This film
would’ve been coming out right around the time I started getting into Tony
Leung Chiu-wai. My initial intro to him
– through the lucky coincidence of seeing Hero,
Infernal Affairs, and 2046 in relatively short succession –
came a bit earlier, but this would’ve been not long after seeing In the Mood for Love and diving into
Leung’s collaborations with Wong Kar-wai.
I remember hearing about it, knowing chiefly that it was 1) a period
piece, 2) directed by Ang Lee, 3) had Leung as the male lead, and 4) rated
NC-17. There wasn’t much call for
NC-17-rated Chinese language films at my local theater, so I didn’t see it when
it came out, and the rating kept it off the top of my priority list after it
came out on DVD. Now, having seen it, I’m
still turning it over in my head a little, but by and large, it’s an excellent,
engrossing film with stellar performances (premise spoilers.)
Wong Chia
Chi is a student when the Japanese army comes to occupy China. There, she gets involved with a politically-active
drama group, putting on patriotic plays to stir up support for the cause. However, her life changes when their director
proposes bringing their acting into the real world: adopting fake personas to infiltrate the home
of Mr. Yee, a traitor at the head of the Japanese-run police force, and
assassinate him. Wong has the most
crucial (and difficult) role of all, playing the “wife” of a wealthy
businessman to dangle in front of Mr. Yee and lure the security-obsessed man away
from his bodyguards through an extramarital tryst. As she gets deeper and deeper into the
mission, Wong struggles to maintain her cover as the lines get blurred between
what’s real and what’s acted.
This is a
really interesting film. It’s almost
prohibitively long (over two-and-a-half hours,) but while it moves slowly, the
screentime doesn’t really feel wasted or excessive. I especially love the early portions of the
film, seeing the drama group develop their plan and start putting it into
action – rather than having higher-ups in the resistence giving them orders,
they’re just piecing all of this together on their own, and it’s fascinating to
watch these amateurs try to cobble together a workable assassination plan. The direction and production design are
gorgeous, and Wei Tang, who plays Wong, is stupendous in her first major role;
she does a bang-up job as a young woman having a political awakening, followed
by a sexual one in the belly of the beast.
It’s
undeniably Wong’s story, but Mr. Yee, Leung’s character, is the focal point
around which the narrative turns. His
screentime is actually fairly minimal in the first hour of the film, as Wong
ingratiates herself to his wife and tries to figure out excuses to get close to
him. Once she gets him to take the bait,
however, he becomes a much larger presence onscreen.
Although
we only hear about, not see, the reprehensible things Mr. Yee is doing for the
Japanese, there’s no doubt that he’s a definite bad guy. Leung’s performance is largely cold and
remote – even when he starts having an affair with Wong, he’s alternately
brusque and passionate with her and more than once makes her wait for him for
hours while he wraps up a work meeting.
Throughout their relationship, it’s always clear how much danger Wong is
in, what Mr. Yee has the capacity to do to her if he finds out the truth. At the same time, though, we see these little
glimpses of unguardedness, tiny moments of honest feeling where we see how Mr.
Yee’s work weighs on him or how deeply he’s starting to fall for Wong.
I
feel
like, with any NC-17 movie, I’m always more hyperaware of the sex
scenes,
wondering what it is about them that garnered the rating. Sometimes
it’s obvious, others less so. Here, I’d say it’s probably the use of
unconventional positions, coupled with cinematography that’s not shy
about
getting near the “relevant area” while Wong and Mr. Yee are doing the
deed. There’s also some roughness,
particularly the first time they have sex (which I’d say was assault,)
but I
wouldn’t say it goes far enough to suggest kink, and Game of Thrones has had far rougher scenes. In the grand scheme of the entire movie,
however, there really isn’t a ton of sex – just several extended scenes of some
rather acrobatic lovemaking.
Narratively, though, I think they’re interesting. I feel like we get our truest sense of who
Mr. Yee really is when he’s having sex with Wong. There’s anger there, and more than a hint of
possession (all the more reason why Wong can never let her guard down,) but
there are hints of tenderness and vulnerability there as well. It doesn’t make him a good guy – not even
close – but it makes him a more complex guy than the film would initially
suggest (or, for that matter, than Wong would initially believe.)
One more
note – I’ve talked before about Leung being dubbed in mainland films, but in
this one, he speaks his own Mandarin. I
know nowhere near enough to make any informed comment on how he does with it,
although he does sound different to my ears than other actors in the film. His vocal performance also feels a little
muted to me, but given Mr. Yee’s coldness, I would imagine that’s at least
mostly a conscious character choice.
Recommend?
In
General
– I would, though with a caveat about the rating. This is a really fascinating story with
wonderfully-performed, complex characters at the center of a compelling
plot. If you don’t mind indiscreet sex
scenes, I say go for it.
Tony
Leung Chiu-wai
– I think so. This is a very different
sort of character for Leung, and he brings an entirely different energy and
presence to the role, distant and quietly menacing.
Warnings
Explicit
sexual content (including sexual assault,) violence, drinking/smoking, and
strong thematic elements.
No comments:
Post a Comment