A Little TLC(w): Lust, Caution (2007, NC-17)

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.