sons as well as two women who had feelings for him because of Yee.  Wu recruits Kuang, Mai Tai Tai and their fellow drama students from Hong Kong University to attempt an assassination of Yee.  Shanghai is Japanese ruled and Yee is an important official in the government.  Mai Tai Tai is chosen to befriend Yee and she is posing as a married woman.  She also begins playing MahJong with Yee’s wife and her female friends.  This is how she meets Yee, they are together for a short time but end up going their separate ways.  They meet again four years later.  This time around, Mai Tai Tai is more than ready to entrap Yee.  There is still the question, will the group be able to succeed?
     I have seen this film before but I was very surprised at how little I remembered of the story!!  It was like watching it for the first time again?  It is subtitled and Mai Tai Tai must be on guard at every moment she is with Yee!!  He has said he only associates with those who have high reputations.  He won’t go to a movie in a theater because he can’t control the darkness!!  Yee must be in charge of every situation!!  This is definitely not a film for anyone under 18 years old.  There are brief combat scenes, bloody bodies in the street, explosions, shooting, a stabbing scene and an execution.  Plus, there are graphic sex scenes with some violence.  5* (I really liked this movie)  

157 min, Drama directed by And Lee, written by Eileen Chang, James Schamus and Hui-Ling Wang with Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Wei Tang, Joan Chen Leehom Wang, Tsung-Hua To, Zhi-Ying Zhu, Ying-Husuan Kao, Lawrence Ko, Johnson Yuen, Kat Lok Chin, Yan Su, Saifei He, Ruhui Song, Hui-Ling Wang, Jie Liu, Anupam Kher, Akiko Takeshita, Hayato Fujiki, Seto Masumi.

Note:  Imdb 7.5 out or 10, 3* Roger Ebert, Rotten Tomatoes 72% critic with 147 critics 84% audience with 51,3111 user ratings, Metacritic 61 out of 100 with 35 critics (21 positive 12 mixed, negative 2) 6.6 user score (75 positive, 11 mixed, 30 negative), Deep Focus 3 1/2* out of 4* Brian Eggert, EmpireOnline 4* out of 5* Damon Wise, Letterboxd 3.7* with 29 reviews, Amazon 4.3*out of 5* with 316 reviews, Common Sense Media Cynthia Fuchs, age 18+, 5* violence, 5* sex, 3* language, 3* drinking, drugs & smoking, Amazon gives the book 3.8* out of 5* with 17 reviews. 

Special Note:  Director Ann Lee auditioned 10,000 actresses before casting Wei Tang!!  Lee also said that directing the explicit sex scenes was more difficult than the complicated fighting scenes in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2000.  The set was closed during these scenes with only the main camera and sound personal present.  It was filmed over eleven days but they were half days only.  A full day was too exhausting for everyone.  Lee was the winner of the Golden Lion top prize at the 2007 Venice Festival.  Lee and his Haishang Films company each received $303,000 for this win.