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Movies / On DVD / Lust, Caution
Lust, Caution

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Lust, Caution (2007)

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Reviews Counted:139

Fresh:98

Rotten:41

Average Rating:6.6/10

Consensus: Ang Lee's Lust, Caution is a tense, sensual and beautifully-shot espionage film.

Rated: 18 [See Full Rating] for some explicit sexuality

Runtime: 2 hrs 39 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Theatrical Release:04-01-2008

Synopsis: The new film from Ang Lee, the Academy Award-winning director of "Brokeback Mountain" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." A startling erotic espionage thriller about the fate of an ordinary... The new film from Ang Lee, the Academy Award-winning director of "Brokeback Mountain" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." A startling erotic espionage thriller about the fate of an ordinary woman's heart, it is based on the short story by revered Chinese author Eileen Chang, and stars Asian cinema icon Tony Leung opposite screen newcomer Tang Wei. Shanghai, 1942. The World War II Japanese occupation of this Chinese city continues in force. Mrs. Mak, a woman of sophistication and means, walks into a café, places a call, and then sits and waits. She remembers…how her story began several years earlier, in 1938 China. She is not in fact Mrs. Mak, but shy Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei). With WWII underway, Wong has been left behind by her father, who has escaped to England. As a freshman at university, she meets fellow student Kuang Yu Min (Wang Leehom) Kuang has started a drama society to shore up patriotism. As the theater troupe's new leading lady, Wong realizes that she has found her calling, able to move and inspire audiences – and Kuang. He convenes a core group of students to carry out a radical and ambitious plan to assassinate a top Japanese collaborator, Mr. Yee (Tony Leung). Each student has a part to play; Wong will be Mrs. Mak, who will gain Yee's trust by befriending his wife (Joan Chen) and then draw the man into an affair. Wong transforms herself utterly inside and out, and the scenario proceeds as scripted – until an unexpectedly fatal twist spurs her to flee. Shanghai, 1941. With no end in sight for the occupation, Wong – having emigrated from Hong Kong – goes through the motions of her existence. Much to her surprise, Kuang re-enters her life. Now part of the organized resistance, he enlists her to again become Mrs. Mak in a revival of the plot to kill Yee, who as head of the collaborationist secret service has become even more a key part of the puppet government. As Wong reprises her earlier role, and is drawn ever closer to her dangerous prey, she finds her very identity being pushed to the limit... --© Focus Features [More]

Starring: Tony Leung, Tang Wei, Joan Chen, Wang Lee-Hom

Starring: Tony Leung, Tang Wei, Joan Chen, Wang Lee-Hom

Director: Ang Lee

Director: Ang Lee
Screenwriter: Hui Ling Wang, James Schamus
Producer: Bill Kong, Ang Lee, James Schamus
Composer: Alexandre Desplat
Studio: Focus Features

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Reviews for Lust, Caution

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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You leave the theatre a trifle exhausted but rewarded by a resonance few films possess.

Full Review Source: This is London | comment Comment
01/04/08
Derek Malcolm
Derek Malcolm
This is London

Saucy sex scenes apart, however, it’s hard to get drawn into a slow-moving, drawn-out story that takes two-and-a-half po-faced hours to reach its jarringly abrupt and confusing conclusion.

Full Review Source: thelondonpaper | comment Comment
01/04/08
Neil Smith
Neil Smith
thelondonpaper
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A pleasure to watch a film as visually stylish as it is psychologically demanding. I wish it had been twice as long.

Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
01/04/08
Sukhdev Sandhu
Sukhdev Sandhu
Independent

A shocking disappointment.

Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
01/04/08
Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Independent

For his sheer muscular verve and ambition, Lee deserves a standing ovation.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
01/04/08
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Quietly mesmerising.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
01/04/08
Nigel Andrews
Nigel Andrews
Times [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The intensity of the sex is far more honest and revealing than the secrets each lover tries to hide.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
01/04/08
James Christopher
James Christopher
Times [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Lust, Caution is strangely engrossing but the fairly straightforward plot does not justify the running time.

Full Review Source: Sun Online | comment Comment
01/04/08
Sun Online

Isolated moments of high drama and some startlingly intimate sex scenes sadly fail to galvanise a turgid and overlong whole.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
01/04/08
Neil Smith
Neil Smith
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Unfortunately, the scenes between the sex and violence, while beautiful, will test your patience.

Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK] | comment Comment
01/04/08
David Edwards
David Edwards
Daily Mirror [UK]

Lee’s saucy, sumptuous slow-burner is a complex, elegant seduction, drawing on Hitchcock but putting a singular stamp on a rich spread of spies and sex, repression and sacrifice. Just don’t try those moves at home…

Full Review Source: Total Film | comment Comment
01/04/08
Kevin Harley
Kevin Harley
Total Film

A mesmerising study in emotional cruelty.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
01/04/08
Paul Arendt
Paul Arendt
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Beautifully shot, the period detail is exquisitely, and obsessively, realised.

Full Review Source: Sky Movies | comment Comment
01/04/08
Ruth Ford
Ruth Ford
Sky Movies

Its dark romanticism lingers in the mind.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/04/08
Wally Hammond
Wally Hammond
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A beautifully rendered, long, drawn-out but ultimately very satisfying story of betrayal and revenge in an uneasy setting of wartime paranoia.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
01/04/08
Damon Wise
Damon Wise
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Superbly written, beautifully shot and emotionally powerful espionage thriller with a terrific central performance from newcomer Tang Wei.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
10/20/07
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Screen International | comment Comment
09/08/07
Screen International

Lovers of genuine cinema will get blue balls

Full Review Source: CinePassion | comment Comment
08/27/09
Fernando F. Croce
Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion

Though his direction is unsurprisingly beautiful, the settings lush and the performances wonderful, no one apparently had the guts to insist Lee streamline his rambling story.

Full Review Source: Times-Picayune | comment Comment
07/24/09
Mike Scott
Mike Scott
Times-Picayune

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
05/13/09
Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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Latest News for Lust, Caution

November 12, 2009: Five Favourite Films with Ang Lee
The rule that no two Ang Lee movies are ever the same is confidently kept intact with the release of his latest, Taking Woodstock, a comedy about the true story behind the... More...

May 17, 2009: Cannes 2009: RT Chats to Ang Lee and team Taking Woodstock
It's not every day you get to have lunch with Ang Lee, so when RT were invited to do just that today in Cannes we couldn't refuse. Also joining us, James Schamus, Demetri... More...

September 26, 2008: Maggie Q to Star in Zhuangzhuang's Latest Opens in new window
Maggie Q has signed on for Tian Zhuangzhuang's "The Warrior and the Wolf," stepping in for Tang Wei after Wei's appearance in "Lust, Caution" got her banned from Chinese screens. More...

February 18, 2008: RT on DVD: Cram For The Oscars With Michael Clayton, In The Valley of Elah, And More Out This Week
Ready those Oscar ballots! With the Academy Awards around the corner, it's time to start catching up on what you missed in theaters. Snap up this week's offerings for... More...

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