Lust, Caution (Se, Jei) *
Ang Lee, 2007
Taiwan
@ Landmark Sunshine
The critical consensus is right: this movie is really boring except for the few scenes that earned the NC-17 rating. The prologue seems just peremptory, full of flat dialogue and uninteresting characters. Particularly the camera work indicates to me that not much attention is paid to the less integral moments in the movie, of which there are a lot over 158 minutes. Scenes are rarely well-conceived, shots mostly cut from one close-up to another, sometimes almost at random. Maybe Ang Lee knows things about these minor characters (the acting troupe, the mah jongg players) that he fails to reveal effectively, but it seems appalling that we spend so much time watching go-nowhere characters through an uninspired lens.
The few high points: there's one scene where the camera is set near the ceiling, craning down toward the couple, and it kind of circles around as one of them leaves, reframing around the other. It's not worldchanging by any means, but it reveals just how dull most of the other similar scenes are. Then you've got the sex scenes, and maybe even better, Tang Wei's monologue about what her role as a Mata Hari is doing too her emotionally, which is obviously much more than her supposedly tough intelligence liaisons can handle. In particular her description of the longed-for assassination of her target/lover as a kind of metaphysical and bloody Cronenberg-esque orgasm feels really inspired.
Tony Leung's character in 2046 was similar in many ways, but somehow his muted emotions in that film resonated whereas here they almost don't even register.
See also: IMDb | Metacritic
Ang Lee, 2007
Taiwan
@ Landmark Sunshine
The critical consensus is right: this movie is really boring except for the few scenes that earned the NC-17 rating. The prologue seems just peremptory, full of flat dialogue and uninteresting characters. Particularly the camera work indicates to me that not much attention is paid to the less integral moments in the movie, of which there are a lot over 158 minutes. Scenes are rarely well-conceived, shots mostly cut from one close-up to another, sometimes almost at random. Maybe Ang Lee knows things about these minor characters (the acting troupe, the mah jongg players) that he fails to reveal effectively, but it seems appalling that we spend so much time watching go-nowhere characters through an uninspired lens.
The few high points: there's one scene where the camera is set near the ceiling, craning down toward the couple, and it kind of circles around as one of them leaves, reframing around the other. It's not worldchanging by any means, but it reveals just how dull most of the other similar scenes are. Then you've got the sex scenes, and maybe even better, Tang Wei's monologue about what her role as a Mata Hari is doing too her emotionally, which is obviously much more than her supposedly tough intelligence liaisons can handle. In particular her description of the longed-for assassination of her target/lover as a kind of metaphysical and bloody Cronenberg-esque orgasm feels really inspired.
Tony Leung's character in 2046 was similar in many ways, but somehow his muted emotions in that film resonated whereas here they almost don't even register.
See also: IMDb | Metacritic
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