Caution: Too Much Lust in Lee’s New Film
Ang Lee’s newest film, “Lust, Caution,” which took top honors at this year’s Venice Film Festival, will have to be cut significantly before its China release on October 26th. The “spy-thriller,” according to China’s censors, featured too much nasty boot-knocking. According to a Reuters report Wednesday, Lee cut the edited-for-China version himself rather than leave the job to China’s Information Ministry. The director, who also took home the Venice trophy in 2005 for Brokeback Mountain, told the media that despite cutting 30 minutes from the original, “the spirit of the film remains despite the cutting and the fluency will not be affected.” I haven’t seen the film, nor will I go to my local Shanghai cinema to pay money to watch a film absent of 30 minutes of some good Chinese sex and violence. And anyone who’s seen Brokeback knows that Ang Lee know how to capture sex on screen. Well, gay sex at least. So what will I do instead? I will wait for the original cut of “Lust, Caution” on pirated DVD. For those who have not made up their mind, here is the first paragraph of a review from the always-entertaining Slant Magazine:
Ang Lee busts a nut with Lust, Caution: All the ball sacks, pubes, and sweaty armpit hair tastefully relegated to Brokeback Mountain’s offscreen space are propped front and center in this WWII-set espionage thriller, whose lustful sex scenes and enthralling performances enliven its otherwise cautious storytelling. Watching Mr. Yee (Tony Leung) and “Mrs. Mak” (Tang Wei) go at it, seemingly inspired by the Kama Sutra, you’d think they wanted to show Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist how it’s really done. Lee himself seems to want to butt-fuck Paul Verhoeven’s Black Book, slightly amending that film’s sketchy sexual politics but flattening its stirring socio-cultural purview, ending up similarly half-cocked.
All of you Stateside can see Ang Lee’s nut-bust on September 28th at a theater near you. And awesomely, it’s rated NC-17.
•Reuters: "Lust" to Be Shown in China After Cuts